By Steve Sherman
BucksLocalSports Editor

What a difference a year makes.

On Thanksgiving morning, Morrisville's Bulldogs will once again square off against the Bristol football Warriors, a team that last year earned a berth in the PIAA Class A tournament.

This year’s Bristol team (5-4, 2-2) got off to a good start, then suffered a midseason slump that saw the Warriors come up short in three straight contests. And while the Bristol righted the ship with a 45-6 win over Bicentennial Athletic League (BAL) rival Academy of the New Church and a 41-7 victory over IFL rival Springfield, the boys in red and white saw their playoff hopes evaporate Nov. 6 in a 19-12 loss to Lower Moreland, this season’s BAL champion.

Morrisville, meanwhile, after going 2-8 last season, posted its first winning campaign since 1992 in going 7-4. Still, the Bulldogs struggled against BAL opponents, losing to Lower Moreland (33-26), Calvary Christian (34-0) and Jenkintown (42-21).

“We’re real proud of our season but we did have a couple hiccups,” stated Morrisville head coach Jim Gober. “We had a three-game losing streak that took the wind out of our sails.

“We didn’t play real well in one of those. In the other two, we just got physically outmanned.”

While the Drakes doubled the ‘Dawgs and the Cougars blanked them, Morrisville is confident after keeping the score close versus Lower Moreland and beating its last two non-league foes by a combined score of 54-6.

This year, the traditional duel should be a contrast of styles, at least offensively. George Gatto’s run-oriented offense is packed with multiple play-action formations. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, feature a full spread offense out of the shotgun.

Out of the gun, Morrisville quarterback Matt Cookson set a new school record for passing, throwing for 1,678 yards while tossing the pigskin to receivers Eugene Figueroa, Julian Walker, Matt Beyer and Derrick Williams.

But against Jenkintown, Cookson only threw for 45 yards in a game in which the Drakes doubled the Dawgs’ score. Morrisville turned the ball over on the 15 yard line on its very first offensive drive and Cookson also threw a pick that came back the other way for a Jenkintown score.

While the Bulldogs lost the Thanksgiving Day duel, 44-7, last year, folks can expect Morrisville to put up a fight Thursday morning. For Bristol, this might just be the Super Bowl for seniors Woodrow Vorters and Tyler Bliss as the Warriors were left out of this year’s postseason tournament after a late-season loss to BAL champion Lower Moreland.

Gober says that, come 10:30 a.m., Thursday morning, you can expect a challenge from the blue and gold.

“I’m not sure what other people are expecting. I know that WE expect a good battle on the gridiron this year,” stated Gober. “We’re just putting our game plan in and giving it our best effort and we’ll see what happens.”

While the Bulldogs went winless (0-3) in the BAL, they actually gave Lower Moreland a real battle, trailing by a single point late in the game before falling, 33-26.

“It was a nip-and-tuck game,” stated Gober. “We had some turnovers early on that put us in a hole but we crawled out of it.”

“We just came up a little short.”

Among their seven no-league wins, according to Gober, Morrisville’s triumph over Dwight-Englewood was the most impressive. The ‘Dawgs actually trailed, 20-8, early on (again turnovers were to blame) but came back to win, 65-20.

“They were up but our kids came back,” stated Gober. “Once we started piling on the points, they folded their tents and went home.”

One factor to keep in mind is that although Cookson threw for big yardage last season (1,398), Morrisville only managed 105 yards in total offense against Bristol. The Dawgs failed to move the ball on the ground at all, tallying a telling -32 yards rushing in the game. Also, the last time Morrisville win was 1999, meaning the Warriors have won the last nine contests.

Another thing to factor in is that vorters came into last year’s contest nursing an ankle injury that caused him to miss the previous four skirmishes. While Vorters has had injury problems again this year, he appears to be healthy rushing for 163 yards his last time out vs. the Lions. Woodrow currently has 955 yards rushing on the season and will be looking to eclipse that mark vs. Morrisville.

NOTES: The traditional duel between the two schools goes back to 1928 when the Warriors notched the first of nine straight wins over the Bulldogs.

Bristol leads the all-time Thanksgiving Day series, 41-35-3, making this game the 80th time the sides have squared off.

A special halftime ceremony is planned honoring all the former players from both schools.

In addition, both teams will be wearing commemorative jerseys to mark the anniversary of this game.