TIFTON — Football and Thanksgiving.

Two area football teams, Tift County and Irwin County, had to prepare for games coming the day after Turkey Day.

Ashley Anders and Buddy Nobles, head coaches of the two schools, naturally do not mind having to sacrifice what would normally be days off for educators.

Thanksgiving was once the biggest day of the season for high school football, reserved for teams’ biggest rivals. Tifton’s big opponent was Fitzgerald and they played on the day annually from 1925-57.

Thanksgiving football was all but eliminated in the state by the early 1960s because of the expansion of the state playoffs.

Irwin has played the day after Thanksgiving for the past five seasons. Nobles has been in Ocilla for four of these years, making him a real pro at arranging schedules.

Nobles has no problems with his players eating a huge Thanksgiving meal.

“We tell them to go ahead and eat,” he said.

This is the deepest Tift County has been in state since 2006.

Anders, hoping to give his crew just a bit more momentum in state, took his team to Ole Times Country Buffet in Tifton Wednesday for a Thanksgiving meal.

He was inspired to make his choice based on a meal eaten at Valdosta State 13 years ago.

In 2004, he said, VSU ate at the Valdosta Ole Times for Thanksgiving. Three weeks later, the Blazers won the first of three Division II national titles, defeating Pittsburg State (Kan.), 36-31.

Tift visits Brookwood Friday night. Irwin will be hosting Macon County.