After a scheduling proposal put one of the most well-known Thanksgiving traditions in doubt, the state has now protected the future of high school football Turkey Bowls by law.

That means fans will continue to see games like the annual rivalry between Darien and New Canaan, which brought an estimated 3,500 people out Thanksgiving morning despite the rain.

That included Will Blair from New Canaan, who said he was there because, "It's a can't miss game. When you come into this game, it's going be a war, you know it's going be both teams best games of the season."

The two schools have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1994, and New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli the game, "Is all that's good about high school football."

But some apparently did not see the same value. A proposal last year would have re-made the state's high school football schedule with an earlier end to the regular season, and championship games being played the weekend after Thanksgiving.

That would have made it almost impossible for schools to also play Turkey Bowls, something that New Canaan senior linebacker Simon Tchakarov said, "Can't happen. Thanksgiving football is the pinnacle of Connecticut football, that's what Connecticut football's known for."

Darien junior wide receiver Thomas Herget says when the rumors started coming out, "We were all just like 'no we always want this, we always want this game, it's so important to us.'"

Blair says from the outside, "Wveryone was holding their breath a little bit," as pushback grew from most areas.

So in the spring, as part of a bigger bill, the state put into law that school boards are not allowed to adopt any policy that would stop them from scheduling football games on Thanksgiving - protecting the tradition.

"It was really a great moment because we were just like this game is never going away," said Herget. "It's staying here and we're going to play each other for centuries to come."

Darien's athletic director Chris Manfredonia says that's the plan, telling News 12, "I don't see this changing, I think this game is the game for both communities, and I'm sure around the state for many communities."

As for Tchakarov, he's banking on it, saying, "I've always thought I would always love to see maybe a son play in this game when I'm older, but that's too far in the future to think about."

For now, they can think about this year, when New Canaan won its seventh straight Turkey Bowl.