The school occupied a floor at the Union Hill town hall until 1914, when a new building was completed at a cost of $400,000 (equivalent to $12.2 million in 2023).

In competing for the Hudson County Interscholastic Football Championship, Union Hill beat Emerson five consecutive years from 1923 to 1927.

[8] A crowd of 2,000 spectators at Rutgers University saw the 1956 team win their second straight Group IV title, holding off Trenton with a 70-68 victory in the championship game.

[10] For 88 consecutive years, the most notable aspect of their rivalry on the field was the annual Turkey Game, held on Thanksgiving, a tradition that began in 1919, when the high schools served the neighboring towns of West Hoboken in the south and Union Hill in the north, a rivalry described as "simmering hatred" that gave the schools' principals cause to fear that the first game might turn ugly.

A wooden chariot would be pulled around the field at halftime, carrying the football king and queen from the defending school, who were booed and pelted with paper when they got to the opposing side of Roosevelt Stadium.

Over the decades, coaches were known to zealously guard their game plans and players, who were alert for spies, were often excused from their classes to practice in secret locations.

According to David Wilcomes, a former football player and later football coach and the last principal of Union Hill High School, the Turkey Game developed a nearly religious significance as a Thanksgiving ritual for Union City citizens,[11] and a loss for one's favored team would cast a pall upon the day's subsequent holiday festivities, commenting, "If you don't win, it's a long Thanksgiving dinner."

Wilcomes, whose father also played for Union Hill, stated that he stopped answering his home phone following losing games because of the endless reviewing and second-guessing of his strategies by various relatives.

It sold commemorative tickets featuring photos of the 1919 Union Hill and Emerson teams, and a game program whose proceeds went the new school's scholarship fund.

During the final game, both principals sat together at halftime to present a united front, and the players on both teams were required to wear T-shirts bearing the new school's name under their shoulder pads.

[12] The Turkey Game trophy is today housed in Union City High School,[5] whose players are known as the Soaring Eagles.