Nearly two months before Thanksgiving, the Cranston East and Cranston West football teams are ready to dial up that familiar Turkey Day tradition.

It won’t take place at 10 a.m., and there’s still a long regular season ahead, but the ’Bolts and Falcons are squaring off nonetheless in a non-Thanksgiving game for the first time since 1972 this Friday.

As part of a new Rhode Island Interscholastic League rule that mandates all league games must be played by Nov. 15, East and West will play their league game this Friday night at Cranston Stadium at 7 p.m. East is technically the home team in the inaugural regular season match-up, non-Thanksgiving edition.

The two teams will still meet on Thanksgiving morning for a non-league game, unless they’re matched up in the Division I playoffs. In that case, the Thanksgiving game would serve as the D-I semifinal.

In some ways, it’s just more of a good thing. The East-West rivalry has long been considered one of the best in the state, and now the teams get to face off a pair of times. While it may diminish the impact of the Thanksgiving game, West head coach Steve Stoehr doesn’t think that’ll be an issue.

Instead, it just means two high-intensity, hard-played rivalry games.

“They can tell you until they’re blue in the face that if one of us makes the playoffs, we’re not going to try on Thanksgiving,” Stoehr said. “That’s not true. When you line up against your rival, you’re going to play hard.”

Longtime rivals La Salle and East Providence are in a similar boat, as they’ll meet twice this year, as well, with their league game scheduled for Oct. 10 and their Thanksgiving game slated as non-league contest.

It’s a brand new look for some of the state’s most traditional rivalries. That puts the coaches and teams in an unfamiliar spot, and East head coach Tom Centore is trying his best to present it to his group as just another game in the middle of the season.

Without the pageantry surrounding the Thanksgiving game, it’s the second game in an eight-game season for the ’Bolts as they try to position themselves to be in the playoff conversation.

“It’s different, because we’ve never had it this early,” Centore said. “It’s a very, very different situation. We’re trying to not look at it as rivalry, but as a game on our schedule that we have to win, like if we were playing Portsmouth or Barrington. We have to eliminate the distraction of who it is and focus on what it is.”

Outside of the new timing of the game, it’s shaping up an enormous match-up for both teams.

East, the current No. 6 team in the state, is coming off a bye week but is 0-1 in Division I after a 29-25 loss to No. 4 Portsmouth two weeks ago.

West is ranked No. 11 in the state and is 0-2 in D-I. It lost to No. 2 La Salle last week 33-16 and fell 20-12 to No. 5 Cumberland the week before.

Even though it’s only week three, East-West is right on the cusp of being a must-win.

“Oh yeah,” Stoehr said, “if we’re going to make the playoffs, it is.”

West’s concern is dropping to 0-3, and still having three playoff teams from last year – No. 4 Portsmouth, No. 1 Hendricken and No. 3 Barrington –remaining on its schedule. East’s concern is a tailspin. While it’s only 0-1 now, it plays Hendricken and La Salle each of the next two weeks.

Lose to West, and the ’Bolts could find themselves 0-4 at the season’s halfway point and possibly eliminated from postseason contention.

“For us, we’re looking it as a big playoff implication game,” Centore said. “I think where they are, and where we are, it changes some things. Especially where we’re headed in our schedule the two weeks after.”

The keys to the game are fairly clear on both sides. For West – and for every single East opponent this year – the No. 1 task is stopping senior running back/receiver Marquem Monroe.

Monroe scored all four of East’s touchdowns against Portsmouth and has been a three-year force for the ’Bolts.

If the Falcons can neutralize or even limit his production, it will go a long way toward getting them a victory.

“He’s good,” Stoehr said. “You try to take him out of the game and let someone else beat you. But they’ll have a plan for that too, because he’s tough to take out of the game.”

And Stoehr is undoubtedly correct, as East is plenty aware that teams are gunning for Monroe. The ’Bolts, though, have other weapons, as quarterback Darrio Carter ran for over 100 yards against Portsmouth and running back John Anderson has proved to be a capable ball-carrier. Receiver Mike Castillo has blossomed so far on offense, as a defensive end and in the return game, and the defense as a whole is a group with loads of experience and talent.

For East, slowing down West’s veterans is the first item on the list. The Falcons’ offense is led by senior Steve Furtado, and he’s done damage in both games this season through the air and with his legs.

Running back Raekwon Kisilywicz is another returning starter who, although battling injury, has been steady when he’s in the game. Junior Drew Watts may play this week for the first time, potentially giving the Falcons a boost in the backfield.

Defensively, West has struggled defending the pass and stopping the big play with a young group. Yet, they’re all athletic, and have shown glimpses of what that athleticism can become.

“They’re a little more overall experienced than we are from a year ago,” Centore said. “They’re going to expect those guys to step up. That’s our concern.”

Any way you slice it, it’s a big game between two teams that may not be desperate – considering it’s week three – but aren’t far from it.

The Thanksgiving game has always been a source of pride for the city and the programs, and it’s always been a day circled on every coach and player’s calendar.

That’ll be the case once again in November. But this season, there’s some circling in October as well.

Friday night, it’s East-West, act one.

“I don’t see (motivation) being a problem,” Stoehr said. “I think the kids are looking forward to it.”