English–Latin football rivalry

Since 1887, two of the oldest public schools[1][2][3] in the United States, the Boston Latin School and English High School of Boston, have faced off in an annual football competition which now takes place on Thanksgiving day at Harvard Stadium. The rivalry had been the longest-running continuous high school football rivalry in the U.S,[4][5] until the streak was broken in the 2020 season; the game was played every year, even during World War I, the Spanish flu, and World War II, but high school football was banned in Massachusetts in 2020 as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts. It remains the fifth longest all time behind Phillips Academy versus Phillips Exeter Academy; Wellesley, Massachusetts versus Needham, Massachusetts; New London, Connecticut versus Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut; and Lawrenceville School vs. The Hill School.

Stats

The series began with both teams' formation in 1887. Prior to 1887, English and Latin had fielded a unified team.[6]

Until the late 1960s, the rivalry was fairly even. Since that time, Latin has dominated the series, leading all time 83–37–13, and winning 52 of the last 56 contests (1964-2019).

Latin's dominance could be considered at its zenith in the 1970s when they held English to only 28 points for the entire decade.

Ten of the games ended in scoreless ties, a rare feat in modern Football at any level, although the last instance of this came in 1945. The implementation of overtime has dramatically reduced the number of tie games throughout the game of football.

Much of the series has been decided in blowout victories by one side or the other, with 63 of the 133 games being decided by shutouts and 38 of the contests ending in 20-point or more victories.

Game results

Year	Latin	English	Winner
1887	16	0	Latin
1888	38	0	Latin
1889	4	10	English
1890	0	22	English
1891	14	10	Latin
1892	10	12	English
1893	0	6	English
1894	4	0	Latin
1895	0	4	English
1896	0	6	English
1897	6	44	English
1898	5	0	Latin
1899	0	23	English
1900	12	0	Latin
1901	6	5	Latin
1902	25	0	Latin
1903	5	0	Latin
1904	5	5	Tie
1905	0	0	Tie
1906	0	10	English
1907	0	5	English
1908	6	6	Tie
1909	0	0	Tie
1910	9	0	Latin
1911	0	0	Tie
1912	7	6	Latin
1913	0	21	English
1914	3	3	Tie
1915	14	13	Latin
1916	0	13	English
1917	0	13	English
1918	28	0	Latin
1919	0	0	Tie
1920	6	7	English
1921	0	0	Tie
1922	20	6	Latin
1923	0	0	Tie
1924	7	0	Latin
1925	0	7	English
1926	0	6	English
1927	13	20	English
1928	0	18	English
1929	13	6	Latin
1930	13	14	English
1931	6	0	Latin
1932	18	7	Latin
1933	7	20	English
1934	13	12	Latin
1935	0	14	English
1936	13	0	Latin
1937	0	0	Tie
1938	0	6	English
1939	0	0	Tie
1940	19	12	Latin
1941	19	0	Latin
1942	0	19	English
1943	0	0	Tie
1944	6	13	English
1945	0	0	Tie
1946	0	19	English
1947	13	26	English
1948	19	0	Latin
1949	19	0	Latin
1950	30	41	English
1951	0	30	English
1952	30	12	Latin
1953	31	25	Latin
1954	20	6	Latin
1955	14	20	English
1956	19	12	Latin
1957	20	26	English
1958	26	24	Latin
1959	22	6	Latin
1960	20	16	Latin
1961	0	39	English
1962	6	32	English
1963	12	18	English
1964	24	22	Latin
1965	24	12	Latin
1966	18	20	English
1967	14	0	Latin
1968	33	12	Latin
1969	40	0	Latin
1970	12	8	Latin
1971	6	0	Latin
1972	40	0	Latin
1973	35	8	Latin
1974	42	0	Latin
1975	24	6	Latin
1976	11	6	Latin
1977	23	0	Latin
1978	34	0	Latin
1979	22	0	Latin
1980	20	0	Latin
1981	2	14	English
1982	15	6	Latin
1983	21	6	Latin
1984	43	0	Latin
1985	10	6	Latin
1986	40	6	Latin
1987	14	6	Latin
1988	20	13	Latin
1989	22	6	Latin
1990	14	6	Latin
1991	19	0	Latin
1992	41	0	Latin
1993	7	6	Latin
1994	41	0	Latin
1995	36	12	Latin
1996	31	6	Latin
1997	6	8	English
1998	34	6	Latin
1999	42	20	Latin
2000	14	0	Latin
2001	46	6	Latin
2002	38	7	Latin
2003	36	7	Latin
2004	44	0	Latin
2005	36	12	Latin
2006	14	0	Latin
2007	33	6	Latin
2008	36	0	Latin
2009	27	16	Latin
2010	54	12	Latin
2011	50	0	Latin [7]
2012	44	15	Latin [8]
2013	12	14	English [9]
2014	25	8	Latin [10]
2015	28	6	Latin [11]
2016	34	20	Latin
2017	22	14	Latin
2018	20	16	Latin
2019	16	6	Latin[12]
2020	NO GAME

See also

• List of High School Football Rivalries

References

1. "Boston Latin School". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 18, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2014. oldest existing school in the United States
2. "English High School". Boston Public Schools. Retrieved January 9, 2014. The oldest public high school in the United States
3. Mark Tennis; Doug Huff (August 23, 2005). "High school football's top 10 rivalries". Rivals.com from Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 9, 2014. Boston Latin also happens to be the oldest high school in the U.S. (founded in 1635) while Boston English is the oldest public high school in the U.S. (founded 1821)
4. Mark Tennis; Doug Huff (August 23, 2005). "High school football's top 10 rivalries". Rivals.com from Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 9, 2014. nation's longest, continuous high school sports rivalry game is held in Boston each Thanksgiving
5. • Emily Werchadlo (November 24, 2005). "It's still defined by Latin and English". Boston.com. Boston Globe Media. Retrieved January 9, 2015. It still has all the features of a great rivalry. Two of the oldest schools in the country, sharing the same city name, playing on Thanksgiving Day for 119 consecutive years.
6. Bob Holmes (November 21, 2012). "What Oneida club reveals about high school football history". Boston.com. Boston Globe Media. Retrieved January 9, 2014. The first Thanksgiving game between Boston Latin and Boston English was 1887. Prior to that, the two schools played against other Boston area schools as a united team called High & Latin School, or H.L.S. But by 1887, the two schools had grown enough to form their own teams, according to research done by Boston English trustee Peter Powilatis.
7. Jim Connelly (November 24, 2011). "Recap: Boston Latin 50, Boston English 0". ESPN Boston High School Blog. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
8. "Thanksgiving High School Football Scores". CBS Boston. November 21, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
9. Justin Rice (November 28, 2013). "Boston English beats Boston Latin for first time since 1997". Boston.com. Boston Globe Media. Retrieved January 10, 2014. English's 14-12 victory at Harvard Stadium in the 127th playing of the nation's oldest continuous high school football rivalry...
10. "Thanksgiving roundup: Cambridge holds off Somerville". The Boston Globe. November 27, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2014. Boston Latin 25, Boston English 8
11. "Boston Latin cruises past Boston English at Fenway Park". The Boston Globe. November 26, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2015.
12. Connolly, John (November 28, 2019). "Boston Latin jumps out early, hold off Boston English". The Boston Herald. Retrieved November 28, 2019.