Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua South back Josh Compoh, left, pushes against Nashua North's Travis Holbrook (51) and Justin Edwards for a 1-yard TD in last year's Turkey Eve Bowl win at Stellos Stadium. There's no Turkey Bowl this year, but North-South will be the football opener on Sept. 25.

The game everyone looks forward to will be the first game.

But oh will it have a different feel.

Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras revealed that the long awaited Friday, Sept. 25 high school football opener at Stellos Stadium will be Nashua North vs. Nashua South.

South will be the home team and, as per changes in the fan restrictions, the only team allowed to have fans – likely four per participant.

“That’ll be different,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “We’re fortunate as a district. … four of our five games are at Stellos, our games are going to be streamed (on Nashua ETV). I know parents, etc. want to be there, but at least our games (at Stellos) will be shown live. Parents will still get to watch their kids. It may not be (in person), it’s not ideal, but there’s a new normal. We’re probably better off than some districts who can’t do that, who don’t have the luxury, the privilege of somebody like ETV to film those games.”

It’s the first of what is expected to be five regular season games, but that has yet to be completely ironed out. The NHIAA football committee is meeting this week – likely as soon as today – to decided whether, Gingras said, to have a five week season and an open playoff, or have a restricted playoff with a six-game schedule.

Right now, five games for the Panthers and Titans are set, according to Gingras: North vs. South Week 1; Week 2 will be Merrimack at North, South at Pinkerton; Week 3 it’s North at Bishop Guertin (at Stellos) and South at Alvirne; Week 4 will be North at Alvirne and Merrimack at South; and Week 5 will be Londonderry at North and South at Bishop Guertin.

Thus, for both the Panthers and Titans, four of their five games will be at Stellos.

“I think it’s going to have the feel of a scrimmage,” South coach Scott Knight said of the opener vs. the Titans, simply because it will be the first time either team will have gone up against an opponent. “We’re just going to go out and play ball.” No scrimmages are allowed in the preseason that starts today.

Practices begin today, but like the summer workouts, things are phased according to NHIAA guidelines. There will be no contact in practice until possibly early next week.

“We can’t wait to put the pads on and get at it,” Knight said. “It’ll be awesome. But we can’t have any contact; we can’t even hit a (tackling) dummy.”

Remember, barring any kind of a playoff, the Sept. 25 game will be the only North-South football game of the season. Knight said his team will adjust without the Turkey Bowl, which has been cancelled because of the fan limitations.

“It’s a weird year,” he said. “We might as well keep it weird.”

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Practices/tryouts are allowed to begin today for all sports. A good chunk of the local schools won’t be starting their competitive seasons until Sept. 21; however golf may start as early as Thursday for some teams.

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Gingras over the weekend revealed what had changed since the middle of last week regarding having fans of both teams at North-South games. She said that reverting to just fans allowed for home team games keeps it consistent with the policy all Division I schools are using. Also, limiting the fans that way will enhance the district’s ability to get the permit from city health officials for Stellos Stadium, and that review is this week.

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