MENASHA, Wis. (NBC 26) -- Sarah Jansen VanDynHoven has watched her two sons play football or other sports throughout most of their lives.
But the Menasha High School mother spent the last year watching those opportunities disappear.
"We started in the fall with high hopes and a lot of restrictions and then it turned into just it being a better decision to stop the season," VanDynHoven said about the dashed hopes of a 2020 football season.
But on Thursday night, Menasha and Notre Dame Academy were two of the first schools in the state to play a spring football game. It's also the first time VanDynHoven got to see her sons play in person since 2019.
"Tears are pretty present today just being here and feeling the energy and being back with the lights and just seeing actual people and the excitement," VanDynHoven said. "Getting back to life is what it feels like, so that's what it means a lot to all of us."
Without a season last year, Menasha high decided to allow around 750 fans into its opening matchup. VanDynHoven was one of them.
"[It feels] a little bit melancholy because I know this is the last season for my senior," she said. "But it also just feels kind of happy that we're out here and we're playing football."
Fans were asked to wear masks and social distance throughout the game. Parents like Laura John say it's worth it to see their players under the lights again.
"[It means a lot] to see the energy and feel the energy of being able to come back in and have the families here, have the boys together, [and] see their hard work begin to pay off," John said. "It just feels like coming home, really."
John got one of her son's four allotted tickets.
"We can't get these years back," John, a mother of a sophomore on Menasha's squad, said. "So being able to feel that and be here, that's probably the best thing about tonight."
And though Menasha's stadium might have looked relatively empty at first glance, for John, it felt like a sold-out crowd.
"It really just kind of pulled at my heart strings," she said. "[It] brought a tear to my eye."
