The winter sports season is persevering despite Covid infections decimating team ranks each week, and their fan base limited too. According to athletic director Mark McCarthy, only family members of players are allowed to attend games due to the surge in positive Covid cases.
But on the hardwood and ice and in the pool, students are continuing to give it their all and adapt accordingly. At Tuesday’s boys basketball game against Dennis Yarmouth the team had to play without four of their starters. But the bench jumped to the challenge, keeping the score close to the final buzzer. Dennis Yarmouth pulled out the win, 52-49.
“We made a couple of silly mistakes early, but I thought the second half the guys played really well,” head coach Mike Joyce said after the game. “They played hard. They were aggressive and really played good defense, which gave us a bunch of turnovers.”
The Vineyard staged a comeback in the fourth quarter after being down most of the game led in part by performances by junior Ryan Koster with backup from his teammates junior Toby Roberts and junior Quinn Littlefield.
The boys’ varsity basketball is currently at 2-3 for the season. Next up is an away game against Nantucket on Jan. 15. The girls basketball team lost an away game against Dennis Yarmouth 34-68 on Tuesday. They play Nantucket at home on Jan. 15, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
On Wednesday at the ice arena this week, the boys and girls teams hosted Bourne and Sandwich, respectively.
The girls team was down three starters due to illness and injury not related to Covid. The Vineyarders scored early in the game with a goal by freshman Izabella Blake, but then Sandwich tied the game at the end of the first period.
Sandwich would go on to dominate the second period with three goals against the Vineyard. Blake scored another goal in the third period but it wasn’t enough to catch Sandwich as they closed out the game 5-2.
The girls hockey team is 2-4 for the season. Next up is an away game against Old Rochester on Jan. 15.
The boys hockey team started strong with two goals in the first period by Nick BenDavid and Will Bruguiere. Bourne would control most of the second period and score three goals of their own to pull ahead 3-2. But the Vineyarders answered back in the third period with two more goals by BenDavid and Bruguiere to win, 4-3.
The boys team is now 5-1 on the season. Next up is an away game against Monomoy on Jan. 15.
In the pool, the swim team welcomed Saint John Paul II to the YMCA on Tuesday for their last home meet of the season. The girls team could only field two swimmers and lost 20-77. The boys team continued its winning streak, 81-58.
Ruairi Mullin secured a first place in the 200-meter IM with a personal best of 2:23.7. Nathan Cuthbert and Kaua DeAssis placed first and second place in the 50-meter freestyle with times of 25.74 and 28.07, respectively.
Ruairi Mullin earned another first place in the 100-meter free with a time of 57.29, followed closely by Elijah Reed who finished third with a time of 1:09.86.
In the 100-meter backstroke Emmett Silva placed first with a personal best time of 1:12.50, followed up by Andy Carr at second with a time of 1:15.00. Yossi Monahan placed first in the 100-meter breaststroke with at time of 1:25.65.
In his first meet with the team, eighth grader Grady Stalgren placed second in the 200-meter free with a time of 2:46.20.
In the final event, the 400-meter free relay team of Mullin, Stalgren, Reed and DeAssis placed first with a time of 4:32.12.
The team next takes on Sandwich at an away meet on Jan. 20.
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