Newtown High School, along with the other schools around the state, had a mostly full school year of sports from September through June. That in itself was a win, regardless of game outcome. The championship celebrations and playoff appearances? Those were all concession stand sundae cup cherry-on-top stuff (with extra sprinkles).

“Very,” Newtown High School Athletic Director Matt Memoli acknowledged when asked on June 24 if he was surprised his teams ended up with such a successful, mostly normal school year of sports — at least given all of the circumstances — from fall through spring.

After all, the impact of the coronavirus left everybody wondering how much, if any, school sports there would be.

Rewind to October 1. Only when the first games of the fall were underway and the balls were officially in play, albeit following a delayed start, did Memoli know there would indeed be some game play. Too much had been in question and subject to cancellation for so long.

At the start of the preseason, teams practiced in small groups before more traditional practices were permitted. Masks were worn on sidelines and fans were initially not permitted. Senior Night celebrations — traditionally held late in the season — took place on opening night, just in case. Nobody knew whether coronavirus cases might increase to a point the season would be canceled. Athletes were not required to wear masks during competition except for the fall indoor sport of girls’ volleyball; mask-wearing continued for indoor winter sports.

The lead-up to this year’s scholastic sports season could not help but be affected by the disappointment of the end of the previous one. After some of the 2020 state tournament was canceled in mid March and all of last year’s spring slate got wiped out, reality was that the fall season was never a sure thing — until it happened. And even weeks into the campaign, it was not known if the season would be completed. Ultimately, with coronavirus cases across the state on the rise, fall state playoffs were not scheduled, and the playoffs were limited to conference tournaments. Even the regular season and playoffs were makeshift, with the South-West Conference divided into two geographical divisions to limit travel and possible exposure.

Nonetheless, a slightly altered season took place for all of the teams. Football was the most heavily impacted of the fall programs. The pigskin players had to make do with Connecticut Department Of Public Health (DPH) recommendations prompting the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to cancel traditional 11 versus 11 football and offer a 7 on 7, touch football alternative. To include linemen, strongman competitions, such as tug of war and tractor tire flipping were held.

“We all did everything we possibly could to follow every guideline, every protocol, and it wasn’t enough,” Memoli said of the efforts of football coaches and players, which included training in small cohorts like the other sports.

“These coaches and kids made the most of it,” added Memoli, also noting that the football coaches kept the players engaged. “I give them a lot of credit. They went above and beyond when they easily could have thrown in the towel.”

In addition to the season happening, the Nighthawks celebrated with conference tournament finals appearances, and a boys’ soccer championship triumph to boot.

The uptick in coronavirus cases and speculation among health experts that things would continue to worsen left winter sports in question and the start on hold for almost two months.

“I did not know if a winter season would be a thing,” Memoli recalls.

“In the fall and winter, I definitely was surprised. Once we got to spring we were optimistic,” said Emma Magazu, who played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse for Newtown High.

Winter sports engaged in a slightly truncated slate that extended later into March than usual. There was a traditional conference playoff following the regular season, and no state playoffs. Wrestling was deemed by the DPH to be a high-risk sport and, thus, the season was not held. Memoli noted that while this was a tough decision for those involved with wrestling to take, they understood the reasoning amid the bigger picture. Girls’ swim meets were virtual in the fall, but switched to traditional dual meets in the boys’ winter campaign. Other virtual events included the cheerleading competition as officials limited numbers of people congregating.

Accustomed to taking things day by day with weather always a threat to cancel games, Memoli found himself in uncharted territory as games occasionally had to be canceled due to coronavirus protocol throughout the school year. A component of rescheduling games includes changing plans not only for teams but with transportation. A shortage of school bus drivers compounded things, Memoli noted.

After making it through the fall season with no team issues, the end of winter and start of spring had the only speed bumps within Newtown athletics directly. The girls’ basketball team had to quarantine and lost out on some games, but came back in time for the playoffs. The boys’ lacrosse team lost out on its preseason and had to delay the start of its regular season, also for protocol. In some instances, individual athletes had to sit out for protocol. Some rival schools lost nearly entire seasons, so things went quite well in Newtown.

“It was a collaborative effort by so many people involved. It was amazing to see people step up and not make excuses, and say ‘We’re just going to get things done,’” Memoli said.

Memoli joined forces with athletic trainer Sabrina Byrne, administrative assistant to the athletic director Debi Modzelewski, Principal Dr. Kimberly Longobucco, and the school nurses to handle the many instances of possible exposure to coronavirus to ensure that everybody remained safe and that all of the teams either remained on the courts and fields or got back to practices and games.

“There was a lot of legwork. We all worked at it together. It took up so much time and energy,” Memoli said of the process of contact tracing and getting things squared away for the students.

The NHS athletic director said Byrne did a great job of monitoring the athletes throughout each season.

“She was on them 24/7 about staying healthy, keeping their masks on, staying away from each other,” Memoli said.

Spring went forward with a full slate of games, conference playoffs, and state tournaments. Sometime during the spring season, things started to feel normal. More fans were permitted as the school year went on.

Jack Petersen, a soccer, basketball, and baseball player, said fall went much better than expected and he was happy to get to have a basketball season after all of the questions about whether or not it would tip off.

“It was great just to appreciate it and play,” Petersen said.

“I didn’t have any expectations,” said Marc Kenney, coach of the girls’ soccer team. “We knew if we had one positive test in our program we’d be shut down.”

Kenney said the overall success of the school’s sports program this year is a testament to the efforts of the athletics department, Memoli, and the coaches and players for buying in with what had to be done.

Boys’ basketball coach Tim Tallcouch said he was optimistic about the winter season happening, while knowing it was never a guarantee that it would be completed.

“It did not surprise me. I thought it would be a day-to-day thing and it turned out to be a day-to-day thing,” said Tallcouch, whose team ended up having to make up a handful of games in a jam-packed end of the regular season to accommodate several schools that had to postpone contests due to coronavirus protocol.

Jeremy O’Connell coached girls’ basketball in the winter and girls’ golf in the spring, and appreciated what the Nighthawk teams got, considering all that was going on.

“Was extremely happy to begin the path towards the way sports were before the pandemic. Having modified or shortened seasons was not ideal, but it was something, and I am grateful for that,” O’Connell said.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.