High school coaches, one by one, after almost every game, have kept saying how they were happy just to have their kids play a game.

Win or lose.

They all leave the field feeling like they won.

Why? Because they never know when the next time will be that they and their team take the field.

Such is life in the pandemic world. It’s been a crazy week, especially. As this was written, Nashua North and Alvirne weren’t sure if they would be able to play football on Friday night; Nashua South saw its scheduled Friday game with Merrimack disappear when all the uncertainty over health protocols and safety issues forced Merrimack to say yes to the next pretty date that came along. That was Salem, which all of a sudden had no opponent when Pinkerton Academy shut down its fall sports program due to positive tests, a quarantine break and possible exposures at the school.

Telegraph Sports Reporter Tom KIng.

The bizarre week began on Sunday when Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras called Merrimack AD Mike Soucy and said that on the advice of health officials, Nashua South wouldn’t be playing Merrimack in any of the umpteen events scheduled between the two schools.

Merrimack had just gotten out of a quarantine period for its teams, but had a clean bill of health. So Soucy was miffed. What he didn’t know was local health officials wanted to make sure a church epidemic didn’t spill over into families with student athletes – not just from Nashua, but surrounding communities.

But Soucy and Merrimack had still been feeling the impact of being a school that did everything right, yet get cross-eyed looks. Officials at Alvirne were supposedly a little nervous about playing the Tomahawks in games this coming week.

Welcome to the new normal that is driving athletic directors crazy. Still, it’s better then the idle spring that was even more insufferable.

Soucy’s advice to the Broncos: Have your guy call my guy (superindendents) and they can hash it out.

“We’ve done everything right,” he said, “and came out on the other end fine.”

You never know when calamity will strike. As Soucy said, “The virus is going to determine this, not us.”

But kudos to all involved in taking the strictest precautions. Gingras, her staff and the coaches have been as strict as could be with all of the protocols – all in the interest of safety for the student athletes and their families. Nashua public health guru Bobbie D. Bagley leaves no stone unturned and is fabulous at explaining exactly how and why.

But it still leaves a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach when you hear the news like we did the middle of last week that the state’s largest high school, Pinkerton, had to shut down its fall sports program.

Others will follow. As Soucy said, the virus is the one in charge.

At some point, this has got to change. But for now, players will wear masks not only on the sidelines but when competing on the field.

The NHIAA tournament season is already here, beginning with field hockey this week. These are tournaments like we’ve never seen, basically regional in nature. In fact, seedings were literally determined by a blind draw. Yes, out of a hat in some cases.

But the games are being played. That’s the big key. That’s the big win. And we have to take these wins when we can get them.

“It’s a tough situation,” Soucy said, “for all of the kids in all of our communities. All of them.”

But not as tough as last spring. The games go on, safely, and hopefully so will we.

Winning.

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter at @Telegraph _TomK.

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