High school sports for the fall season are wrapping up. The football team is intent on going out with a bang as they defeated Bellingham on Friday to extend their win streak to four. But it was a somber occasion for the boys’ soccer team, which ended its season with a loss in a hard-fought contest in the south section final of the MIAA tournament.

On Saturday the Vineyard boys were defeated by the Norwell Clippers in a tight game that ended 2-1. Senior Ben Poole scored the Vineyard’s only goal with a rocket from the top of the outer box. “The soccer gods were not on our side today, and neither were the refs,” co-captain Lee Faraca said bluntly. “I cannot put into words how upsetting this is to me, because the 10 per cent of the game that we can’t control ultimately decided this one. We were by far the better team, we outplayed them and outshot them, yet they came out on top. That’s a bad way to end your high school career.”

Many Vineyard players left the field teary-eyed after what was supposed to be the perfect season came to a close. The Vineyard will graduate 11 seniors next year from the soccer team, many of whom have been playing together since kindergarten. As a sign that they left all they had on the field, the boys left the field without their finalist trophy, which was brought back to the school by an unknown member of the high school faculty.

On the flip side of things, the football team is roaring into the close of the season and the annual Island Cup game with four straight wins, the last one coming over Bellingham 28-0. Ben Clarke rushed for two touchdowns while Jacob Cardoza and Lucas DeBettencourt each had one apiece. James Sashin went 4-4 on extra points and defensively, Andrew DiMattia and Dan Costello shined as they combined for 19 tackles for a loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. “We are 5-5 on the season now and we are most certainly going to make it 6-5 next Saturday,” said quarterback and senior captain Mike Mussell. Player of the game honors go to Ben Clarke, who rushed for 201 yards and the aforementioned two touchdowns. He also held his own on defense with seven tackles. The Vineyard will face their across-the-water rivals Nantucket on Saturday to close out their come-from-behind season.

Next week look for a history of the Island Cup and a winter sports pre-preview.