This year’s Island Cup features a young crop of vigorous Vineyarders eager to recapture the cup versus a Nantucket team riding high off back-to-back lopsided wins.

The Vineyard team narrowly avoided a shutout in the closing minutes of the Island Cup. Final score: Nantucket 48, Vineyard 7.

Nantucket struck early and often as it leads the Vineyard 29-0 at halftime.

The start of the Island Cup is just minutes away as the Vineyard and Nanucket face off for football bragging rights. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m under very sunny skies.

The annual Island Cup football rivalry between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket is set to return this weekend, a year after it was cancelled for only the second time in its long history.

Legendary Nantucket football coach Vito Capizzo, who led the Whalers in decades of Island Cup rivalry games against the Vineyard, died May 17. He was 78.

An inspired Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team ended its season with a victory last Friday night, taking a bit of the sting out of a season cut short.

Faced with injuries and disciplinary dismissals, the regional high school decided Thursday to forfeit the end of the varsity football season, including the Island Cup.

After 12 consecutive Island Cup victories, the Vineyarders gave up the trophy to the Nantucket Whalers. Final score: 42-0.

Anything can happen at the Island Cup. The rivalry game between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket is Saturday on the Vineyard. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.