FIELD HOCKEY is among the 9 MHS teams given the green light to compete this fall. (file photo)
Full schedules, playoffs, await 9 returning teams
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—For the first time in two years, fall varsity teams will return to the fields and gyms of Melrose High this month as a collective group.
After an unpredictable 2020-21 year that saw the creation of a Fall 2 schedule that shifted football, volleyball, Unified basketball, cheer, and swim to spring seasons, it’s a relief for Melrose High players, coaches and fans to have traditional fall sports back on the schedule after nearly two years of COVID-19 consideration.
While the Fall 2 schedule of 2021 was quite ingenious, there’s nothing like Friday Night lights at home under a blanket with football and band fans lining the perimeter of Fred Green Field. It’s a return to familiarity as good as the motto, “there’s no place like home.”
Teams will be playing full schedules of up to 20 games from September to late October. November playoffs are to be expected. Fans will return in full capacity (see accompanying story) and student bus transportation will be revived. While nothing is “normal” during a pandemic, this is about as normal as one could expect, given the milestones made with the now-widely accessible COVID 19 vaccine.
It’s been one year since the exemplary play from the MHS fall teams of boys and girls soccer, cross country, field hockey and golf, who achieved what some thought might be impossible: they completed an entire uninterrupted fall season that essentially paved the way for winter sports. Some of those teams had their best seasons ever and clinched titles (golf, girls cross country, girls and boys soccer).
Other teams such as football, volleyball, cheer and swim are coming back off of a short, four-month break after finishing their Fall 2 seasons in April. They’ve had less time to train in the off-season but their success rate in recent years suggests that shouldn’t be a problem.
We will have a look at these nine teams in this week’s and next week’s edition, which includes our annual Fall Sport Schedule which will run in our September 10 edition. Stay tuned.
