FALMOUTH – The chips were stacked against the Nauset football team. The Warriors entered their season opener against Cape and Islands League Atlantic Division rival Falmouth on the heels of a short week of practice after a return to COVID-19 protocols that forced the team to cancel its scheduled Week 1 game against Barnstable, which was also in protocol. Although the team ultimately suffered a 20-7 defeat t...

The late Tom Petty said it best when he sang “The waiting is the hardest part.” For high school spring sports players and coaches throughout Massachusetts, that lyric rings especially true after the 2020 spring sports season was canceled due to COVID-19. “I think I speak for all of the coaches — not only at Monomoy but everywhere — when I say that we’re thankful to have a season, especially after last year,...

HARWICH – Even after suffering a lopsided 42-0 defeat Monday, there were reasons for the Monomoy Regional High School football team to be optimistic. For starters, the team was shorthanded and only had a couple days of practice after COVID-19 close contacts forced the team to pause its preseason preparations for two weeks. The rust and lack of conditioning were evident in the season's opener against the...

Cape Tech football coach Chris Leonard remembers when Joe Small joined the team as a freshman and how he immediately sprung into varsity action – a somewhat common occurrence for teams like the Crusaders, who have a limited number of players due to a smaller enrollment than many of their opponents. Leonard’s heart broke for a variety of reasons when the fall football season was canceled due to an uptic...

The start of the high school football season will have to wait. Well, for two Lower Cape teams, anyway. Both Monomoy and Nauset paused their preparation for the Fall II season after contact tracing determined members of each team has been in close contact with the COVID-19 virus. The pauses will have differing impacts for the two teams, however, as Monomoy doesn’t expect to miss any games while Nauset will mis...

HARWICH – A few years ago, Sean Deveau never could have imagined he would solidify his college plans while wearing a facemask and remaining six feet apart from his family, friends, teachers and coaches. While the COVID-19 pandemic altered his senior year experience in many ways, Deveau, a Harwich resident and three-sport athlete at Monomoy Regional High School, still feels grateful about all he’s experienced t...

Eventually somebody clever will come up with a name for that week in March 2020. You know the one, that stretch between Sunday, March 8, and Saturday March 14 — the week COVID-19 took hold of our nation and the world. The week everything changed. Monomoy Regional High School athletic director Karen Guillemette and Nauset Regional High School athletic director John Mattson remember that week well. They were ...

HARWICH – One by one, the players on the Monomoy Regional High School football team filed onto the field. They were carrying their shoulder pads and helmets, as well as gym bags and extra sweatshirts – an article of clothing that has become a necessary piece of equipment to battle the harsh bite of the March cold. Make no mistake about it: There are challenges associated with playing football during a global p...

HARWICH – Even during normal times, high school basketball seasons quickly pass by for the players, coaches and officials involved. This year, considering all of the high school athletic seasons were shortened due to COVID-19, the basketball season seemed to go by especially fast. It even seemed quick for the teams that played the longest, such as the Monomoy boys basketball squad, which advanced all the way t...

FALMOUTH – The Nauset Regional High School girls basketball team had two goals for this season: win every game and finish the season with a Cape and Islands League Atlantic Tournament title. In the end, Falmouth got in the way of both goals. The second-seeded Warriors’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion, as they fell to the top-seeded Clippers 49-45 in the Cape and Islands Atlantic Tournament championshi...

FALMOUTH – No team wants to see their season end with a loss. However, for the Cape Cod Furies, a co-op hockey team comprised of girls from Monomoy, Nauset and Cape Cod Tech, plenty of room for optimism remains after advancing to the Cape and Islands League Tournament semifinal. Despite the fact the Furies’ season ended Saturday with a 4-0 loss to top-seeded Falmouth in the league tournament semifinals, Addie ...

HARWICH – Monomoy Regional High School first-year girls basketball coach Bill O’Connell recognizes his team has been presented with many challenges this year, and he understands some of those challenges are unavoidable given the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic. The coach has come to learn that Monday isn’t always his players’ best day of the week as they return to the floor following an off-day on Sunday. The...