A Look Back
By Fred Miller
One hundred and three years ago, November 3, 1917, the Ocean City High School football team played Pleasantville High School for the first time. One sentence in the Ocean City Ledger reported on the game: “The football team of the Ocean City High School played Pleasantville High School team last Saturday afternoon on the Pleasantville grounds and lost.” The local paper did not report it was a 106-7 loss. It is to this day, OCHS worst defeat.
The first game to be played on Thanksgiving Day was 1921. The Ocean City Sentinel reported: “A large crowd watched with interest the football contest between Pleasantville and Ocean City High School elevens on the grounds here Thanksgiving morning, which resulted in a victory for the visitors, who scored seven points and shut out the locals.”
Because of the rivalry, all the games were important, but none more than the 1932 contest. Ocean City was undefeated and had only given up six points all season. The game ended with a 24-0 win. It was the first undefeated season for OCHS.
The 1940 game and what happened after the game almost ended the annual Thanksgiving game. The front page article in the November 22, 1940 Daily Sentinel-Ledger reported what happened under this headline: “2 In Hospital, 2 Arrested In Wake of Football Game Here; Riot on Field Follows Annual Thanksgiving Tussle with Pleasantville; One Car Damaged; Several Eyes Blackened.”
The article reported, “Yesterday’s shameful affair was perhaps the worst to date. It sent two youths to the hospital, caused the arrest of two others, resulted in damage to an automobile and created a disgraceful free-for-all that is not in keeping with Ocean City’s way of doing things.”
Fortunately, school officials met and discussed how to control the hoodlums, and the 1941 game was played with no problems.
Few high schools in the country can boast of an athletic rivalry older the Ocean City-Pleasantville football game. The two teams will meet again on the Pleasantville field Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2020 at 10 a.m. Ocean City won last year 26-0, and leads the series 52-43. Seven games ended in a tie.
