A moment left uncaptured in time.

Foxboro coach Lisa Downs (right) hugs Shakirah Ketant at the 2020 postseason banquet.

Before I post a link to another episode of The Owner's Box After Dark (coming shortly!), I thought I'd make note of an anniversary of sorts. Today was the day one year ago when members of the Foxboro High girls' basketball team gathered at Norton Country Club to celebrate their just-concluded season -- but it was concluded one game short of how long it was supposed to extend.

On March 14 of last year, the Warriors were supposed to play Taconic Regional High School of Pittsfield for the state Division 2 basketball championship. But that game, scheduled for the DCU Center in Worcester, was canceled with about a day's notice because of the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Just a few days earlier, the Warriors had put the finishing touches on a relatively easy win over North Reading at the TD Garden to earn the right to play for the state title -- their second title game in three years, in fact. While they were indeed happy to have won the state semifinal, there was still a sense of unfinished business among the players, and that was evident in their responses to me as I conducted post-game interviews in the Will McDonough Press Room for Foxboro Cable Access.

Little did they, or Coach Lisa Downs, know that there would be a nagging fear in the back of their minds after they returned home, got a good night's sleep, and returned to their preparations for the last game of the season on the next day.

All over the nation, a sense of panic arose over this strange and hitherto-unknown virus called COVID-19. But it really hit home with the news that one of the members of the Utah Jazz that played in a game against the Celtics a few nights earlier, Rudy Gobert, had tested positive for the virus -- and that was the domino that fell and prompted the NBA to suspend its season. 

It made me wonder -- had I been infected because I had been in a press room where an infected NBA player may have given a post-game interview? Had the Foxboro players been exposed, or the crowds from Foxboro and Mansfield that had attended the two state semifinal games on consecutive nights? Was the whole building teeming with coronavirus? 

Truth is, nobody really knew anything about COVID-19 at that juncture, except that it was dangerous. All of the major leagues stopped play. The NCAA canceled its tournaments at all levels. And suddenly, the nation was locked down as tight as a drum for the first time since the second decade of the 20th century.

Katelyn Mollica (11) won two state titles in her career.

Given the lack of concrete information about the virus, it's not surprising that the Warriors wanted desperately to get in their game despite the growing trend to shut everything down. They probably could have played in an empty gym far off the beaten path, without the benefit of fan support, but the MIAA opted to err on the side of caution for all of its basketball and hockey title games. All of the teams that were denied their final games had the title of "co-champions" bestowed upon them, and high school sports followed the rest of the nation into lockdown.

They haven't played a normal game or season since.

When the Warriors and their parents convened on March 15 at Norton Country Club, they did so on a day in which Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker would later make an emergency decree limiting public gatherings to 10 persons. The banquet could have been similar to a funeral in tone, given the virus fears and the deep disappointment felt by the players and their families over not being able to complete the season. But Downs, her staff and the players refused to let the emotions and fears get the best of them.

Before the awards presentations began, Foxboro Cable Access rigged up a widescreen TV and showed the Warriors' comeback victory over Hingham for the Division 2-South title. The players watched with joy as they tracked the progress of their rally from an 11-point deficit in the second half. And the thrill of seeing their resolve bear fruit set the tone for a day of celebration.

None of us knew what we were in for over the next 12 months. Lives were changed. Personal habits were altered. Some of us actually became ill. And in a few cases locally, loved ones were lost -- a sad reminder that as of today, more than 540,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19.

Now, one year into this pandemic, newspapers are marking the anniversary with retrospective stories illustrating how the world changed in the second week of March 2020. The local daily newspaper for which I worked for 41 years before my layoff on August 2018 has also done so. In the main story, the Foxboro girls' basketball team rated a fleeting reference in one sentence. In a lengthy column by a part-time writer that appeared in the sports section, there is no mention whatsoever of how a local team was denied the opportunity to win a state championship by the coronavirus -- and that is an egregious omission.

It's been suggested that if I am critical of the newspaper for which I once worked, it's an indication that I'm just a bitter and angry old man that should mind my own business. But I've moved on. I had fully intended to retire on March 17, 2019, regardless of what the future might have held. I'm enjoying retirement, and I thoroughly enjoy my new role as a play-by-play announcer for three local cable TV systems. I also see no reason why I, as part of the audience the newspaper serves, can't call out the stumbling efforts of the penny-pinching ownership that has gutted its staff and is struggling to present relevant news coverage to an area that was once served by a robust and vibrant daily newspaper.

Aside from the indefatigable Peter Gobis, who soldiers on and skips from event to event to event on any given day despite approaching his 70th birthday, there is no one else on that staff capable of presenting a truly local historical perspective to its readers, especially where sports are concerned. And it shows.

But I have not forgotten -- and that's why this blog and my podcasts exist. 

The Foxboro girls and all of the athletes that followed them -- through the lost 2019 spring season, then fall and winter and now on to the "Fall II" season -- have done what they had to do. They played through the restrictions, and the rules changes, and the mask-wearing, and they did not complain. They just played on, grateful for the opportunity. 

Their memories will be different than those that preceded them, and probably different those that will follow, at least eventually. And for their efforts, they deserve to be remembered and honored far better than just with one line within the entire content of the daily newspaper that was once entrusted with the task of providing them with lasting memories of their accomplishments.