We thought we would celebrate the 4th by looking at a cool high school football rivalry from the state where it all began – Massachusetts.My interest in the Island Cup began after writing a story about longtime Martha’s Vineyard High School (Massachusetts) head football coach Donald Herman resigning at the end of 2015, it got me to start thinking about how many high schools play football on islands – aside from Hawaii, of course.
I came-up with three – Avalon, an 8-man program on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California, and Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket off Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The Bay State schools really caught my fancy after learning that every year they play for, what else? — the Island Cup.
It also seemed appropriate to focus on the Massachusetts school as we enter the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Before we get to the rivalry between the Martha Vineyard Vineyarders and the Nantucket Whalers, let’s talk about my biggest question — how do opponents get to the islands for their away games against the respective schools?
First, a geography lesson.
Martha’s Vineyard is seven miles off-shore, while Nantucket is 30 miles out. The distance between each island’s closest point is 12 miles.
Nantucket High, a school of about 400 students, plays in the eight team Mayflower League that includes Cape Cod Regional Vo-Tech, Holbrook/Avon, Old Colony Regional Vo-Tech, Sacred Heart, South Shore Vo-Tech, Upper Cape Cod Regional Vo-Tech and West Bridgewater. MV is part of the five team Eastern Athletic Conference with Bishop Feehan, Bishop Stang, Colyle-Cassidy and Somerset Berkley Regional.
So how do schools get there?
There are only two choices – by air or by sea. On this July 4th holiday weekend, that sort of sounds like one if by land or two if by sea. Because of expenses, the ferry is always the transportation of choice, but remember there’s also the first part of the trip for schools, which is by land to get to the various boat lines before setting sail.
Not only does the transportation require a lot more logistics, it’s also expensive.
For the fiscal 2015 school year, the Vineyard Gazette reported that the school district allotted nearly $98,000 for 240 sports-related trips off the island. MVHS also must pay for the travel expenses of the teams in the Eastern Athletic Conference. Non-league opponents must pay their own travel expenses. Last year, Martha’s Vineyard had an enrollment of just under 700 students.
As for Nantucket, the high school and middle school have a combined travel budget of between $170,000 and $175,000 per year.
Now to the Island Cup game that is always played as the last game of the regular season for both schools.
The rivalry began in 1960 and after last year’s Vineyarders’ 21-7 win, Nantucket still holds a 35-29 lead in the series with three ties. However, Martha’s Vineyard has dominated the last decade, winning 11 straight.
The game, which has been known to draw up to 4,000 fans, looked doomed when in 2009 Nantucket pulled out of the game because of economic issues — although other accounts say there were other reasons. That was the same year that both schools dropped air travel to games. To the joy of everyone, the game returned in 2010.
Another reason for no game in 2009 may have been that longtime Nantucket head coach Vito Capizzo had retired at the end of the previous season after going 0-10. There were reports that the Whaler program, which won 293 and four state titles under Capizzo, might be nearing an end or be dropped to just a JV program.
Last year, Nantucket went 8-3, losing to event Division 6 Super Bowl champ Cohasset in the state quarterfinals. Martha’s Vineyard started 1-5, but finished 6-5 after winning five straight, including the Island Cup.
The good news is that it’s been smooth sailing for the rivalry since 2009 The 68th game in the rivalry will be played this year on November 21st on Nantucket.
