Island Cup

Coach Bob Tankard Resigns After Decade on the Sidelines

Robert Tankard is calling it quits af­ter eight years as head coach of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team.
 
News of his resignation, following a 27-14 loss to Nantucket Saturday, came as a shock to his players, football fans and the high school athletic de­partment.
 

Island's Football Season Ends With Loss in Nantucket Game

At Nantucket Saturday there were two football games. One was staged on the playing field, properly, and Nantucket won convincingly, 34-0. Ultimately the only victim in that game was the playing field, and that will repair itself.

Victory on Gridiron Is Sweet For Vineyard over Nantucket

Thanksgiving feasting, means dark meat, white meat, and - this week on Martha's Vineyard - fresh Nantucket whalemeat. In the words of Coach Bob Tankard:

"How sweet it is!"

In the lobby of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, it's time to shake the dust from the trophy case. It's time to shine, time to make room for the big one.

The trophy, all two feet and some-odd inches of it.

Bob Tankard Means to Win In Work with Vineyard Youth

Personal victories are what Bob Tankard cares about. He relies on them, he says, because they are messages that validate life and each person’s place on earth. Bob Tankard is the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football coach.
 
He’s got the winner’s attitude and it just won’t quit.
 
When Bob Tankard says “I have a firm belief” or when he says “I mean it, I really mean it,” he clenches black hands into tight fists and squeezes his dark, merry eyes shut. His face forms a solid, peaceful expression.
 

The Vineyard Battles Valiantly In Season Finale on Nantucket

Early on Saturday morning, a prevailing westerly sweeps the steppe called Martha's Vineyard Airport, and the regional high school football team hustles from the terminal into a potbellied Gull Airlines plane bound for Nantucket and The Game.

Nantucket Prevails in Football Finale Against the Vineyard

For the seventh straight year, Nantucket defeated Martha's Vineyard last Saturday in the historic contest between the two Island football teams, 30 to 20.

The game was played under majestic blue skies before a crowd of 2,500 spectators. It brings the overall record between the two schools to 23-10-2, in favor of Nantucket.

Vineyard Football Team Plays Gallantly Against Nantucketers

Saturday was a good day for flying to Nantucket — for a change. The PBA terminal was full of anxious Vineyarders hoping for an upset in the annual clash of the Islands on the football field. It was a gallant effort but in the end the Whalers were still undefeated for the season and the Vineyard has lost another close game to them, 12 to 0.

Breaks Go Against Vineyard In Football Loss to Nantucket

The script for homecoming weekend was not followed as planned. The Vineyarders were supposed to beat Nantucket and then celebrate with a victory dance at the high school. The dance was a success, but the Vineyarders were on the losing end of a 25 to 0 football game on a gloomy Saturday in a freezing, 30-knot gale.
 
Of course, for Nantucket it might as well have been Miami Beach. The win put them in third place in the Mayflower League with a 6 and 4 record. The Vineyard finished the season 4 and 6, which is quite respectable.
 

Nantucket Scores Against Vineyard In Annual Match

The 40 knot wind howled on Saturday afternoon and it was guaranteed that the Nantucket Whalers football team and their fans would be screaming with delight Saturday night. They had won their 10th game in a row to cap an undefeated league season. Unfor­tunately, the Vineyarders were the team they beat, 31-12.
 

Island Fans Face Chilling Winds, Traditional Foe

 
The end-zone boys were the only ones in or around the high school field Saturday afternoon who didn’t flinch at the negative-five windchill factor.
 
These hardies stood under the goal posts dressed in light sweatshirts and watched the Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard football teams battle up and down the hard-packed field. When the Vineyard broke a big gain, they threw their fists into the air and shouted approval.
 

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