Two major college programs in the Northeast should finally get on the field Saturday as Notre Dame College hosts St. Bonaventure.

Nothing, of course, is for certain, as both teams (and staff and refs) have to pass COVID tests on Friday, but there is every hope the game will go off. For St. Bonaventure, they have already played Nazareth College in a scrimmage. They won that fairly easily, which wasn't a surprise, but all that did was give the players a taste for more competition.

Bonnies has been training since February, and while they won't necessarily be game ready, they should be cohesive and fit.

Head Coach Tui Osborne, senior captain Colin Sustersic—who will be returning to his home state of Ohio for the game—and vice captain Alex Holden will have them switched on.

Notre Dame College has also been on the training pitch for a long time. They have received plenty of support from the college, and the players have found solace in training and preparing together. They don't get to do much else outside of classes. With captain Mark Mutuku keeping them on an even keel and Head Coach Jason Fox making sure they get their schoolwork done and are ready to play, the Falcons will be, like St. Bonaventure, itching to show something on the field.

It's all hanging on COVID tests of course, but if this happens this will be a major step toward normalcy in the Northeast. We've seen games with military academies and in the Southeast, Mountain States, and further West, but schools, governments, and people in general have tiptoed back to normalcy more slowly in New York and Ohio.

But with college students eager to return to activities—activities that have not been proven to exacerbate the COVID spread—this game could be just what the doctor ordered.