After a long preseason, high school sports began in earnest last week. This weekend football and boys’ soccer play at home, with football taking on Brighton at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and boys’ soccer playing a home rematch against Nauset Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Football

Playing before a large home crowd at the Daniel McCarthy Field, the Vineyarders took a 21-0 loss to visiting Bedford during last Saturday’s season opener.

The Buccaneers got on the board in the first quarter and kept going, scoring once more in the third before putting away the final touchdown in the fourth with less than two minutes remaining.

Junior quarterback Mike Mussell and senior back Joe Turney helped orchestrate the Vineyard’s biggest drive in the third quarter, but touchdown attempts at the goal line were ruled short. Turney closed the game with 47 rushing yards. Senior Tony Canha led the defense with 12 tackles, while Turney and senior Andrew Jacobs-Walsh had seven tackles each.

This year’s Vineyard team is physically “a little bit smaller” than last year’s, head coach Donald Herman said, but is a faster, more athletic team overall. Varsity numbers increased over last year’s squad, providing a deep bench. Turney, a three-year starter, is joined by returning starting seniors Lochlund Chimes, Aaron Lowe and Kyle Stobie. Senior John Henry O’Shaughnessy continues to rehabilitate a knee injury from last season, but is expected back in October.

 

Boys’ Soccer

The Vineyard boys are off to a strong fall start, defeating perennial challenger Nauset 1-0 in the team’s season opener last week, and playing Barnstable to a 1-1 draw on Monday. Junior transfer Jason Lages scored both Vineyard goals, with an assist for junior Elie Jordi. The boys host league opponent Somerset-Berkley on Tuesday, and Dennis-Yarmouth on Thursday.

Just three seniors return to the boys’ soccer squad, with a core group of juniors taking the field and key underclassmen quickly moving through the ranks.

Seniors Kane Araujo, Sam Entner, Evandro Medici and Ben Wadleigh return to the pitch, with juniors Colin Cameron, Lee Faraca, Noah Kleinhenz and Ben Poole also key contributors this year, head coach Damon Burke said. Goalkeeping remains a strong point for the team, with Wadleigh and junior Matt Stone both expected to see time in the box.

The squad is down in numbers from previous years, from 50 to 30, but coach Burke reported that the younger players are entering the program with a strong foundation, the result of years in the youth soccer program.

“We’re reaping the benefits of everyone’s hard work there,” he said.

 

Girls’ Soccer

The Vineyard girls fell 2-0 in their season opener against Cohasset last Friday, and look to pick up their first win next Tuesday when they travel to Somerset-Berkley for a league game. The team travels to Dennis-Yarmouth next Thursday.

A young but seasoned team returns to the pitch, as only three seniors graduated last year. The team is captained by senior Isabelle Wadleigh, who also led the squad as a junior. Seniors Jessica and Mariah Campbell and juniors Emily deBettencourt and Leila Gardner are also key returners. A total of 42 players turned out for preseason, the largest number in head coach Richard Bennett’s three-year tenure, including 13 freshmen. The freshmen group, most of whom play on the under-15 travel squad, will likely challenge the upperclassmen for varsity spots, Coach Bennett said. Freshman Cana Courtney starts in goal.

 

Cross Country

The Vineyard squads hosted the seventh annual Martha’s Vineyard Cross Country Invitational last Saturday, drawing 460 runners representing 15 schools. Bishop Feehan ran away with team wins in both the boys’ and girls’ competitions. In the girls’ race, Feehan senior Abbie McNulty ran a scorching 17:32.14 to lead the pack, breaking the Vineyard course record. The Vineyard as a team was seventh of 11 in the girls’ race.

Junior Julia Neville ran a 21:47.09 to place first for the Vineyard, finishing 29th of 85 overall.

Senior Lilly Neville placed 45th with a time of 23:13.31. Junior Willow Wunsch and senior Lucy Norris finished back to back in 49th (24:03.98) and 50th (24:22.90) place respectively. Senior Willoe Maynard placed 63rd with a time of 25:55.90.

Senior Jeremy Alley-Tarter was first for the Vineyard boys, who were fifth of 13 teams. He ran a 17:37 to place 12th in a field of 97 runners. Senior Isaiah Maynard was just behind, running 17:43.74 for 14th place. Freshman Patrick Best made his varsity debut with a 17:52.46, good for 20th place, and senior George Sykes was 34th with a time of 18:24.70. Senior Thorpe Karabees, sophomore Silas Berlin, and senior Galen Mayhew rounded out the varsity runners, placing 56th, 62nd and 64th respectively. The cross country teams host league opponent Somerset-Berkley Wednesday in a dual meet. Scores from last Wednesday’s meet against Coyle and Cassidy.

 

Golf

Varsity golfers dropped their first two matches of the season, the second in a narrow one-point loss to visiting league opponent Bishop Stang Tuesday on home turf at Farm Neck. The Vineyard fell 267-268. The team travels to Somerset-Berkley next Tuesday to continue league play.

Seven seniors graduated from the squad last season, but with an influx of younger players, the fall season nevertheless looks promising for the team.

“I think we’ll end up having a solid year,” head coach Doug Debettencourt said. A total of 20 players turned out for preseason, with 8 on the varsity roster.

The team is captained by seniors Kat deBettencourt and Matt Marchand, both four-year varsity players. Senior Ben Lukowitz and sophomore Kaitlyn Marchand also return to the varsity squad.

 

Field Hockey

Poor field conditions canceled the opening game of the season, although

the team did take part in its annual Play Day at Scituate earlier this month. Scores from Wednesday’s game against West Bridgewater were unavailable at press time.

A total of 73 athletes turned out for preseason, head coach Lisa Knight said, allowing the program to field a freshman team for the first time since 1998. That class of freshmen went on to play in a state championship game as seniors. “No superstitions here, but it’s nice to see,” the coach said.

She said this year’s team has strong senior leadership in its four captains: seniors Isabel Smith, Kat Dorr, Mary Ollen, and Alex Clark. Smith and Dorr are both three-year starters.

Ten seniors in total return to the team, along with juniors Aubrey Ashmun, Sydney Davies and Olivia Ogden.