Football: Traditional Turkey Day matchups arrive a little earlier than usual

With the new post-season playoff format in place, there are a few instances where traditional Thanksgiving rivals have been forced to play earlier in the season. There are two such games this week, one tonight and one Saturday, as due to the truncated regular-season schedule, league play begins for a lot of teams.Tonight, at DellaRusso Stadium, Winthrop will play Revere. And Saturday, at Blocksidge Field, it?ll be Swampscott vs. Marblehead. Both rivalries date back to the early 20th century, Swampscott-Marblehead 1909 and Winthrop-Revere 1913. And while not every game in those series has been played on Thanksgiving, the preponderant amount of them has been. And that?s certainly been the case in the past 50 years.So, these games will represent a dramatic departure from the usual football norm.Revere has opened at 0-2, with non-league losses to former Greater Boston League foes Medford and Malden. The Vikings are 1-1. They opened up two weeks ago with a win over Northeastern Conference rival Saugus, but fell victim to Swampscott and Desmond Wilhelmsen last week.Coming into Saturday?s game at Blocksidge, the Big Blue gathered some momentum in their win over the Vikings, who are generally tough to beat at Miller Field. After falling 64-39 to St. Mary?s a week earlier, Wilhelmsen joined the lineup and made an immediate impact.It appears as if Swampscott will need that momentum. The Magicians are on fire. They are 3-0 and have not been held to under 40 points by either Danvers, Classical or Salem. And only Classical mounted any offense against them.TONIGHTSalem at ClassicalAt Manning Field (7), the Rams finally get to play a home game — and a Northeastern Conference/South game as well.They opened on the road with two games in venues christening new fields (Gloucester and Marblehead). And even though they?re 0-2 (they had a bye last week), the loss to Gloucester was preventable, as a couple of ill-timed turnovers did the Rams in.Classical got scare two weeks ago when Devin Crayton went down with a sprained foot. Crayton is going to play tonight, though he probably won?t start.Salem is likewise 0-2, having opened with losses to both Gloucester and Marblehead. The Witches won?t be home until, they hope, Thanksgiving as Bertram Field is also being renovated.Danvers at PeabodyAt Lee Field (7), the Tanners finally got to celebrate a win after more than a year, nipping Somerville last Friday night. The Falcons split their first two games, losing to Marblehead and beating Beverly. They were off last week.Saugus at MasconometAt Masco (7), a game against the Chieftains, who were the champs last year in the combined Northeastern Conference/Cape Ann League Tier 1 (which no longer exists), might not be exactly what the Sachems need after an 0-2 start (including last week?s loss to Lynnfield).Despite losing last week, the Sachems got a strong performance on the ground from Dan Cacciola (165 yards, one touchdown).Fenwick at Arl. Cath.At Arlington High (7), the Crusaders feature the double-headed hydra of Nick Bona and Rufus Rushins, both of whom scored twice in last week?s 41-0 rout over North Shore.The ground-conscious Crusaders piled up 250 rushing yards last week while allowing only 110. They did not let North Shore complete a pass.Beverly at GloucesterAt Newell Stadium (7), the Panthers got a gut-check win last week over North Andover while the Fishermen dropped to 2-1 with a loss to Masconomet.SATURDAYAustin Prep at St. Mary?sAt Manning Field (7), after two non-leaguers, the Spartans begin their Catholic Central League sojourn this week. St. Mary?s romped through its non-league games, piling up the points against both Swampscott and Amherst-Pelham.Austin Prep, coached by Revere native Bill Maradei, has become a strong rival for the Spartans since they moved to the CCL/North.Amesbury at LynnfieldAt Lynnfield Middle School (11), the Pioneers, last year?s Super Bowl participants, have opened at 2-0 with wins over both Newburyport and Saugus. La