Bishop Fenwick coach David Woods never expected to get star quarterback Bryce Leaman on the field after suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the season.

The day before the Thanksgiving Day contest against Masconomet, Woods, the Leaman family and the team trainer discussed the option of padding his knee and protecting it so much that he could possibly make a cameo appearance in his final varsity game against Masconomet.

“I’m just thinking, maybe he can go out, take a snap in shotgun and just hand the ball off. Just to get him on the field one last time,” Woods said. “During the pregame, he looked good so I thought maybe we could put him in shotgun and throw a pass.”

Leaman did a little more than that. He started the game, played the first two series and one more in the fourth quarter. The quarterback with a torn ACL, MCL and PCL went on to complete 11-of-16 passes for 123 yards and cap off his high school career by throwing a back-shoulder fade to Kurtis Bruch for a touchdown in a 39-3 win.

“To me this is really what high school football is all about,” Woods said. “I’m still emotional and humbled just thinking about what he did.”

Leaman wasn’t the only quarterback to show some guts.

Xaverian’s Henry Hasselbeck may have looked like someone who went 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, but he refused to buckle against a physical St. John’s Prep defense. Playing with what was said to be a broken nose, Hasselbeck rallied his team in the fourth quarter. First he sprinted 54 yards for one score and marched his team into field goal position for Luke Bell to hit the game-winning field goal on the final play to give Xaverian a 23-21 win and a share of the Catholic Conference title.

What would Thanksgiving Day football be without a couple of magical historical moments?

Start with Abington and Jim Kelliher, who announced his retirement as the school’s head coach before the start of the preseason. He celebrated his 50th and final game in style as Abington rolled to a 46-6 victory.

Over in Wakefield, the Warriors defeated Melrose 7-3, depriving coach Tim Morris of a chance to earn his 200th win. The game’s only touchdown was scored by Steve Woish and it came 75 years after his grandfather, Bill Deroche threw a touchdown pass to John Sardella to give Wakefield a 6-0 win over Gloucester.

Much thanks to Mike Uva for sharing this family tidbit.

SWEET 16

1. Xaverian (10-2): Beating Springfield Central, Needham and St. John’s Prep in less than three weeks is pretty darned good.

2. St. John’s Prep (11-1): Eagles get a second shot at Xaverian in the Div. 1 state championship game next week.

3. King Philip (12-0): Venues simply don’t matter with this defense.

4. Duxbury (10-1): Dragons showed some mettle in the clutch against an excellent Marshfield team.

5. Marshfield (9-3): Rams have little time to dwell on the last-minute loss to Duxbury with a state title game against King Philip next up.

6. Catholic Memorial (8-3): Even in an off-year by the Knights’ lofty standards, they are still good enough to earn a share of the Catholic Conference title.

7. Needham (10-2): Terrific finish to one of the better seasons in school history.

8. Foxboro (11-1): Terrific gut-check victory over archrival Mansfield gives the Warriors a great lift heading into the Div. 5 championship game.

9. Walpole (9-3): Timberwolves certainly didn’t take it easy on Thanksgiving to get ready for the state championship game.

10. Milford (10-2): Nick Araujo is the living embodiment of the all-around football player.

11. Andover (10-2): First time in four decades the Golden Warriors put together back-to-back 10-win seasons.

12. Hanover (11-1): Hawks looking to cap off a fantastic season in style against Foxboro in the Div. 5 Super Bowl.

13. Billerica (9-2): It wasn’t easy, but the Indians left Fenway Park on the plus side of the scoreboard.

14. Methuen (8-3): Congrats to Rangers’ quarterback Drew Eason on a record-setting career.

15. Scituate (9-3): Rematch of the epic 2021 Super Bowl against Patriot League foe Duxbury.

16. Central Catholic (5-6): Freshman Drew O’Keefe stepped up big by booting a game-winning 37-yard field goal to defeat Lawrence.

ON THE BENCH: Everett (9-2), Milton (8-4), Mansfield (6-5), Barnstable (10-2), BC High (6-5), Bishop Feehan (8-2), Peabody (10-1), Shawsheen (10-1), Danvers (8-4), Fairhaven (11-1), Salem (10-2), Norwell (9-2), Carver (11-1)