Asked to describe his team's effort in last Friday's crushing 20-16 loss to the Crusaders from Cape Cod Tech/Harwich, no-nonsense Vineyarders football coach Donald Herman doesn't have to think long for an answer.
"Soft," he said roundly of his team's effort in the loss that effectively eliminated the team from going to the postseason. "We were soft and we were flat. I am not happy with what is going on right now."
Just as the first snows arrived on the Island yesterday, other signs of winter were in evidence around the Island this past week.
In addition to Christmas sales and plastic lawn Santas, the young athletes of the Vineyard could be found practicing their jumpers and perfecting their slap shots, as the high school sports scene moved from the autumnal fields of soccer and football inside to the cozy confines of ice rinks and basketball courts.
Island residents who stayed with their television sets on Sunday night past the Patriots and into Sunday Night Football were hoping to see the promised NBC coverage of the Island high school football team. It has been rescheduled for Nov. 18 and Nov. 25. Earlier schedules had the segment airing on Nov. 4 and Nov. 11.
It was a year of ‘what ifs' for the teams of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in 2007, as several teams missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins, while others lost games in the state tournament that could have turned on the bounce of a puck or a roll of the ball.
It was déjà vu all over again for the boys’ soccer team Sunday as the team again found itself in a sudden death penalty kick shoot-out in the opening round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.
Although the Vineyarders prevailed in the shoot-out against Dighton-Rehoboth, thanks to the efforts of goaltender Nico Cuba, to win the game 3-2, there was a surreal quality to the game which marked the third time in three consecutive state tournament games the team’s fate was decided by a shoot-out.
There was no fighting to the top this year. No tooth and
nail-clawing to inch past the next-highest class rank, no daily status
updates with the guidance department computer system, no strategic
scheduling of classes to yield a higher-weighted grade point average,
regardless of interest in the subjects.
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School principal Margaret (Peg) Regan quietly announced late last week that she will resign at the end of the school year.
Mrs. Regan submitted a letter of resignation to Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss on Friday.
No, not the NBC special on the Vineyard high school football team that will air nationally twice next month, though the Island football community got a kick out of NBC camera crews trailing every facet of practice, the locker room, then filming a solid 35-20 win over bulky Hull High School last Friday.
“Preseason’s over. The league starts on Friday,” said junior inside linebacker Cody Brewer while organizing his derby fishing gear on Saturday morning after the game.
Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School is exploring whether an opportunity exists to move its sports program, including football, to the Atlantic Coast League following the resignation of North Quincy, Quincy and Whitman-Hanson high schools from the league next fall.
Michael Joyce, athletic director at the Island high school, said this week that letters have been sent to principals and athletic directors of Atlantic Coast League schools inquiring about the fit for Vineyard sports in the league.
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team is having a good week.
In addition to rolling over Littleton/Broomfield at home on Friday by a final of 29-14 to remain undefeated on the season, a news crew from NBC Sports is traveling with the team this week and taping a segment that will be aired later this year during a halftime segment of the network’s NFL Sunday Night Football program.
