Island Cup
Island Cup
November 23, 1990
Beefy Nantucket Team Wins Battle of the Islands for 1990
It is easier to be philosophical when the winners are celebrating across the Sound with the Island Trophy, but there were good signs in the Vineyard's performance against Nantucket on Saturday.
The 38-14 Whalers victory at Memorial Field on Nantucket assured them' a slot in the Division 5 superbowl and a 10-0 season. Yes, they are fast and big and the defensive line was relentless, but Martha's Vineyard is one of only two teams to score more than 8 points against them all year.
November 24, 1989
Vineyard Sweeps Game of the Decade In Runaway Victory Over Nantucket
Almost everyone on the Island knew it even before the final seconds ticked off the clock. If they didn't, they knew it before the Nantucket fans sailed for home at 4 p.m. The Vineyarders beat the Whalers in the final football game of the season. It was a good contest – and it was a sweet victory.
November 25, 1988
Purple and White Is Smacked In Last Shut Out on Nantucket
The Vineyarders should have known better. No one eats whale meat anymore, and they couldn't change that Saturday on Nantucket.
More than 500 Vineyard fans chanted: "What do we eat? - Whale meat," as the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School football team lost to its Whaler rivals, 14-0.
November 27, 1987
Nantucket Defeats Vineyard In an Island Football Brawl
In what referees, coaches and spectators agreed was one of the dirtiest football games seen here in a long time, Nantucket High School toppled Martha’s Vineyard 27-14 Saturday.
Referees kept warm in the wind-chilled weather by walking off more than two football fields worth of penalties between the arch rivals who fought physically and verbally from the opening whistle to the final tick of the clock.
November 27, 1987
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.
November 28, 1986
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.
November 29, 1985
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.
September 6, 1985
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.
November 23, 1984
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.
November 25, 1983
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.
