Island Cup
Island Cup
November 15, 2001
Battle for Island Cup Is Set for Saturday
Forget the season behind them; forget the playoffs ahead. This week, for the football squad and fans alike, Saturday's battle for the Island Cup - like many a legendary sports rivalry - is the only thing that matters.
Martha's Vineyard enters Saturday's game against Nantucket at 9-1, having already clinched the Mayflower League Large title. The Vineyarders have outscored opponents 180-40 in their last five games.
At 5-4, the visiting Whalers have had a disappointing season. But ending the trophy's two-year stay on the Vineyard would turn it into a successful one.
November 24, 2000
Vineyard Dominates Nantucket; Sets Sights on Super Bowl Game
The Vineyard varsity football team rolled over Nantucket by a score of 31-6 Saturday, winning on Nantucket soil for only the third time since 1978 in a contest whose outcome was never really in doubt.
From the beginning to end, last year’s Island Cup champions controlled the game, holding their opponents defensively and blowing past them on offense.
“It was total domination,” said head coach Donald Herman, who has described his team’s past 20 and 30-point shutouts as fair and even downright bad performances.
November 17, 2000
Island Rivalry: Football Team Battles for Cup On Nantucket
Saturday’s game for the Island Cup is one of the most-storied high school rivalries in the country, and the defining moment for a Vineyard culture that flourishes for three months every year.
But unlike the shedding trees or shrinking afternoons that mark the end of what is arguably one of the nicest times of year on the Island, football season goes out with a bang.
November 26, 1999
Vineyard Crushes Weak Nantucket Team On the Road to State Super Bowl Final
The Cup is home.
Sparked by the spirited play of junior Jeff Lynch and his two touchdowns, the Martha’s Vineyard football squad recaptured the Island Cup last Saturday, defeating Nantucket 38-12. The win marked the end of the Vineyarders’ perfect 10-0 regular season and secured them a spot in the Division 5 Super Bowl on Dec. 4 at Boston University.
November 27, 1998
Vineyard Loses Nantucket Heartbreaker
As Vineyard coach Don Herman arrived at Nantucket’s football field carrying the Island Cup last Saturday, a couple of fans wearing Nantucket sweatshirts jokingly offered to take it from him. Coach Herman smiled politely, clutched the Cup a little tighter, and kept walking.
Nantucket’s team was finally able to wrest the Cup from the coach’s grasp, but it took all 40 minutes of the game to do so. In a brave effort, the Vineyarders came back from a 21-6 halftime deficit to tie the game before Nantucket prevailed by the final score of 27-21.
November 28, 1997
Big Win Sends Vineyard to Super Bowl
They completed an 11-0 season. They are league champions. And they have already danced with a trophy over their heads in front of a home crowd. Yet, there is still one element needed before the Vineyard high school football team can call this a perfect season.
A Super Bowl victory.
November 29, 1996
Vineyard’s Narrow Loss to Nantucket Is Tantalizing Tale of What Might Have Been
NANTUCKET - If not for a couple of yards, it might have been a game for the ages, recounted in coffee haunts, barber shops and summer barbecues for generations to come.
But when Martha’s Vineyard high school quarterback Mike Snowden fumbled the ball in overtime on the Nantucket two-yard line Saturday, another great Island Cup showdown was over and the Whalers escaped with a 13-7 win.
This was a bizarre, hard-fought game with more strange twists than an Elmore Leonard thriller.
November 24, 1995
Superbowl-Bound Nantucket Football Team Defeats the Vineyard
They came, they saw, they squished.
Using their clumsy "Squish the Grapes" battle cry, the Nantucket Whalers rumbled into Oak Bluffs Saturday and pounded the Martha's Vineyard high school football team 30-13 in a predictable, impressive triumph. The victory before 2,500 Island fans marked the third consecutive Island Cup win for the Super Bowl-bound Whalers.
November 25, 1994
Vineyard Loses to Strong Nantucket Team; Islanders End Season with Proud 7-3 Record
NANTUCKET - The Vineyard football team wasn't even supposed to be here, the gridiron gods tell us. They weren't supposed to be playing for the Island Cup, the Mayflower League conference title and a Super Bowl berth versus Nantucket. Heck, they were supposed to be playing for third place.
But here the Vineyard was, on a warm Saturday in Whaler country, and they ran smack into an oncoming train. Nantucket powered its way to a 23-7 win, providing a dose of reality to the Vineyarders' overachieving 7-3 season.
November 18, 1994
Remembering the Greatest Game of All
Depending on whom you talk to, what happened on Nantucket in November of 1992 is like a pleasant dream or a recurring nightmare.
"It was my worst loss ever in 31 years," exclaims Nantucket head football coach Vito Capizzo.
"It was my biggest win," says Vineyard coach Donald Herman.
