After half a year on the shelf without our usual sports regimen, our eyes were open a little wider than usual when games resumed last weekend. 

What had been so familiar felt — and looked — a little strange.

Suffice it to say we noticed more than we could reasonably fit into our Day 1 report from a number of contests around northern Vermont, so we decided to unpack some of those mental notes with a bit of back-and-forth dialogue. 

What follows is our Monday evening debrief: 

Danforth: I don’t know about you, Alex, but I didn’t think I’d notice the lack of fans as much as I did. That’s no knock on the crowds of years past. Actually, if anything, it’s praise. 

But it really hit me on Saturday night at Middlebury’s Doc Collins Field. I mean, can you imagine the reaction of a regular Friday night crowd watching the Tigers attempt 50 passes? There are some seasons they didn’t put the ball in the air that much.

In all seriousness, though, that’s one of the fall venues that never — ever — fails to deliver atmosphere on game day. The tailgating team partying in the lot overlooking the gridiron, fans ringing the perimeter of the field, kids playing touch football in the semi-darkness behind the north end zone. All of it was missing. 

All of it was missed. 

More: Vermont H.S. football: Middlebury’s game-day tailgating tradition

Abrami: I think the crowds, or lack thereof, will be one of the season’s biggest narratives – an important footnote to this unforgettable year when discussing sports.

At my football game at Buck Hard Field, between the cooperative teams of Burlington/South Burlington and BFA-Fairfax/Lamoille, you could sense a relaxed atmosphere, partly because of the spread-out numbers in the bleachers (I was told 125 spectators). But it wasn’t as noticeable as your experience at Doc Collins. I think the time of day mattered – it felt like a lazy, but warm Saturday afternoon, more like watching a baseball game than a football game.

More: What the return of high school sports looked like in Vermont

But that shouldn’t take away from the product on the field. Yes, it’s a work-in-progress for many teams – grappling with no tackling or blocking and passing on every down – but with high school sports you look for the bright, uplifting moments.

This 7-on-7 is a completely different game, and from that, opportunities will rise up for players. Learning a new way to do something is not a bad thing. It’s a great life experience. Wouldn’t you agree, Austin?                          

Danforth: Oh, totally agree there. It was pretty easy to see how everyone was climbing the learning curve. But I was also struck by a couple of other things with the 7-on-7 experience: 

First, I went in expecting — perhaps wrongly — far more points than we saw around the state on Saturday. It was harder to move the ball than I had anticipated. Because of the 4-second count on quarterbacks to pass, defense was a very real thing. 

More: Vermont high school football: Players to watch in 2020

Then I was struck at Middlebury by the sense of competition. Yes, it’s far more laid back than a traditional football game and there’s no end-of-season stakes, but there was some definite tension when the game got close in the fourth quarter. Both teams were trying to win and figuring out on the fly how they might do it. That much, thankfully, felt normal. 

What else jumped out at you on Saturday?

Abrami: I think you’ll join in me in being slightly surprised that Fairfax/Lamoille, a Division III program, stayed with the Division I’s SeaWolves for all four quarters of a 25-20 decision.

It certainly had to do with that learning curve, and that is potentially one of the draws of 7-on-7: Programs won’t feel or be overmatched physically and wear down over the course of a game. Every team, theoretically, has a chance, at least more so than lining up and trying to go pound-for-pound with a “bigger school.”

My other stop Saturday was in Hinesburg. I caught the end of CVU field hockey’s 2-1 win over reigning champion Rice. Outside from the face masks, nothing appeared out of the norm, just some pre-game nerves from at least the home team coach (and that’s naturally at the start of every season).

Higher up on CVU’s fields, though, I did notice that not enough CVU and Rice boys soccer players adhered to the face-mask mandate in the 15 minutes of action I witnessed.

Too many had their masks around the neck or settled on their chins — and not pulled over their nose while engaging with an opponent. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds and how officials regulate this because the VPA has said it won’t play the “mask police.”

Danforth: Fairfax/Lamoille playing that closely with one of the biggest programs in the state was very cool to see. They weren’t alone, either: D-III Springfield played reigning D-II champ Brattleboro to within a field goal and D-III Windsor rolled past traditional D-I power Hartford 57-36.

The prospect of teams that have never played each other — or haven’t played for many years, anyway — is one of the more interesting side effects of the 7-on-7 experience.

That’s concerning to hear about the CVU-Rice game going that way with the masks. I really hope it’s an aberration because there’s nothing right about teams defying the rules — even if it’s done unconsciously — that everyone else is trying their best to obey.

That’s something to pay attention to going forward, how the pandemic-related rules are followed and applied and upheld. What else are you keen to see unfold in the next month-plus?

Abrami: Bottom line: How athletes respond to the truncated season.

After the loss of the first month, the fall boils down to nearly 40 days of action. It will be a whirlwind, the stakes raised and the importance of every soccer and field hockey game reaching new heights. Meanwhile, XC runners have to prepare to hit their peak in less races than likely ever before.

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @eadanforth. Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

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