Turkey Day 2023 preview: Thanksgiving in The City is a San Francisco gridiron treat
SAN FRANCISCO — Some pictures are worth more than 1,000 words.
There's one of Kezar Stadium from the 1940s hanging prominently in the home office of Lincoln coach Phil Ferrigno that pings him directly in the heart.
It was taken by his grandfather from UCSF hospital, which overlooks the historic athletic facility that sits on the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park and housed the 49ers from 1946 to 1970.
“My wife found the photo and blew it up,” Ferrigno said. “It definitely has a special meaning. I never thought I’d be doing this every Thanksgiving. I’m very grateful.”
They’ve been playing high school football games on Thanksgiving at Kezar since the 1920s and lately it’s been Ferrigno and Lincoln’s holiday destination.
The Mustangs will make their fifth straight Turkey Day Game appearance Thursday when they face Balboa for a fourth straight meeting. Since Ferrigno took over at Lincoln in 2002, the Mustangs have reached 13 Turkey Day Games, which doubles as the San Francisco Section championship.
Of those, they’ve won nine, including a four-year run from 2005 to 2008 when the late and great David Henderson annually carved up opponents with 100-yard, multi-touchdown games.
A victory Thursday would be Lincoln’s fourth in five games years, with the one loss in 2021 to Balboa (there was no game in 2020 due to the pandemic). They beat Balboa last season 44-7 but most games are tight to the finish, like earlier this season, a 15-10 Lincoln win.
“I’m totally stoked for Thursday, like all the rest of them,” Ferrigno said. “It should be another typical Lincoln-Balboa game with a lot of hard-hitting. Balboa always brings it.”
Calling card
The game — and day — holds a special meaning to Balboa coach Fred Velasquez, who graduated from the school in 1989. Raised by a single parent, Velasquez played football to stay out of trouble, he said. He recognized the impact of the sport and his coaches and immediately helped out as an assistant upon graduation.
“I knew I had a calling,” Velasquez said. “I loved it from the start.”
Especially when the Buccaneers had success and made the 1992 Turkey Day Game, only to lose to McAteer. Velasquez had several coaching stops since then and returned to his alma mater to take over in 2018, a season after Balboa went winless. He elevated the Bucs to 5-4 his first season and they’ve been to the Turkey Day Game every season since, winning the 2021 game 21-0 en route to a state 7-A title. It was Balboa’s first state title in any sport and first SFS crown since 1984.
It was one of five straight state crowns for SFS teams, with Galileo (2017) and Lincoln (2018, 2019, 2022) winning the rest. Velasquez said nothing beats playing for a section title on Thanksgiving.
“It’s just a total blessing,” he said. “It never gets old. It’s a great day for the city. We’re the only game around. We’re going to enjoy the moment but this year we’ll take a little more business-like approach.”
No secrets
Four players from the 2021 state title team are mainstays on the current squad, running back-strong safety Dontee Allen-Wilson, lineman Nifae Tinoifili, free safety Christian Menjivar and defensive end Michael Zapata, who leads the section sacks with eight.
First-year quarterback Rylen Thien-Jones, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound sophomore, has improved immensely late, throwing for 532 and 11 touchdowns his final three regular-season games. He spreads the ball to as many as eight receivers.
“This is his first year of playing football, period,” Velasquez said. “He’s very mature. Smart. And he can really throw it.”
He threw for only 26 yards on seven completions when Lincoln beat Balboa 15-10 on Oct. 21. Jamelle Newman had 29 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns for Lincoln in that one and has 198 attempts for 1,708 yards and 22 scores on the season.
“Our first job is to stop No. 4 (Newman),” Velasquez said. “We’re not going to completely stop him. Lincoln does what it does and will pound the rock time after time after time. But we need to make it difficult on them.”
Newman rushed for a career-high 339 yards and six touchdowns in a 46-13 semifinal win over Washington last week. He’s been helped by tremendous line play of late from center Henry Flores (6-1, 240), Yuan Lin (6-2, 220) and Chester Bliss (6-4, 265).
Senior fullback and linebacker Diego Cristerna (556 rushing yards, eight TDs, team-high 74 tackles) is another key player for the Mustangs, who have won seven straight games.
“Balboa runs a bunch of formations so we’ll have to be prepared to stop a lot of things,” Ferrigno said. “They are playing better and better and so are we so it should be a heck of a game.”
