'I’m just happy to be out here': Durfee coaches, athletes grateful for chance to play fall sports

FALL RIVER — Grateful. Excited. Relieved. Take your pick for what’s the prevailing sentiment in the world of Durfee High School athletics.

The only Greater Fall River Massachusetts high school to have chosen to compete in interscholastic sports this fall, Durfee started practices for girls’ soccer, boys’ soccer, cross country, field hockey and golf tow weeks ago and started competition (golf) this past Tuesday.

In Rhode Island, Tiverton is competing in soccer, field hockey, girls’ tennis, and cross country.

In these times of COVID-19 fears, event and event-site rules have been significantly modified. The toughest one may be that no fans (except, perhaps, for one senior day) will be allowed on the Durfee campus to watch the soccer and field hockey games. The plan is to live stream those events. With the ongoing construction at Durfee, cross country will compete exclusively on the road, though the Toppers have a home-away-from-home course at the Brockton Fairgrounds.

“I can’t imagine a fall without field hockey,” Durfee field hockey coach Nicole Henrique said last Friday, shortly before running the Mac Aldrich Field bleacher steps with her players. “When we were in the summer, I was so nervous, worrying that the kids weren’t going to get their season and how are we going to accommodate them otherwise. And I was trying to plan, if we don’t have a season, what can I do for them to give them an opportunity?

“So I’m so happy for them, for us. It’s important for mental health. Sports have been gone, and it’s so helpful to have it.”

Durfee is in a sports pod (temporary league) with the Mayflower Athletic Conference’s West Bridgewater and the Hilltoppers’ fellow Southeast Conference members Dartmouth, New Bedford, Brockton, and Bridgewater-Raynham.

The attitude at Durfee is that a tweaked sport is better than no sport, and playing in the traditional fall time is preferable to the option many other schools districts and leagues are taking, to play in the new Fall II season (Feb. 22 to April 25). Of course, there are no guarantees, either for Durfee nor for schools deferring to Fall II. COVID-19 numbers could prompt a shortening and termination of either season.

“I was very pleased with the whole situation, knowing these kids deserve to be out there competing,” Durfee cross-country coach Joe LeMar said. “That’s the bottom line. They were stuck in their houses for how many months in the first place, since March? So yeah, once we did get the go ahead, it was great for us.”

“I was extremely relieved when I heard that we would be able to compete in the fall,” said senior cross-country runner Zach Botelho. “Cross country’s like what keeps me going during high school. So if we hadn’t been able to go, I would have hated that. So when I heard the yes, I was so relieved. I’m having a blast right now. It’s my senior season and I just hope it doesn’t get cancelled.”

The MIAA created Fall II specifically for football, competitive cheerleading and unified basketball, with schools given the option of moving other fall sports to the new season. Durfee’s volleyball team has had its season moved to Fall II because the Luke Urban Field House is under construction and the net setup at nearby Spencer Borden Elementary School does not meet high school standards.

“I didn’t know if the administration was going to feel about not doing football but doing cross country,” Botelho said. “But the whole Fall II season, that was a solution I wouldn’t think of, and I’m glad they came up with it.”

Amie Roache, girls’ soccer coach, said she got “goose bumps” when she heard Durfee would play this fall. “Pure excitement,” she said. “We had such a rough time last year. We had a young team, so we’re getting an extra season in against teams we would normally play, which is going to make us more competitive for the next couple of years.”

The Massachusetts Intersholastic Athletic Association’s mandated rules modifications are especially significant for soccer and field hockey. Most notable in soccer are no head balls, no slide tackles, no corner kicks. In field hockey, there will be no penalty corners and on-field competition will be 7-on-7 instead of the normal 11-on-11.

There is much mask wearing required, even in cross country. Athletes have some liberty to remove masks when safe spacing permits.

“It’s definitely a lot to adjust to, and it’s a whole different sport now, but I definitely still love it,” said girls’ soccer senior captain Katheryn Nogueira. “And playing with the ball at my feet is something I’ve done for a while, so I think it will go well.”

“It’s going to be a little bit of an experience with the mask and all the different rules, but I’m just happy to be out here with my team,” said boys’ soccer senior Zach Massa. “Some schools aren’t able to do this, and we weren’t sure if we would be able to do this in the spring. So I’m happy we’re guaranteed a chance to do it.

“I know they’re trying to protect us, but some of the rules don’t make much sense to me. But you’ve got to make do with what you’ve got. Same rules for everybody.”

“Even with all the restrictions going on,” field hockey senior captain Abbie Bustin said, “I’m still very grateful.”

Asked his before Durfee and its pod made its decision to play, Durfee boys’ soccer coach Tiberio Melo had said his preference was to wait for Fall II in hopes that the coronavirus situation would be improved enough for rules restrictions to be reduced or eliminated. With the decision to play now made, Melo is all aboard. Friday was a glorious, sunny day and he, like so many at Durfee, enjoyed seeing how happy his athletes were to be running and kicking and seeing each other.

“I think it’s going to work out, if you take the proper steps,” he said. “Is it going to be challenging? Of course. I know it’s going to be challenging and at times frustrating. But we’re going to do our very best. Like Zach just said, he’s excited to be out here and I think at the end of the day, that’s what we’re doing it for. For the boys to get out here, to play.”

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.

 

Durfee girls’ soccer senior captain Katheryn Nogueira on getting to compete as a Hilltopper this fall while other Greater Fall River schools chose to defer fall sports to March-April. ⁦@DurfeeAthletics⁩ pic.twitter.com/FYn16RR4hQ

— Greg Sullivan (@GregSullivanHN) September 25, 2020//
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