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'It’s been a pretty wild 48 hours,' Leominster athletics getting back on track after devastating floods

rich garven, worcester telegram & gazette
·4 min read
Fans huddle under the eaves of the press box at Doyle Field after the Leominster versus St. John's game was called due to lighting Friday, Sept. 8.
Fans huddle under the eaves of the press box at Doyle Field after the Leominster versus St. John's game was called due to lighting Friday, Sept. 8.

The Leominster High football team was finishing up a typical Monday during the season – film review, walkthrough, lifting – when the coaches and players noticed something very unusual.

“We were coming out of our team lift and looked down and there was water in the (school) hallways,” coach Devin Gates recalled Wednesday afternoon. “We were like, ‘This isn’t good.’”

It was, and remains, anything but.

Historic flooding from torrential rainfall Monday inflicted horrific damage on sections of Leominster and upended the lives of the 43,000-plus residents in Worcester County’s second-largest city, which is under a state of emergency.

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“I have a couple of kids who are staying at Great Wolf Lodge (in Fitchburg) as a shelter because they can’t be in their homes right now,” Gates said. “I had a couple of kids stay over that night because we couldn’t get them to their houses because they lost power and their neighborhoods were underwater, so we couldn’t even get close. It’s been a pretty wild 48 hours.”

School was canceled Wednesday for a second straight day. Some of the football players volunteered their time and energy filling sandbags and packing them into cars for residents.

A semblance of normalcy returned for students, educators and administrators when city schools reopened Thursday following a two-hour delay. To that end, the Blue Devils fall athletic teams planned to resume practicing Wednesday afternoon after a one-day hiatus.

“We got the go-ahead and the work around for our teams to practice at Doyle (Field) and other places,” athletic director Dave Palazzi said. “With the rain (Wednesday), that’s not helping, so I’m trying to manage that. But we’re going to try to practice Wednesday and Thursday and get ready to play," Gates said before his team got in a practice Wednesday.

The freshman and junior varsity football teams planned to work out at Game On Sports & Performance Center in Fitchburg while the varsity, weather permitting, was going to hit the turf at Doyle Field with a backup plan of moving indoors at Game On.

“They’ve been great with offering their space,” Gates said of Game On.

While Palazzi has had to reschedule games in other sports, the football game between Leominster and Doherty is still scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. Friday at Berkshire Bank Field at Foley Stadium.

Leominster players seek cover at Doyle Field after their game versus St. John's was postponed due to lighting Friday Sept. 8.
Leominster players seek cover at Doyle Field after their game versus St. John's was postponed due to lighting Friday Sept. 8.

Gates has been in constant contact with Doherty coach Sean Mulchay and told him the goal is to play Friday.

“I know it’s tough at Foley with the schedule being packed pretty much every weekend, so rescheduling the game would probably be a big nightmare for them,” Gates said. “And not knowing the impact of the hurricane coming up fully yet, if Friday is going to be the day with the best weather, we want to do our best to make sure that we can make that happen.”

Hurricane Lee is making its way northward from the Caribbean and – depending on the track it takes – may or may not impact Massachusetts beginning late Friday night and into Saturday afternoon.

In addition to Friday’s varsity game, the Blue Devils and Highlanders are scheduled to play freshman and JV games Saturday, the former at Foley Stadium and the latter at Doyle Field.

“So there are a lot of moving parts,” Worcester Public Schools athletic director Dave Shea said with regard to the schedule.

Gates said he was confident if the Blue Devils practiced Wednesday and Thursday after having gotten together Monday, they’d be ready to take on the Highlanders.

“If we couldn’t practice (Wednesday) for some reason, we might have to look at something else,” Gates said. “But I feel if we can get in two and a half days of practice and meetings (we’ll be fine).

“Obviously, it’s not ideal and we’d like to be more prepared, especially against a Doherty team that is much improved from last year. But I feel with two and a half days, or six hours of time together, that we’ll be as ready to play a game as we normally are.”

Players from the Leominster and St. John's football teams warm up Friday Sept. 8 at Doyle Field.
Players from the Leominster and St. John's football teams warm up Friday Sept. 8 at Doyle Field.

This is the second straight weekend weather may play havoc with the high school football schedule.

The Blue Devils opened the season with a 30-18 loss to visiting St. John’s last Saturday. The game began the night before, but was suspended late in the first quarter following a one-hour delay due to lightning.

The Highlanders defeated Algonquin, 34-0, in week 1 in a game that also took two days to complete due to inclement weather.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Leominster athletics getting back on track after devastating floods