William E. Tolman High School - Thanksgiving Football Rivalries

Thanksgiving Football Rivalries

Tolman High School shared a 73 year old Thanksgiving Day football rivalry with nearby private school, Saint Raphael Academy. Throughout the 90's, however, due to the trend in lopsided games resulting from a more powerful private school, it was decided in 2001 that Tolman's new rival would be Shea High School, the city's second public high school across the Blackstone River. Saint Raphael's had been leading the series 38-34-4 before it was dissolved and had won the final 8 meetings by a combined score of 270-6.

In the summer of 2010, due to realignment by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and request by Saint Raphael Academy, Saint Ray's dropped from Division I to Division II B, the same division as Tolman. On September 17, 2010, for the first time since 2001, Tolman revived it's rivalry with Saint Ray's. Tolman won the contest with a score of 37-0.

In the days of the old rivalry on Thanksgiving Eve, Tolman students would participate in the annual Burning of the Casket ceremony on the Blackstone River. This ceremony would take place after the Homecoming dance and involved the release of a burning casket down the Blackstone River. The tradition of the burning of the casket however, was abandoned in the early 2000s. The traditional pep rally held prior to the game was canceled in 2009 but returned the following year.