By Dakota Antelman, Managing Editor
Hudson – They aren’t currently scheduled to play each other, this year. But the Marlborough Panthers and Hudson Hawks football teams will still share a field in 2021.
Thanks to COVID-19, Hudson is migrating to Marlborough’s Whitcomb Middle School for the new Fall II sports season. That means, over the next six weeks, the red and white Hawks will defend a home turf emblazoned with black and orange.
“Hudson High School is dedicated to the belief that Interscholastic Athletics can play a vital role in re-engaging our students,” read a presentation to football families announcing this, among other things, earlier this year.
“Subsequently, and perhaps more importantly, we need to protect the health of all people in and outside of our community,” the presentation added.
As Hudson takes a temporary step away from its historic Morgan Bowl, Marlborough’s Kelleher Field will also sit empty. Like the Hawks, the Panthers have opted to play their games at Whitcomb.
Venues aside, Massachusetts high school football teams, in general, have not played since the end of 2019. As they once hoped to hit the field, last fall, the pandemic forced high schools to punt their football and volleyball programs, among others, to the spring.
Regular season games kick off on the weekend of Jan. 19 with all Fall II teams playing within strictly defined geographic “pods.”
In Hudson and Marlborough, football and volleyball teams will all be in action, completing schedules that run through the end of April. Hudson is also running its varsity dance program while Marlborough is hosting unified track and cheerleading teams.
(Photos by/Jesse Kucewicz)
