Sacred Heart’s Nofri says he’s ‘all for’ NEC’s return-to-play plans
The 2020 fall season was over before it began for Sacred Heart and its fellow Northeast Conference schools due to COVID-19. But, relatively speaking, they may not have to wait too much longer to return to competition.
The NEC’s presidents, as announced Thursday, have approved plans to stage an abbreviated season in the spring of 2021 for fall sports, including football.
Of course, the plan comes with no certainties given the challenges associated with the pandemic.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen day by day, week by week,” Sacred Heart football coach Mark Nofri said. “Who knows what will happen.”
Under the plan, football will play a four-game conference schedule beginning March 5-7, with games taking place on Sundays or midweek. As with all other sports, except cross country, a one-game playoff between the top two seeds will determine the conference’s NCAA automatic qualifier. In the case of football, the NEC title game will be played on April 16 or 17 at the higher seed’s home site.
Cross country will hold NEC men’s and women’s championship meets on Feb. 27, hosted by Bryant.
According to the NEC, member schools will be “provided the discretion to schedule non-conference competition prior to the start of the season.” Schools ultimately will also get to choose which sports they participate in.
The NEC said the regular-season and championship formats are subject to reevaluation by the league’s presidents based on COVID-19 guidance from federal, state, local and campus officials over the next few months.
The fall season was postponed on July 29 due to coronavirus concerns. At the time, the league said it would meet again on Oct. 1 to evaluate its options moving forward, including pushing competition to the spring.
Nofri’s Pioneers — who were picked third in the preseason coaches poll behind Central Connecticut State and Duquesne — only got in a handful of fullteam workouts before players went home to take classes remotely. While some players still use the gym, all the team’s meetings have been conducted via Zoom.
“It’s hard, it’s hard to get into a rhythm, to get into a routine,” Nofri said. “You’re usually used to watching them lift, watching them develop. It’s tough now.”
Nofri is hoping to resume practice when students return to campus on Feb. 1. Whether that changes, though, remains to be seen.
“I definitely want to play in the spring, absolutely,” Nofri said. “Think about it, we haven’t played football in over a year now. I’d hate to go 18 months. If we can get an opportunity to get games in the spring, I’m all for it. I know the kids are too.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s only four conference games. It’s still football.”