Season Preview: Whaler Football Looking To Build On Last Year's Success

The last time the Whaler football team strapped on their pads for a meaningful football game, it was November 26^th, 2024 at Fenway Park in a 22-14 double overtime thrilling victory over Martha’s Vineyard in the Island Cup. This season, the Whalers bring back an experienced core mixed in with some promising talent in the sophomore class – hoping to earn a spot in the Division 6 state tournament as they prepare for their season opener on the road against Cardinal Spellman on Saturday.

"I feel like 100 percent, our guys are carrying that momentum from last year," second year head coach Reese Everett said. "We definitely have some new faces coming into the operation, but we're just plugging them right in and they're catching up to speed. That last game that we had was a huge momentum booster for us, but now we're just on full go. We're trying to catch that speed again and continue where we left off.”

Sophomore quarterback Burke Lombardi will lead Nantucket’s offense, and this preseason has flashed his ability in scrimmages against Putnam Vocational/Tech High School and Brighton High School. Everett said Lombardi is a natural born leader who carries himself in a way where he wants his actions and his play to do the talking for him.

"He's definitely stepping up to be that prime leader," Everett said of his young quarterback. "He's definitely stepping into a role to be a little bit more comfortable, but that takes time. He's a sophomore. He's building trust from the rest of the (offensive) line, who are seniors, and then everybody else around him. I feel like once everybody trusts and has full faith in him, he's going to be unstoppable. I'm ready to see him shine. Once he gets it going, it is hard to slow him down.”

For a Whaler team that has had some trouble moving the football and putting up points in recent years, this season should be different. Nantucket returns senior wide receivers Arann Hanlon, Tristan Grimes, Canton Jenkinson, and Eli MacIver, but will also be incorporating sophomore running back Joao Silva into the mix with junior running back David Guillen-Taveras, who emerged last season as a power-back capable of punishing defenders at the end of runs.

“I've been saying this a lot, especially to my coaches, that we have strength in numbers right now," Everett said. "That is at every position, so if anyone goes down, and of course I'm praying no one goes down on our team, but I think we'll be able to plug in somebody, and we won't lose our operation. We won't lose our momentum.”

Everett said Silva in particular is someone he expects to have a big impact at the varsity level this season.

"He's a kid who didn't get a lot of reps last season, but he eventually ended up starting for us at corner last year," Everett said. "He has definitely stepped into a leader role this year playing both sides of the ball. He's our starting safety as well as a starting receiver.”

Nantucket also brings back four of their five starters on the offensive line and will be adding junior Keegan Bedell to the starting five after he missed last season with an injury.

"He got hurt probably our first week of practice last year," Everett said. "It was really, really hard seeing him go down, but he's ready. He's another guy that is a huge, huge leader for this program. He's very, very vocal. He wants nothing but success for this program.”

On defense, assistant head coach Mark Willett returns for another season overseeing the operation – a welcomed sight for Everett.

“Our defense has naturally been a run stop defense so we're trying to work on the secondary a little bit to get rid of those big plays, those long passes down the field, things like that," Everett said. "Once we can clean it up and become a complete defense, a lot of teams are going to have a hard time going through us.”

The Whalers matchup against Cardinal Spellman begins at 12 p.m. on Saturday and the Nantucket Sports Connection/NCTV will be livestreaming the game here.