Island Cup
Island Cup
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.
November 26, 1993
Spirited Footballers Suffer Narrow Loss
The memories of last Saturday will be tough to erase: the Nantucket Whalers, with coach Vito Capizzo on their shoulders, hoisting the Island Cup for all the Vineyard to see. The visitors celebrating a 7-6 victory that took the Cup, the league championship, a slot in the Division 5 Super Bowl, and Mr. Capizzo’s 200th career triumph. “Right in your back yard!” a Nantucket player screams. “We took it away from you right in your back yard.”
November 29, 1992
Countdown to a Comeback: Five Minutes of Winning Football
Things looked bleak for Martha's Vineyard when Aaron Fox's one-yard touchdown plunge spotted Nantucket a 12-0 lead with 4:46 left. The Whalers had controlled the game from the opening drive, pounding the Vineyard with a balanced running and passing attack. Once again Nantucket attempted a two-point conversion; they were foiled by Mike Dowd's crunching hit on the goal line. The Whalers' inability to score extra points left a window for the Comeback, albeit a very small one.
November 29, 1991
Team Shows Mettle In a Decisive Win Over Nantucket
You don't have to be a fan of high school football to understand the rare chemistry that can transform a team and a sporting event.
The Vineyarders not only beat arch rival Nantucket 14-6 on Saturday for the Mayflower league championship and their first play-off berth ever, but they managed to produce two big plays and hold the line against an intimidating opponent with a spirit that doesn't come along very often.
