Nashua South's Damien Rodrigues, left, battles Bishop Guertin's Jame Guidry during the teams' battle last month in Nashua. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

The best has been saved for last.

Yes, the local high school boys soccer season wraps up tonight with the Game of the Year, the Division I championship game between No. 1 Nashua South (16-1-1) and No. 3 Bishop Guertin (15-2-2) at Manchester Memorial’s Chabot McDonough Field at 6:45.

The two teams played each other back on Oct. 14 with South winning 1-0 on a penalty kick. No goals were scored in the field of play.

It shapes up to be a dynamite game. The only downside is it won’t be at Stellos Stadium, the home for both, as neutral sites are pre-determined in advance. But it’s relatively close, at least.

“It would be great to have everybody come and watch that game in Nashua,” South coach Tom Bellen said. “We’ve been battling 1-2-3 all year for the top spot. BG had it for awhile, we kind of took it from them, they want it back.

“They’re peaking at the right time, it looks like. They’re not making any mistakes, and Beau (BG goalkeeper Boughter) has been great in goal for them. So we’ve got our work cut out for us. Against us, he made some big saves. So we have our work cut out for us.”

The game brings back memories of the one Nashua High School vs. BG soccer rivalry from the 1980s-90s when the two schools played back-to-back in 1986-87 with Guertin winning both and then again in 1993 with Nashua winning a 1-0, four overtime classic.

Nashua South has had success lately under Bellen, winning back-to-back Division I titles in 2021-22. The Panthers were upset by eventual champion Bedford in the quarterfinals in 2023 and lost in the prelims last year to Pinkerton before coming out of the game strong and winning 14 straight at one point, thanks to an up-tempo attack led by sophomores Damien Rodrigues and Kevin Arajuo.

Guertin soccer had fallen on hard times after the program won its last of our state titles (Class L at that time) in 2004. Cards coach Tyler Vandeventer took over the program three years ago , made the tournament his first season, missed it with a young team the next two seasons before his first full senior class turned it into a title contender this year.

“This means a lot,” said Vandeventer, who has a team led by, among others, senior forward Trenton Cormier, junior Ryan Neary, and senior defender Liam Ireland, who will be involved in the offense as well. They all went through the program’s growing pains. Vandeventer has been on record saying how this is great for soccer in the city of Nashua, but particularly his players who watched from afar while North and South compete in tourney play.

“It means a lot to the kids trusted the goals set out or them,” he said. “We set goals every year and try to play to the best of our ability…You’re seeing the product of two or three years of losing and wanting to get better, rather than just hanging our heads and saying ‘We’ll be a program at the bottom and just have fun.’ We want to be competitive.

“I think everything’s there to be played for.”