It’s always a big night when Nashua North and Nashua South meet on the basketball court, despite the early season struggles of the Nashua North boys and the girls teams from both schools. It became more of a headline event when new Nashua athletic director Peter Casey formalized the competition between the two schools with the “Battle of the Bridge” this fall.

The winter version has already begun, with South jumping to an early 3-1 lead with victories in varsity hockey, gymnastics and freshmen boys’ basketball. North’s only victory so far is in freshmen girls’ basketball.

The competition resumes with boys and girls alpine skiing on Thursday night at Pat’s Peak. North and South wrestle six days later at North, junior varsity basketball is slated for Jan. 29 and the boys and girls varsity teams square off Jan. 30 at North with the girls leading things off at 5:30. Swim and track and field competitions conclude the event the following two weeks.

Casey and Burque Jewellers who sponsors the event, deserve credit for making the competition a little more meaningful to the athletes.

Of course, the night of basketball might be a little overshadowed, with a potential “Game of the Year” in Manchester between potential unbeaten teams from Central and Trinity. Central (5-0) needs to win at Keene Friday and at home Tuesday against South to go into the game unbeaten.

Trinity (4-0) stays unbeaten by beating surprising Exeter (5-0) at home on Friday and beating Timberlane Regional (2-3) on the road next Tuesday.

The showdown pits perhaps the two top “Player of the Year” candidates, Trinity junior forward Jordan Laguerre and Central senior point guard Will Bayliss.