The annual Island Cup game between the Vineyard and Nantucket football teams has long been a high-stakes affair, played to the bitter end for the right to dominate the world — or at least bragging rights between the two Island rivals.
And until six years ago the Whalers won the game on a regular basis. From 1993 to 1998 Nantucket won five out of six, and four in a row over the Vineyard.
It is a chilly November evening; the sun has just dipped below the horizon and Mike McCarthy, quarterback for the Vineyarders football team, stands in back of the high school answering a reporter’s questions about this weekend’s Island Cup game.
Nearby a group of cheerleaders is spray-painting signs and posters with words of encouragement for the team. Some of the signs will be used to decorate the bedrooms of the starters and seniors on the football team; others may be brought over to Nantucket this weekend to cheer on the Vineyarders during the game.
It was a triumphant return to form for the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team in 2008.
After a run of successful but ultimately frustrating seasons, the Island team dominated its Mayflower League Large opponents and went undefeated in the conference, earning a berth in the Division 3A Eastern Massachusetts playoffs for the first time in five years.
After years of going without a conference affiliation, all but a handful of the athletic teams of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High school finally found a home this week when the Eastern Athletic Conference voted unanimously to accept the Vineyard into its ranks.
The principals and athletic directors of the Eastern Athletic Conference voted without dissent on Wednesday to accept the Vineyard as the newest member of the four-school athletic conference. The vote took place at the conference’s regular meeting held at Somerset High School.
Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams capped off another strong season last weekend at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association division III finals.
The girls finished 14th overall at the division meet held at Franklin Park in Boston, while the boys finished 15th. Only the top five teams advance to the all-state meet held tomorrow, also at Franklin Park.
This from the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street: “Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to.”
