Divided loyalties

School spirit or blood ties? Family members taking sides in Arlington

(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff) Corey Spencer of Arlington Catholic will suit up on Thanksgiving Day against Arlington as the schools square off in their first-ever Thanksgiving matchup.

ARLINGTON - Shirley Canniff is a torn woman. Today, at 10:15 a.m., she transforms from the supportive mother of a son playing for the Arlington High and the wife of a husband who once played for the Spy Ponders into a hard-nosed Arlington Catholic fan.

For the first time in the history of the schools, the cross-town rivals will face off on the biggest day in Massachusetts high school football: Thanksgiving. Canniff will be cheering on her son, Joey, a senior captain and starting defensive end and tight end. She will also be supporting her husband, Brian, a former fullback and linebacker who captained the 1980 team.

But deep down, Canniff is still an Arlington Catholic alumnus.

"She's an AC girl," said Joey Canniff with a laugh. "She'll certainly be rooting for me, but she went to AC, her brothers went there and played football there. She'll be torn. This is so special. It's the start of a great tradition, and I have a lot of family ties to this rivalry."

Indeed, the 5-foot-10 four-year player is just one in a long line of family members who've played for either Arlington or Arlington Catholic. In 2006, Canniff's older brother, John, graduated as a senior captain and starting defensive end. The younger Canniff wears the same number, 44, as his father did 28 seasons ago. Canniff's grand-uncle, Donald Canniff, quarterbacked the 1949 team.

But Joey Canniff's roots are just as deep when it comes to Arlington Catholic football.

"Both my uncles played there and my cousin is there right now," said Canniff. "He might not get into the game, but he's been getting under my skin the past couple weeks. We've been going back and forth about it. Thanksgiving dinner should be really interesting."

In 1984, Canniff's uncle, Tom McGinnity, graduated after a four-year football career at Arlington Catholic. This season, his cousin, Danny Canniff, is a sophomore on the Cougars' roster while his uncle, Phil Canniff, is AC's freshman coach.

With his uncle and cousin on the sideline, Canniff looks to lead the Spy Ponders to a win in the squad's first season in the Dual County League's Small School division.

Split into the two divisions this summer, the Dual County League will send only one team, Acton-Boxborough, to the postseason. A-B will play Dracut, winner of the Merrimack Valley League, on Tuesday.

Though the DCL will be represented by A-B in the Division 1A playoffs, Arlington still has a chance to play in one more game beyond Thanksgiving. If Concord-Carlisle (5-5) beats Bedford (9-1), the Spy Ponders will play Patriot League runner-up Hanover in a playoff game next week, either Wednesday or Thursday.

"It's interesting because this is our first year in the league, and we've secured at least a share of the DCL Small title," said Arlington coach Dan Hirsch. "And they're going to the playoffs and we're playing for a playoff game. Twenty-five years ago, when I played for Arlington, the two schools didn't even play each other. It's been a long argument: the Catholics vs. the publics. This is an awesome thing for the city. The young Arlington Pop Warner kids could wake up on Thanksgiving morning and look forward to playing in this game one day."

For 13 years, the schools have met once during the regular season. The past two seasons, the Cougars have beat Arlington; the Spy Ponders won in 2004 and 2005.

During the club's transition into the Dual County League, former Arlington athletic director Dave Johnson suggested the idea of playing AC on Thanksgiving. Meetings between Arlington's athletic director, Ted Dever, and Cougars AD Dan Shine solidified the notion.

Arlington Pop Warner sponsored the winner's trophy. After the game, each alumni class will choose a player of the game.

"It's the right thing to do, the appropriate thing," said Hirsch. "It's a little bit of a risk to lose kids to AC, but to have a competitive game on Thanksgiving against a cross-town rival? If you're a real competitor, you don't shy away from that."

Another player with ties to the opponent is Arlington Catholic senior Joe Wesoloski, whose father, Jerry, is an assistant coach on Hirsch's staff. The 6-foot-4 wide receiver's mother, Diane, attended Arlington High. His uncles, Dennis and Jim Napoli, played football for the Spy Ponders in the late '70s.

For the elder Wesoloski, the idea of coaching against his son proved more difficult than expected.

"We don't really discuss football at all," said Jerry Wesoloski. "We've avoided it all year, really. Neither one of us wants to give away any secrets. It's been asked sometimes, why he goes to AC when I coach at Arlington, but we tell people the choice was about more than football. Even though the two schools are rivals, we had to do what was best for our kids."

Wesoloski's younger brother, Bobby, is a freshman football player, also at AC.

Though she is a former Spy Ponder, Diane Wesoloski's loyalties are clear.

"Oh, her loyalties lie with her sons, that's for sure," said Wesoloski. "We're all going to our uncle's after the game and the conversation should be interesting. It's so special to be able to play against Arlington on Thanksgiving, especially in my final year."