Here’s a few tids and bits at the halfway point of September, as the temps are slowly moving downward:

Good job this past weekend for local schools to honor the memory of longtime official Phil McCarthy of Milford with a moment of silence. The area suddenly and shockingly lost a great game official as well as sports fan when McCarthy passed away recently due to a medical episode. McCarthy was said to have been taking a half off from officiating youth football out of the area due to a little fatigue when the episode occurred.

He officiated sub-varsity and varsity football in the fall and umpired baseball and softball in the spring. But yours truly got to know him as he was an avid Nashua Silver Knights season ticket holder, and he and his sidekick, NHIAA Hall of Famer Bill Makarawicz were at every game, seats on the concourse above home plate. His humor – plus his candor – always made his seat a must stop for yours truly on the way to the third base side to shoot game photos.

McCarthy, according to fellow game official Jeff Kleiner, helped mentor the younger officials. “Phil was a huge help to me in basebal working and mentoring young umpires in our Umpire Development Program,” Kleiner wrote on social media, also mentioning how McCarthy “truly cared about the game and the growth of athletes from the youth level to the day they graduated high school.”

McCarthy will definitely be missed. Condolences to his family, friends, and fellow New Hampshire game officials.

—- The fall high school season has started off in big fashion on several fronts. First, check out the 3-0-1 Nashua South boys soccer team, a squad full of energy and enthusiasm, with a great student fan following that matches that. Panthers coach Tom Bellen wasn’t quite sure of what he had going in, feeling things would take awhile to gell. And now, as he said, “I’m a believer.” It will be a big test today when the Panthers host fellow local unbeaten Merrimack (4-0-1) at 4 p.m. at Stellos Stadium.

Second, could there have been any less fanfare for the winning streak that Bishop Guertin broke, Bedford girls volleyball’s 101 straight victorious matches? What Bedford did was remarkable, and that made what BG did in winning 3-0 in its season opener nearly two weeks ago simply historic.

—-Hard to believe that the Bruins will begin training camp this coming Wednesday under new head coach Marco Sturm. Even harder to believe that the B’s as of this writing hadn’t named a captain, although many are lobbying for David Pastrnak to get the nod. Sorry, Pasta never struck yours truly as that type of player, but who knows? The one thing we do know is the Bruins better find some offense or they are going to miss the playoffs for a second straight season. We’ll take a closer look here as the season approaches.

—- The closing of Green Meadow in the last couple of years – a loss to the area of 36 public holes – has had a ripple effect for local high schools, especially Nashua North and South. The closure provided a boon for other area courses as their tee time sheets were overflowing. But it’s limited the availability for high schools, and that’s why both North and South will play all their matches on the road. Some other schools have had to make adjustments as well. Business is business, but area golf courses – even the private ones — should step forward if they haven’t already and work something out. It’s for the good of the game, people.

— The FCBL awards have been handed out and no surprise that Vermont’s Shaun MacMillan was the league’s MVP and Top Pro Prospect (non-pitcher). McMillan was a smart, opportunistic hitter that just simply killed the Silver Knights. It was great to see the Knights center fielder Cole Patterson get named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. But he was their only award-winner other than James Benestad being the team’s Adam Keenan Sportsmanship and Scholarship Award winner. That tells you, unfortunately, the can’t miss talent was simply lacking and the team fell apart. That has to be solved. The Knights need their own Shaun McMillan; they’ve had one or two in past years but not lately.

The other thing we noticed is a league issue and not easily solved. Too many of the players who played the majority of the season aren’t around for the playoffs, and teams need to alter their rosters, in some cases, significantly. For example, Vermont did not have McMillan, who goes to St. John’s, for the post season. You want your best players on display for those games, right? Unfortunate.

— Sorry, but shame on FOX for demoting football analyst Greg Olsen a year ago to make way for Tom Brady as the network’s No. 1 analyst. Olsen is one of the best around, and Brady just isn’t good at it, even though some media try to bend over backwards to try to say he’s improving, etc. Olsen sees things immediately, points them out, and tells us what we don’t know. His prediction that the Giants were playing too soft on defense in the final 25 seconds of regulation vs. the Cowboys and could lead to a long distance field goal was gold. He deserves better.

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