Historic look at Vineland-Millville rivalry in '5' years
The Millville High School football team has dominated its Thanksgiving rivalry with Vineland of late, winning six straight by a combined margin of 232-77.
The Fighting Clan would love to break that streak this season, just like they broke another historic Thunderbolt run 60 years ago.
Vineland scored one of the biggest victories in rivalry history in 1955, ending Millville’s 31-game winning streak, 27-6, in a battle of unbeaten teams.
It was one of many memorable Fighting Clan wins over the Bolts in years ending in “5”. Vineland holds an 8-4-1 advantage in those games, and capped three of the program’s six unbeaten seasons over the last 100 years with wins over Millville in 1925, '55 and '65.
Read about these contests and other games in years ending in “5” in historic clippings from the Evening Journal, Evening Times, Vineland Times Journal and The Daily Journal.
1895
Millville 12, Vineland 9
Vineland 4, Millville 4
Vineland 16, Millville 0
The football game yesterday between the Millville and Vineland High School nines resulted in a score of 16 to 0 in favor of Vineland. The Vineland boys are the people today.
Evening Journal
Nov. 29, 1895
1905
No game
1915
Vineland 19, Millville 6
The V.H.S. football team yesterday won a decisive victory over the Millville H.S. eleven by the score of 19-6. The Vineland boys played fine and the victory was a well-earned one. A feeling of keenest rivalry existed between the two teams and followers of the Red and Gray were very happy over the victory.
Cheesman, Miller and Douglass were the individual stars of the game. The entire team backed them up very well and Vineland adherents were surprised at the brand of football displayed by the boys.
Cheesman, by his brilliant running and dodging, was responsible for 12 of Vineland’s 19 points. In the first two minutes of play he ran from midfield through the Millville team for a touchdown. R. Miller kicked the goal. Later on Miller pulled off a spectacular run, which brought the ball to within a few yards of the enemy’s goal. Cheeseman took the ball over the line again for 6 more points. Bobbie Miller, however, was hurt when he was tackled at the end of his run and had to be withdrawn from the game. His ankle became quite painful but it is expected that he will soon be in shape again. Douglas made the last second half of the game. His splendid tackling was a feature of the defense of the team.
Evening Journal
Oct. 27, 1915
1925
Vineland 7, Millville 0
The Vineland High School football team completed its season yesterday, defeating Millville at Millville, 7 to 0. This is the first time in at least 15 years that Millville has been defeated on their own grounds. This victory gives Vineland the county championship and most likely South Jersey. The scoring of yesterday brings Vineland’s season total to 186 points, while two field goals have been scored against them, giving their opponents 6 points. Vineland is the only team in South Jersey, if not in the state, that has not had its goal line crossed. This also is the first time in about 10 years that Vineland has defeated both Millville and Bridgeton.
Vineland had been favored to win the game for some time and from the first whistle to the last they were winners, although Millville did offer some, but not too much, resistance. In the first quarter two times the ball was on Millville’s ten-yard line only to have it put back 15 yards for a backfield man using his hand. This robbed Vineland of another touchdown. Millville found after a few plays that to hit Vineland’s line was useless, so their entire attack was through the air. Millville completed three passes out of a possible 12 or 15, while Vineland completed five passes out of five attempts in the first half. In the second half their aerial attack was dropped.
Evening Journal
Nov. 21, 1925
1935
Vineland 32, Millville 0
Vineland High School’s football representatives of 1935 closed their season yesterday afternoon before 7,000 fans by crushing a scrappy Millville High School eleven, 32-0, displaying a varied attack on the Municipal field in Millville.
The Red and Gray successfully defended their Cumberland County championship for the ninth straight time by virtue of the win and also at least clinched a tie with Collingswood High School for first place in South Jersey Group 4 standing. A muddy field slowed up both teams. Rain fell intermittently during the game.
The minions of Coach Nello Dallolio swamped their rivals both in the air and on the ground, gaining 182 yards via the airways and running up 205 yards from scrimmage, while Millville heaved almost twice as many passes and gained but 97 markers, picking up 61 on the ground.
Vince DeRuchie, hard-running quarterback, who played the finale of his high school career, crossed the goal line thrice after sustained drives. Leon Mucciarelli and Vasco Fenell, fullback and end, who also played their last game for V.H.S., each contributed a touchdown and an extra point.
Evening Times
Nov. 29, 1935
1945
Vineland 38, Millville 12
Vineland High School regained the Cumberland County football championship at Wheaton Field, Millville, yesterday afternoon by running roughshod over the Millville High School eleven, 38-12, in their annual Thanksgiving clash. Nearly 6,000 fans viewed the Red and Gray victory.
Vineland scored in the first two minutes of play on a 44-yard run through Millville’s line by “Buddy” Manaresi and the contest turned into a rout as the Poultry Clan added three more touchdowns in the first half and two in the second half on a rain-softened field.
Following Manaresi’s touchdown, Otto Blank and Paul Webb each scored twice for Vineland and Gene Caterina once. Blank added two extra points on a line plunge and a placement kick.
Little Don Ewen registered both Millville touchdowns, one on a pass and another on a pass interception.
Del Brandt
Vineland Times Journal
Nov. 23, 1945
1955
Vineland 27, Millville 6
Vineland High’s first unbeaten team in 16 years smashed Millville’s 31-game winning streak and established itself as the best football team in South Jersey with an awesome demonstration before 11,000 chilled spectators yesterday afternoon at Wheaton Field, Millville.
The win, first in seven years against Millville, assured Vineland a healthy rating in the state ranking next month and just about guaranteed Nello Dallolio any “Coach of the Year” awards that are around. His team finished its season with a terrific 8-0-1 record after a poor season in 1954 when the Red and Gray won only three games.
The loss prevented Millville from claiming a new state record for consecutive victories and ended Johnny Barbose’s domination over Vineland. It was the first time that any of his teams have lost to Vineland and it was the first time in four years that any Millville eleven has lost on Wheaton Field.
Dallolio’s Vineland eleven played its best game of the season in defeating the very good Millville team. There were heroes galore for the winners.
Jay Luisi climaxed a great Vineland career with two touchdowns and a 39-yard scamper that was the best of the day for the winners.
Howie Mikytuck came into his own by pitching for three touchdowns, including 52 yards to Bob Spada and 66 yards to Danny DePalma. It was his faking and his generalship that set up the winning touchdown in the third quarter.
Tom Flynn
Vineland Times Journal
Nov. 25, 1955
1965
Vineland 34, Millville 0
A high-powered, many-sided offense and a defense which allowed 20 yards on the ground and intercepted five passes combined yesterday to give Vineland High School’s unbeaten football team a 34-0 triumph over Millville before a Thanksgiving Day crowd of 8,000.
The victory clinched the South Jersey Group IV Conference and Cumberland County championships for the 1965 Vineland team, which became the seventh unbeaten squad in the school’s 71 year football history when it closed out an 8-0-1 season.
Vineland’s margin of victory was the third largest in the history of the series, which goes back to 1894, and the Red & Gray might well have topped the 1926 (45-0) and 1939 (39-0) margins had not coach Bill Gaynor substituted freely in the final period.
Lou Battestella, Clay Bogan, Tom Mascola, Tony Tirelli and Sterling Dusharm scored a touchdown each for Vineland and sophomore kicking specialist Bruce Hofstetter iced the cake with four extra-point boots in five attempts.
Dusharm and Mascola each intercepted two Millville passes and Bogan grabbed a fifth as the defensive unit, powered by a blistering line rush, smashed the primary weapon in the Thunderbolt arsenal.
Bob Wright
Vineland Times Journal
Nov. 26, 1965
1975
Millville 22, Vineland 7
MILLVILLE - Vineland High School fans began to think the unthinkable – victory over archrival Millville – when the Clan managed to take a 7-0 lead over the Thunderbolts at Wheaton Field here yesterday.
But the unbeaten, untied T-Bolts turned every Vineland error into points and quickly brought coach Bill Cutchers troops and the VHS rooters down to earth – winning the annual grid confrontation, 22-7.
More than 8,000 brave fans jammed into the stadium, despite heavy rain and high winds, which quickly turned the playing surface into a mud bowl. Some of the hardier fans began lining up at the ticket booths as early as 8 a.m.
The rain made the footing treacherous and caused a total of eight fumbles in the contest. As a result, it forced both offensive teams to use more conservative calls, increasing the ferocity of the line battles.
John Sbrana
Vineland Times Journal
Nov. 28, 1975
1985
Vineland 33, Millville 20
MILLVILLE - The rain came down in a soft, steady mist; the points went up in quick, sudden bursts.
With flash-flood quickness, Vineland splashed up 12 points in two and one-half minutes here; Millville responded with a downpour of 14 points in two and one-half minutes there.
When the clock put an end to this deluge of offense (the teams combined for over 650 yards and 29 first downs), Vineland High School owned a tougher-than-it-looks 33-20 win over Millville High School in the 120th Vineland-Millville clash Thursday at Wheaton Field.
The win gives the Fighting Clan, which finished the season at 7-2, its seventh straight win, its third victory in a row over Millville, its third successive Cumberland County title and a share of the Cape-Atlantic League Division I title for the second consecutive season (Vineland and Ocean City are co-champions; Holy Spirit lost a chance to share the crown with a 15-12 upset loss to Atlantic City yesterday).
The Clan took home the turkey yesterday because, after turning early Millville mistakes into a big lead, Vineland was able to hold off a frenzied Thunderbolt comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. Vineland, which owned a 26-6 lead after three periods, appeared at that point to have both arms wrapped around a victory. Instead, the Clan ended up hanging on by its fingertips, or more precisely, the fingertips of senior linebacker Dan Falasca.
Falasca, a 6-foot-1, 210-pounder, turned in the defensive play of the game, grabbing Bolt back William Gaskins by the shirt tail to squeeze the last bit of life from the Millville rally.
At the time, Vineland was shakily holding a 26-20 lead in the face of an avalanche of Millville momentum, which had just eroded a 20-point VHS lead to a six-point edge in a matter of minutes.
The Bolts began one last try at a miracle comeback at their own 12-yard line with four minutes to play. Five plays later they had moved to the 35 and were facing a fourth-and-three situation. Quarterback Rich Grim pitched the ball to Gaskins, who headed for the left corner with an array of blockers in front of him. Falasca shot the gap between two of those blockers and, while lying on his back, held on to Gaskins jersey until help arrived.
Alex Curio
Vineland Times Journal
Nov. 29, 1985
1995
Millville 23, Vineland 12
MILLVILLE – It all started with a big hit.
An interception followed, and a long touchdown run finished it off.
What looked like a huge upset by Vineland Thursday turned into a 23-12 Millville win.
The Fighting Clan, leading by four points in the fourth quarter, was driving for the score that would have gone a long way to sealing their first win in the Thanksgiving rivalry since 1991.
Vineland had second-and-five at the Millville 15-yard line.
“I was thinking if they score here we’re down two scores and we’ve got to go hurry-up (offense), not no-huddle, hurry-up,” Millville coach Tony Surace said. “They had us back on our heels, big time.”
That’s when the hit came.
Clan quarterback Sharvell Johnson handed off to Calvin Wilkinson. Wilkinson tried the left side and was drilled by defensive end Eric Heffernan for a 1-yard loss.
The Millville side went wild and something seemed to happen to the Bolt players.
“I was on the slant,” Heffernan said. “I put all my weight and effort into it and, luckily, I was able to make a play.
“The team got pumped up, the crowd went crazy and gave us confidence to come back and win the game.”
Teammate John Green had seen it before.
“Eric did the same thing to me when we were in midgets,” Green said.
Vineland then faced third-and-six. Johnson dropped back to throw, was flushed to his right and threw back across the field.
Linebacker Charlie Rogers intercepted the ball and returned it 34 yards to the Millville 44-yard line.
“I thought it was going to be a run because that’s what they were doing to us,” Rogers said. “Our lineman were rushing him a lot and forced him out.”
Green knew the momentum had swung.
“I said, ‘This the turning point. We’re going to take it right down their throat and win,’” Green said. “It happened faster than I thought. It was like a lightning bolt.”
Millville took over with 6 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the game. Green started to the inside, was met at the line of scrimmage and then bounced it outside to the right, taking the ball 56 yards for the touchdown and giving the Bolts a 14-12 lead.
Kevin B. McCusker
The Daily Journal
Nov. 24, 1995
2005
Millville 30, Vineland 22
MILLVILLE – As he walked from Wheaton Field to the locker room at halftime of Thursday morning’s annual Vineland-Millville Thanksgiving Day high school football game, Millville High School wide receiver Dale Parris was as shocked and startled as anyone.
The scoreboard revealed the harsh truth: On their home field, in front of 3,500 fans, Parris’ heavily favored Thunderbolts were down by two touchdowns to a Vineland team that took the field with just one victory all season. In addition, the Fighting Clan had absolutely dominated, making both touchdowns look easy and chewing up more than 20 minutes of possession time. Only a tough break for Vineland – a fumble into the end zone by quarterback Bruce Bartley as he neared the pylon that gave Millville the ball via a touchback – had prevented the Fighting Clan from taking a three-touchdown lead.
So Parris, a senior, did what seniors do best. He led.
“Going into the locker room, a lot of people weren’t saying anything,” Parris said. “So I just spoke up and told them, ‘We need to get this done. I don’t want to go out losing my last game.’”
Apparently, the team listened. With Parris (two TD receptions) and fellow senior Charlie Patterson (two TD runs) leading the way, Millville reeled off four consecutive touchdowns in the second half en route to a 30-22 win. It’s the Bolts’ 13th win in the last 14 meetings with the Fighting Clan.
Millville finished 2005 with its third consecutive 6-4 season and has closed the all-time gap against Vineland to 60-55-19.
“We were 2-4 earlier this year, and were at the bottom of the mountain. And we fought our way out of that,” said Millville coach Dave Heck, who improved to 8-1 in his career against Vineland (1-9). “If we could do that, we could fight our way out of 14-0 (down). Of course, we didn’t have five weeks to do this. We had 24 minutes.”
Geoff Dodd
The Daily Journal
Nov. 25, 2005
Josh Friedman; (856) 563-5257; jfriedman2@gannettnj.com