Here are a few local tids and bits to read before you go out and play in the snow (ugh) on the final day of the holiday weekend that helps break up the January blahs:

— Tonight is the final game of the college football season that began waaaaay back on the last weekend in August, and it’s got New Hampshire flavor, for sure, as former Manchester Central and UNH star Ryan Day is front and center as the Ohio State coach vs. Notre Dame in the CFP Championship game in Atlanta. Plus he has another Manchester guy, Chip Kelly, as his offensive coordinator, which is what Kelly was when Day was the UNH QB back in the late 1990s.

We’re torn here. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has been incredibly impressive in his coaching all season, but especially in this playoff. So hads Day, who Buckeye fans have had fired every other week. It would be a great way to stick it to them by winning the game that really counts.

As for Freeman, it wouldn’t be bad to see Notre Dame win its first national title since Lou Holtz coached the Irish to one in 1988. But here’s hoping he doesn’t get lured by the NFL any time soon. He’s best with young players, they get his message, and he could be at Notre Dame for over a decade.

— There are moments, and there are Muldoon Moments. Last weekend was one of the latter, as Rivier women’s basketball standout Lyric Grumblatt became the schools’s all time scorer for both men’s and women’s hoop, eclipsing the mark set by her coach, Deanna Purcell. It was a special day to say the least.

But Grumblatt made it special. She went into the game against New England College needing nine points, and was just one away late in the first half but passed up a shot, instead feeding an open teammate underneath, freshman Sydney Perry, for an easy layup. That said it all.

“She buys into the team success more than her success,” Purcell told the crowd as she and Grublatt addressed the fans after the game. The atmosphere was incredible, fans could take hand held cutouts of a basketball with Grumblatt’s No. 23 on them, and hold up as the record became close.

“Record are great,” Grumblatt said, “but it doesn’t really mean much if you don’t get the overall win at the end of the day.”

Grumblatt saluted the crowd afterward, and it all worked out. Riv throttled NEC, there was a big crowd with a lot to celebrate.

Grumblatt is chasing the GNAC scoring mark as well, and was asked if that or Rivier’s scoring record was more important to her.

“The GNAC championship,” she said.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

— Speaking of big crowds, by far the best high school basketball atmosphere we’ve seen in a while was the girls-boys hoop doubleheader at Alvirne High School’s Steckievicz Gym between the Broncos and local rival Nashua South. The place was packed, so much so Alvirne officials had to allow fan seating in the smaller bleachers behind the benches, which they normally don’t do. It was a loud but controlled atmosphere – well done, Alvirne — on a Tuesday night, no less. The guess here is if it were on a Friday, they would have had to turn fans away.

“I wish we had more of them,” Alvirne principal Steve Beals said of the twinbills.

This crowd at Alvirne High School for a hoop doubleheader vs. Nashua South recently has been the biggest crowd of the local winter season thus far. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

This crowd at Alvirne High School for a hoop doubleheader vs. Nashua South recently has been the biggest crowd of the local winter season thus far. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

—- From great atmosphere to atmosphere gone wrong. Portsmouth officials felt they had to ban student fans from this past Tuesday’s Merrimack at Portmsouth boys hoop game, one between two contenders, after Clipper students reportedly stormed the court when Alvirne missed a shot at the final buzzer of a 39-38 Portsmouth win.

We weren’t there, so who knows whether it was warranted or not, but here’s the kicker. According to a report on SI.com, Portsmouth AD Tom Kozikowski “said he didn’t think the school’s decision was newsworthy.”

Hello? Really? Banning fans, no matter whether it was student or adult, not news? Go ahead, readers, and shake your heads.

—- Quietly, Nashua North boys soccer coach Jeremy Zelanes handed in his resignation following an up and down season in which the Titans still got a tourney upset win in the first round at Londonderry. In 2023 they reached the semifinals after two straight upset wins, and lost a tough one vs. Manchester Central in the quarterfinals the previous season (2022).

Zelanes has been a big soccer figure in the area, from his push to get professional soccer to New Hampshire – the Revs II played a handful of games at Southern New Hampshire University last season – to his involvement in the UPSL, first helping to run the Nashua Eagles before leaving that to run his own franchise in Manchester.

“This was not an easy decision,” Zelanes said, but noted all those other efforts “have become increasingly demanding” on his time.

He’s a two-time Coach of the Year and his efforts with the North program – the guy is a pro and class act – will be missed.

—- It was said recently to see the news of the passing of Nashua Hall of Fame inductee and former Nashua High assistant football coach Paul Duquette. Duquette played in the Buzz Harvey era, and brought that no-nonsense, old school quality to his job as a longtime assistant under the late Ken Parady. He retired out of loyalty to Parady when the longtime legendary head coach stepped down in 1989, but was coaxed out of retirement for a time on Nashua coach Bill Hardy’s staff in the mid to late 1990s.

Although he shunned the limelight, he was one of our favorite interviews back then.

— Years ago – nearly 24, as a matter of fact – the New England Patriots were looking for some good publicity. The team had struggled in the first year of Bill Belichick’s reign and were trying to inprove the roster, first via free agency and then the draft. So in the spring, prior to the draft, they made some players available by phone in an attempt to reach out to the more distant suburban media. So yes, yours truly signed up for a one-on-one mid-day interview over the phone. The player we were given? A linebacker/special teamer signed away from the Steelers named Mike Vrabel.

Who knew?

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