No preseason tournament. No scrimmages.

Saturday was the first live look at competition for Boardman and Ursuline High School boys soccer teams.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that football, soccer and field hockey could play competition in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Masks. Social distancing. Reminders of the Ohio and local departments mandates to keep everyone safe during this time.

Staff photo / John Vargo
Ursuline’s Chase Forsyth, center, blocks out Boardman’s Jake Hughes during Saturday’s game at Spartan Stadium in Boardman. The Irish played their first game of the season.

Normalcy. That what both teams wanted Saturday afternoon inside Spartan Stadium as the season finally was underway.

“You had to tell the guys to relax, relax, relax,” said Boardman coach Eric Simione, whose team won 2-1. “The energy, I feel it too. I kept waiting right until the whistle blew, waiting for DeWine to call and say, ‘No, you can’t play.’ It’s just so exciting to finally get it going. You expect them to be excited. You expect them to be wound up. Shots were just lifting high because there was a lot of adrenaline. The (water) breaks in between helped, too, because we had to regroup and calm them down, relax them. It’s a young group of guys. We’ve got a good senior core, but a group of young guys around them. We’re happy where we are right now. We’re happy to be playing. Four days ago, we weren’t sure this was actually going to be happening.”

The temperature was 90 degrees at game time, but the heat contained on the field turf made at least 10 degrees warmer on the pitch.

“This was tough conditions,” Simione said. “We’ve been off the ball for so long. The first day back you’re back in the middle of the afternoon on a 90-degree day. I’m exhausted and I’m not out running. It was a great effort physically, mentally. There’s a lot to overcome in a day like this with everything that’s going on. I’m proud of these guys. It’s a great way to begin the season. It’s just awesome for them.”

Ursuline (0-1) felt the effects of the weather, but was grateful for the chance to be playing in a season that started Friday night for soccer teams around the state.

“This is our first dry run out,” said Ursuline coach Josh Auden. “This is our first peek against good competition. We had a few of our key guys cramp up. As the season goes on, we’ll get in more and more shape and acclimate more. Hopefully, we’ll be allowed to play the season with less and less regulations and we’ll get going.”

Boardman (1-0) had a 14-to-4 shots on goal advantage and finally scored with 36:25 left in the half as Jake Hughes found Sava Crnjak for a 1-0 lead.

Ursuline started to come down and push toward Boardman keeper Carson Essad with 10 minutes left in the half.

Boardman’s Mark Filicky headed out an Ursuline corner kick with 1:50 remaining before halftime, but the Spartans could not clear the ball toward midfield. The ball eventually trickled in the keeper’s box and Essad was blocked out by Ursuline players. The ball fell in front of Ursuline’s Cooper Cardelein, who booted in the back of the net for a 1-all tie with 1:21 left before intermission.

“That was a break,” Auden said. “It was a bunch of hard work. They’ve put in a lot of hard work. There’s been a lot of restrictions and everything that we’ve had to overcome, training and everything like that.”

The Spartans came out in the second half, putting some of their mental mistakes of the first 40 minutes behind them.

There were a lot of players overthinking, but the Spartans calmed down and regrouped with possession, better ball control and passing.

Cole Congson had a free kick go off the left post with about 14 minutes left in the game.

Three minutes later, he weaved through a couple of Ursuline defenders around the 25-yard line and buried the ball in the right side of the net for a 2-1 lead.

“It was amazing to score that one and win the game,” Congson said. “It’s been a hot game, and long. We had been missing a lot of shots. It felt good to finally put one away.

“It felt amazing. We haven’t played a game in four months and now to come back and win, it was amazing.”

Ursuline beat Boardman last year 1-0 and leads the all-time series between the two 19-6-3.

“We wanted to come back and prove a point,” Congson said.

Tuesday, Ursuline hosts South Range, starting at 6:30 p.m.

“In the end, they played a well-fought game,” Auden said. “A 2-1 game in this heat, you can’t ask for any much more.”

The Spartans hope for a more complete game on Tuesday as they travel to arch-rival Austintown Fitch for a 7:15 p.m. game.

“We’ve got an insanely hard schedule and we’ve got our biggest rival next,” Simione said. “It’s going to take a more strong and solid and controlled effort on Tuesday night for sure.”