A year of adjustments, postponements, cancellations.

Quarantining, wearing masks, dealing with positive tests.

First, no fans, then a few fans, then a percentage of fans.

Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has been throwing punches at the Butler County sports world — which was able to dance around most of the blows.

The high school spring sports season fell victim. So did the Slippery Rock University football campaign.

“Crazy is the way to describe the year 2020,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “We've redone schedules three or four different times.

“The kids I feel the worst for are the spring athletes. They were robbed of their season — especially the seniors. They'll never get that back.”

Swimmers and basketball players missed out on chances to compete for state championships. Golf courses were ordered closed for a while.

“We had two swimmers work so hard to qualify for the state meet, virtually on their own ... then never got to go there,” Moniteau athletic director John Stoughton said.

Butler and North Catholic boys, along with North Catholic's girls, were still alive in the PIAA basketball tourney when it was halted. Seneca Valley's Owen Blazer lost out on the chance to win a gold medal in swimming when the remainder of the state meet was shut down after the preliminary round.

The high school fall sports season was delayed, then shortened. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference canceled its entire fall sports campaign after putting an end to its spring athletic season in March.

SRU's football team reached the Division II national semifinals in 2019 — and never took the field in 2020.

“We had a senior-oriented team coming back,” SRU football coach Shawn Lutz said. “When I told them the news, they were completely crushed.

“My everyday life is football — the process, the practices, the games. But knowing what I know now, we did what we had to do. I know people who have died from this. Health and safety come first.”

Butler football ended its 24-game losing streak against an opponent — Blackhawk — it wasn't even scheduled to play. Mylan was able to schedule the game a couple of days before it was played because both teams' originally scheduled opponents were dealing with COVID issues.

“There were just so many roadblocks,” Mylan said.

The pandemic kept everybody guessing.

Back in June, Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis said: “Four months ago, I never would have guessed we'd have no spring sports and that schools would be shut down, that there would be no Major League Baseball or any pro sports going on. Yet that all happened.

“I'm not going to begin to guess what things will look like four months from now. Nobody knows.”

That same thought holds true today.

“We're not done with this thing yet,” Mylan said of COVID-19. “There is still work to do, a few more hoops to jump through.”

Stoughton says he's “hopeful and optimistic” winter sports will resume and hopefully get through a full season.

“I'm sure we'll have restrictions. Postseason may be changed. We'll deal with things as they come, like we've been doing,” he added.

The fall sports season would not have happened at all had the PIAA not gone against Gov. Tom Wolf's recommendation late in the summer to shut down high school athletics until January.

The WPIAL supported the PIAA's decision to go ahead with the fall season.

“Both organizations showed a lot of fortitude there,” Mylan said. “They recognized how important athletics are to these kids, to their mental and emotional health.

“It was a decision made with the kids in mind — and turned out to be the right decision.”

Lutz is happy to see high school sports returning this month.

“Players will have to wear masks and that's a little tough,” he said. “But at the end of the day, they get to play, we will have games ... it's a win.”