(Graphic courtesy of Nashua Athletics)

Are you ready for a fun week?

It’s actually already beginning: The Battle of the Bridge was scheduled to officially get underway on Saturday with the Nashua High School North Invitational Cross Country Meet. That counts for four events (boys and girls varsity and JV).

Heckuva beginning, right?

And then we go from there. As one coach said, “With North-South, one team could be 0-4 and the other 4-0, and it’ll still be a really tough game. It’s a rivalry, and the records don’t mean much at all.”

Yeah, the New England Patriots are facing a tough opponent on Sunday at Pittsburgh, and then host Baltimore in their home opener next Sunday. But our immediate focus is the biggest regular season week of the high school fall season.

For varsity games, the North and South field hockey teams tangle Monday at 6 p.m. at Stellos. Both teams are struggling, especially in terms of scoring goals, and both their goalies have been under siege. Somthing will give.

Varsity golf will be on Tuesday at Nashua Country Club, weather permitting. Eva Gonzales is having a nice fall for the Titans and is one of the top high school girls golfers in the state — or golfers period.

Wednesday it’s North-South girls volleyball match at 6:30 p.m. in the Belanger Gym, which just got a nice new floor. North, unlike last year, has gotten off to a great start, but South won its first two matches though had a lot more to go this past week.

Still, this is one of the events that really illuminates the North-South rivalry, because volleyball is a great spectator sport, it’s indoors, and the student bodies will be at it like they were last fall before COVID restrictions limited the crowds for the winter season Bridge Battles. You better believe that as it’s not even a month into the school year, the fans will be ready let loose. Plan on five sets.

It gets even better, as Thursday is the 5 p.m.-7 p.m. girls-boys soccer doubleheader. The girls game is first at Stellos, and it should be a very, very competitive game.

But when the boys teams take the field, the atmosphere will be ramped up more than in the past simply because the two teams played a classic Division I semifinal in front of at least 2,500 people – maybe more – at Stellos last November with South winning on a Jadiel Bomfim goal with 33 seconds left in regulation. There were lines outside the ticket booth that stretched down along the parking lot. Football has usually been the biggie in this whole Battle, but this game might be close, and it’s possible a lot of the soccer community will be in attendance.

And in the last couple of years, every game between the two has been a one-goal affair.

Of course, the following night is the varsity football game, and it would be tough to live up to last year’s game in which South won on an untimed down, the game’s final play, staging an incredeible rally and a huge celebration on the field after.

South had gone into the game 0-3, and North went in at 3-0. Depending on what is taking place this current weekend, it’s possible the teams could be in the exact same position.

If you look at the attached schedule, you’ll see there are JV games as well, and the whole week winds up Saturday morning with the 9 a.m. JV football game at Nashua South. In all, by our count, there are 15 events.

Which one will be the most memorable? The rivalry brings out the best in both schools, and in all sports throughout the year, there have been some real classics.

North vs. South Battle of the Bridge. Be there.

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