Souhegan football coach Robin Bowkett will coach the West team in the annual CHaD All-Star Football Game on July 17.

Last year, two local high school football coaches were looking forward to coaching in the summer all-star games that take place.

COVID killed that chance, but at least one coach is getting an expected second chance. The other isn’t.

Souhegan High School’s Robin Bowkett, who coached the Sabers to the Division II crown, will be coaching the West Team in the 2021 CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game. The game will be played on Saturday, July 17, at 1 p.m. at Saint Anselm’s Grappone Stadium.

Bowkett, who was an assistant on the 2019 team, was tabbed as the West head coach for last year’s game which was originally slated for late June, postponed due to the pandemic to Aug. 1, but then ultimately cancelled.

Spaulding football coach and athletic director Kevin Hebert will coach the East team. The coaches will be selecting the players and the rosters have not been finalized as of yet. Practices begin on July 9.

Viewing options for the game, according to the CHaD website, will be announced at a later date, depending on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the site,there will be an option for fans to stream the games into their homes. Decisions on in-person attendance will be announced later in the spring. There will be several protocols implemented to ensure player and, if applicable, fan safety, similar to those utilized by teams and high schools during the fall football season.

While Bowkett gets to coach after missing out last year, the same opportunity did not occur for Alvirne’s Tarek Rothe for the annual New Hampshire-Vermont Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl game.

Rothe was set to coach the New Hampshire team last year, also set for Aug. 1, before it was cancelled.

This year’s New Hampshire head coach is Kingswood Regional’s Paul Landry.

The game is set for Saturday, Aug. 7 at Castleton (Vt.) University’s Dave Wolk Stadium.

Shrine officials said in a statement sent out Tuesday that they are optimistic the game will be played.

“As the number of new (COVID) cases level off and more vaccinations are distributed, we remain optimistic that our football game can be played this summer,” Shrine officials said in a release announcing the coaches.

Landry was an assistant in the 1997 game and played in the 1986 game.

TUESDAY GAMES POSTPONED

The local schedule was wiped out due to the min-storm that took place on Tuesday, and a few of those games have been moved to tonight.

The delay meant the Nashua High School South girls basketball team had to wait one more night to open its season. The Panthers have been on two pauses that wiped out all of January and the first week of February, but should finally be good to go tonight at 6 p.m. at the Belanger Gym vs. Hollis Brookline.

The South boys game at Timberlane will be next Monday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m.

As for Nashua North-Merrimack, both the boys and girls were moved to tonight. The girls game is at Merrimack at 6:30 p.m., while the boys will play at North at 6 p.m.

The Alvirne girls will host Windham at 6:30 p.m. with the Bronco boys at Windham at the same time. To make room for basketball, the scheduled Windham at Alvirne wrestling match was moved to 3:30 p.m.

Bishop Guertin-Salem boys and girls hoop was also moved to tonight, Cardinal boys at Salem at 6 while the BG girls host the Blue Devils, also at 6.

STATE MEETS FOR

SKIING, GYMNASTICS

The Division II boys ski meet at Mount Cranmore was postponed on Tuesday and is now Thursday at Cranmore, while the Division I boys meet was already scheduled for the same day at Gunstock, also at 10.

Today the Division I and II girls will compete at Gunstock and Crotched Mountain, respecitively.

The NHIAA Gymnastics State Meet will be this Sunday at A-2 Gymnastics in Salem, with Pinkerton Academy the likely favorite.

There are three separate sessons, and locally, gymnasts from Merrimack, Hollis Brookline, Milford and Souhegan will compete in the first session at 9 a.m.

In the second session at 1:15 p.m., Bishop Guertin is the only local.

While masks aren’t required for gymnastics, there are strict protocols, with cleaning done between each event and session.

In fact, there will be no awards ceremony, as teams are asked to leave as soon as they are done competing. Awards, the NHIAA said, will be delivered to the schools after a review of the results.