Island Cup
Island Cup
November 23, 1979
Vineyard Scores One Against Nantucket’s First Line
The wind was blowing a gale across the field — the fans were all bundled up and the two classic rival teams, the Vineyarders and Nantucket Whalers were on the field, ready to play an excellent football game.
At the end of four quarters the Whalers had defeated the home team 28-6. They were undefeated in league competition this year and the Vineyard win clinched the Mayflower league title.
November 24, 1978
Season Ends on Downbeat in Drubbing at Nantucket
There are times when every reporter figures there must be another angle from which to look at something. When the score ends up 36-0 for the bad guys, it’s one of those times. Fortunately, the Vineyard-Nantucket clash is a story in itself, beyond the football field.
Saturday morning, you may recall, was a bit on the blustery side. Not to mention soggy. I called Lois DeBettencourt hoping for a cancellation in the flight plans, but she said, “We’re going!”
November 25, 1977
Apathy Aside, Purple Fans Turn Out in Noisy Numbers
Multi-colored confetti burst through the cold fall air whenever the Vineyard gained or Nantucket slipped. Orange plastic horns delivered toots of approval at touchdowns and penalty calls. Pompoms waved wildly and feet stomped the bleachers in loud, chaotic support.
All signs at the Saturday afternoon battle with Nantucket said this was a football Island: a community which cheered or jeered every play and never missed a game.
November 3, 1972
Purple and White Downs Nantucket Whalers 26 to 6
The piercing wail of fire sirens and the exuberant cheering of Regional High supporters greeted each plane-load of the victorious Purple and White football team at the Martha's Vineyard Airport Saturday evening following their first win in seven years over a Nantucket eleven.
November 20, 1964
Vineyard Gridders Win
The Regional High School football season, which this year has not been the happiest of times, ended on a cheerful note Saturday, when the Vineyarders trounced the Nantucket team 28-0 on its own field. Defeat at the hands of the rival Islanders would have been the final disgrace for the Vineyard team, which has been plagued through most of the season by ties and defeats. But as it turned out, everything over there on that semi-blessed isle suddenly came up roses.
November 22, 1963
Vineyard Eleven Ends Season Without Defeat
The Vineyarders wrapped up their fourth football season last Saturday and marked it, in proud red letters, “undefeated.” Traveling to Nantucket, the Vineyard team upset the Whalers for the second time, with a score of 8-0, and brought home the finest football record the school has yet achieved.
October 18, 1963
Nantucket Lambasted
The Vineyarders chalked up their second win of the gridiron season last Saturday in a clear-cut 36-0 score over Nantucket High School. The regional’s outstanding defensive line, led by co-captain John Bunker, Tony DeBettencourt, Lennie DonAroma and Bob Norton, proved too much for the Nantucket gridders.
Offensively, Vineyarders took most of their yardage through straight drive plays. The Vineyard score consisted of five touchdowns, with Niemiec kicking for two extra points and Manny Nunes rushing for four.
November 16, 1962
Island Eleven Ends Its Best Season So Far
The Vineyarders closed out their most successful season to date with a sparkling 5-2 record, beating Nantucket, after beating them soundly the week before on the Vineyard. Gordon Bassett and John Bunker rushed the Nantucket quarterback, Vaughan Machado, in a second period pass play from the Nantucket 30. In a play described by Assistant Coach Francis Pachico as “The most unbelievable play of the year,” Machado threw the ball away, from about his own fifteen. Only he got turned around under pressure, and threw to his own goal line.
November 10, 1961
Football Team Too Slow in Warm-Up
The Regional High School football team went down to its fourth defeat of the season Saturday in a game with Nantucket at War Veterans’ Memorial Park in Vineyard Haven. The score was 14 to 8.
November 18, 1960
Nantucket All the Way
Having lost only one game out of six this season, the Nantucket High School football team came to Veterans Memorial Park Saturday and added still another victory to its record by defeating the Regional High School team 26 to 0. Nantucket’s power and experience accounted for everything, although neither of those qualities made any real showing until the final quarter, when the Nantucketers really got all gears meshing.
