WS Chronicle

The Elite 8 Alumni Association nonprofit held its annual Turkey Bowl flag football game this past Thanksgiving Day.  On a crisp and cool Thursday morning, teams from eight Forsyth County schools took to the gridiron: North Forsyth, Mount Tabor, Reynolds, West Forsyth, East Forsyth, Parkland, Carver and Glenn high schools. 

After the dust settled, the Vikings from North Forsyth were crowned 2017 Turkey Bowl champions after defeating Parkland by a 6-0 margin.

Defending champion Reynolds was not able to hold on to the championship.  Event organizer Harry Harris thought this may have been one of the biggest crowds to date for the flag football game.  He says the partnership with The Chronicle newspaper has definitely “gotten the word out to more people.”

“Man, this was beautiful and everything turned out tremendously well,” said Harris.  “So far it’s been a great partnership with The Chronicle with James Taylor, yourself [Timothy Ramsey] and Ms. [Shayna] Smith. Y’all did a great job in helping me promote this.”

“I want to thank Mr. King [of Kingz Downtown Market] with the groceries he donated and I am just proud to help the community.  I didn’t think that North Forsyth would win, but they deserved it.  This year I think the kickball and the basketball tournament will be even better than I could have imagined.”

North Forsyth was somewhat of a surprise winner coming into the tournament.  They displayed toughness and tenacity all day to bring home the trophy.  The championship game was a hard fought one against Parkland.

With the Vikings up late, the Parkland offense had one final chance to win.  After driving deep into Viking territory, the Mustangs were unable to score the game-tying touchdown.  Viking players and fans were ecstatic to bring the championship to North Forsyth.

“We came a long way because we were a very young team and the past two years we have lost 6-0,” said Mike Rucker, a player for North Forsyth.  “We were hungry and we knew what we had to do to win.  We knew if we just took care of the small things we could win. 

“No one really scored on us this year.  Mount Tabor scored on a fluke play and we beat the defending champions 7-0 and beat Parkland 6-0.  We are coming back next year with the same squad and we will be as hungry as ever.”

Javorius Speas, another North Forsyth player, added, “This win was great and to see that ball get knocked down at the end was great.  This was real big for us and next year we have everything we need to win it all again.”

According to Harris, this year they were able to raise over 1,500 donated canned goods.  The donations will be sent to the Salvation Army food bank.  Harris says he gets a great deal of pleasure out of knowing they are bringing the community together while also helping the less fortunate.

There were over 400 spectators that came out to watch the game.  All were proud to see the alumni come together for something positive.

“Things like this just makes me smile on the inside,” said Sandra Barnes, a spectator in the crowd.  “I just enjoy being able to see all these people come out with no violence and just have fun.  You have kids, adults and older people together having fun together and that is a great sight to see.”