Playing before a large home crowd at the Daniel McCarthy Field, the Vineyarders took a 21-0 loss to visiting Bedford on Saturday afternoon.

The Buccaneers got on the board in the first quarter and kept going, scoring once more in the third before putting away the final touchdown in the fourth with less than two minutes remaining.

Regional high school students start classes later than usual this year, but the fall athletes are already on the fields preparing for the upcoming season. Mornings and evenings bring a flurry of activity to the quiet school campus as football, field hockey, cross country, soccer and golf shake off the summer haze and get down to business.

It’s a time of tryouts, when varsity and junior varsity teams are created, and a time of camaraderie as teammates work through drills and circuits. It is also exhausting.

Regional high school senior Alec Tattersall is one of six amateur athletes featured in the Dec. 10 issue of Sports Illustrated in the magazine’s popular Faces in the Crowd column. Tattersall is the first currently-enrolled Vineyard student to appear in the column. Field hockey alumna Liane Dixon appeared in Faces in the Crowd as a college player at Northeastern.

On Sept. 21, the Framingham State University football team shut out fellow Division III opponent Bridgewater State University 16-0. It was the lone loss of the season for Bridgewater, which went 9-1 this year, earning a place in the NCAA tournament.

The playoff runs of field hockey and boys’ soccer ended this week, leaving football and cross country the only Vineyard teams still in action. Football takes on league opponent Coyle-Cassidy in an away game tomorrow at 1 p.m. Cross country travels to the Eastern Massachusetts Divisional Championship meet, held in Wrentham, tomorrow.

Football plays its second-to-last home game of the season tonight at 6:30 p.m., taking on Eastern Athletic Conference opponent Bishop Stang.

The field hockey squad took on Plymouth South in its first post-season game on Thursday afternoon. Game coverage is available online at www.mvgazette.com

Boys’ soccer plays its first tournament game in an away game against Scituate Sunday at 3:30 p.m., and the varsity cross country runners compete in the Coaches’ Invitational this Saturday in Wrentham.

The Vineyard field hockey and golf teams have both qualified for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.

Junior defensive end Aaron Lowe’s head hurt after the Sept. 15 football game against Bristol-Plymouth. It wasn’t the score of the game causing the headache — the Vineyard had just taken an exciting 28-26 win. Rather, Aaron had suffered a mild concussion after taking a hit during a routine play. Donald Herman, the seasoned high school football coach, noticed Aaron seemed a bit confused after the game and sent him to see athletic trainer Tania Laslovich. The next day Ms. Laslovich gave Aaron a cognitive test to determine the severity of the concussion.

The Island’s oldest and youngest high school football teams met, not for a match but for a meal last Friday night at the school cafeteria. Nineteen members of the 1960 team met the 2010 team before the big Saturday game with Nantucket. Add to that six members of the 1960 cheerleaders, who also shared stories with the current squad.

On Saturday, after two years of frustration and delay, Nantucket finally came back across the Muskeget Channel and down the placard-lined mean streets of Oak Bluffs to rekindle a rivalry that, simply by geography, is unlike any other in sports. It was worth the wait.