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It took only 50 years for the football teams from King Philip Regional High School and Franklin High School to turn their Thanksgiving rivalry game into a battle for the Hockomock League championship.

Both intend to make it worth the wait.

Franklin enters Thursday's game at 10-0, 7-0 in league play. King Philip is 8-2 and 6-1 in the league, and should the Warriors win for the second straight year, they would earn the first MIAA football playoff berth in the school's history.

"We've got a good, talented crew that's improved steadily as the season's gone along," Franklin coach Brad Sidwell said. "But King Philip is a talented, tough bunch of kids, and they play great defense. I'm expecting a great game."

"We're very excited," KP coach Brian Lee said, "and pleased to be at a point where we're in a position to control our own destiny. The kids are really buying into this, and the're such a great group of kids - they don't seem to know how hard it's been for them to get to this point." It will be the 50th resumption of a rivalry that began in 1960, not long after the founding of King Philip as the regional high school serving Wrentham, Plainville and Norfolk.

Franklin holds a 30-18-1 edge, having won four straight games before suffering a 22-12 loss to the Warriors last year at Macktaz Field.

But this will be the first time that the game will settle the Hockomock League crown with both rivals as contenders, as the traditional "Big Three" schools (Foxboro, Mansfield, North Attleboro) are sitting this one out for the first time in more than two full decades.

One has to go back all the way to 1987, when MIAA Super Bowl participants were determined by a mathematical formula, to see a school from the Hockomock other than the "Big Three" involved in the playoffs - and even then, Foxboro defeated Canton, 9-8. Franklin's lone appearance in a Super Bowl ended happily, in a 22-7 win over Dartmouth in 1982.

Of the five schools to have represented the Hockomock in playoff competition since 1973, Franklin is the only one-shotter. Mansfield and North Attleboro lead with nine appearances apiece, Foxboro has eight and Canton three.

The setting couldn't be any better for a game of this magnitude. The pristine FieldTurf of Pisini Field will help both teams' high-powered offenses, not hinder them.

Franklin has run a "spread" offense for the past three years, and its success this season took even Sidwell by surprise.

"We've run it for three years now, and when we started it, I didn't know how very versatile it could be," he said. "You can run out of it or throw out of it, and it gets a lot of kids involved in the offense. They all have to be able to play tight end, in the slot, wide receiver, and they've all learned multiple positions."

Above all others, the two players that make the Franklin spread go are running back Matt Carini, one of the best among many outstanding backs in the Hockomock, and quarterback Nick Colson, who is especially adept at getting the information from the sideline and getting the play off in a manner that maximizes the Panthers' clock usage.

A shining example of the versatility of the spread offense came in the Panthers' early-season meeting with preseason league favorite Mansfield. Franklin ran almost exclusively in the first half, trailing the Hornets 21-13 at the break. But the Panthers switched into an effective short-passing offense in the second half that kept Mansfield's defense on the field for long stretches and tired it out. Scoring 16 points in the last eight minutes of play, Franklin emerged the winner, 29-28.

Colson (18 carries, 96 yards) and Carini (15-157) did yeoman work on the ground, but Colson's passing (12-for-18, 120 yards, including six catches for 61 yards by Zack Price) turned the tide in the second half.

"That win over Mansfield gave us a big boost," said Sidwell, "but we've managed to just take each game one at a time since then."

Franklin faced the "Big Three" in the first half of the schedule, defeating Foxboro (27-13) and North Attleboro (14-7) to get the "iron" out of the way after six weeks. King Philip, on the other hand, had its toughest challenges clustered together at the end of the season.

Starting 5-0 and allowing only 13 points in the process, the Warriors hit a speed bump in a non-league game at Fairhaven, where mistakes and turnovers conspired to hand them their first loss, 20-14.

KP bounced back with a 28-20 win over North Attleboro at Community Field, then lost 20-7 at Mansfield on a night where the Hornets' shut off quarterback Brandon Howard's talented stable of receivers, but came back strong with wins over Stoughton (35-0) and Foxboro (10-7).

People rave over KP's high-powered offense, led by the strong-armed Howard and running back Chris Cacciola, but the Warriors have also proven themselves defensively, shutting out four of their foes and allowing only 80 points overall.

"You just have to look at (defensive coordinator) Matt Wassel," Lee said. "This is the fourth year he's been with me, and the kids have gotten to know the system and are executing it consistently. It helps that we've got kids that have made the commitment, working in the offseason and doing everything they can to improve."

The Franklin "spread" will test KP to the fullest, Lee said.

"First, they've got an unbelievable running back in Carini," he said. "But Colson can beat you a lot of ways. He has completed close to 70 percent of his passes, which is unheard of, and he can kill you with his legs, either as a runner or because he's so hard to sack."

Anyone that plays Franklin should expect the Panthers to be successful at gaining some yards, "so when you give one up, you just have to come back and put it behind you, and try to stop the next one," Lee said.

Sidwell has similar respect for the challenges KP poses.

"Offensively, they're very deep at the skill positions," he said. "They spread around their offense decently. They've got a bunch of high-caliber players that we'll have to account for."

Both teams have scored 279 points this year, so it goes without saying that the coaches are confident in what they can do offensively.

"I feel like Brandon is playing very well right now," Lee said, "and Chris Cacciola has really stepped up and taken ownership of his position. I'm confident in what those two guys can do, and what (Mike) Cochrane and Connor (Richards) can do on the outside."

"This group has really executed our offense as well as we could expect, but every game is different," Sidwell added. "I expect this one will be really tightly contested, with maybe two or three big plays having a huge impact on the outcome."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.