Marshall University Athletics
Managers Edge Trainers in Annual Turkey Bowl
11/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Nov. 26, 2008
HUNTINGTON - J.T. Wain came off the bench to throw three touchdown passes, including a game-winner with less than a minute remaining, to propel the managers to a 23-19 win over their archrival trainers in the annual Turkey Bowl at a cold and windy Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Wednesday.
The annual flag football game between Marshall's equipment staff and athletic training staff has gone on for decades and is one of the great Thanksgiving week traditions.
"It was a team win today and I am just glad I was able to step in and help my team when they needed me," Wain said. "I hope this win takes some of the heat of our skipper - Rich Worner. He is a good equipment man and I hope our equipment room alumni realize that."
Worner has received flak from many, due to the fact that his team has dropped two Turkey Bowls in recent years after not yielding a single loss in what seemed like a generation.
Wain came in to the game on the manager's second possession of the first quarter when starter Justin Garren went down with a pulled hamstring. The injury is just the latest in this fierce and physical slug fest between two organizations that has gone on for decades. As usual, this year's contest featured at least one game stopping fight that led to the ejection of players from the field.
Wain connected on touchdown passes of 23 yards to Adam Brooks, 28 yards to Ben Midkiff and 40 yards to David Mullins to seal the victory over a feisty trainers group that made Turkey Bowl history in their own right.
The trainers unleashed Kenji Ueda on the managers and the youngster came through with the first-ever made field goal in Turkey Bowl history - a 37-yarder. The trainers did record a safety in the contest when Tom Belmaggio and Paul Insalaco nabbed Wain in the endzone off of a bad snap. They also countered with two touchdown passes from Matt Smith to Cody Wren and Dr. Hans.
For weeks, much of the pre-game hype centered on trainer Collin Meyers who analysts predicted would be a key factor in the contest, and as luck would have it, the UAB transplant and WVU grad was, indeed, a factor. Despite having an estimated 15 passes thrown his way, Meyers managed only three catches for 5 yards in the losing effort.
"This is definitely a bitter rivalry and now I have a bitter taste left in my mouth following this loss," Trainer skipper Tom Belmaggio said after his first Turkey Bowl appearance. "We had it and just let it slip away. It was nothing that the managers did it was all us. We just shot ourselves in the foot. "
Belmaggio himself is under pressure from training staff alumni who have become spoiled following two Turkey Bowl victories under the direction of former football trainer Josh Signs.
The coveted "Keg," the traveling trophy in the series, will now rest in the equipment room until the rivalry is renewed in November of next year. The entire managers squad was named the game MVP.
"Its home where it belongs and balance has returned to the universe," a victorious Worner said. "They don't deserve such a major award as this."
