Sports Roundup: Football, Field Hockey Earn Wins On Homecoming Weekend
David Creed •
It was a busy Saturday on the island while the Whalers celebrated their homecoming weekend. The football team earned a victory and remains undefeated this season, the field hockey team beat the Vineyard to win their third golden anchor, the cross country team was off island and competed in their league meet, the boys soccer team tied Martha’s Vineyard but lost the Golden Anchor following penalty kicks, and the girls soccer team lost to the Vineyard.
Football Improves To 7-0 Following Win Over Sandwich
The football team hosted the Sandwich Blue Knights for their homecoming game on Saturday hoping to improve to 7-0 this season, but it became clear early on that the win would not come easily.
"We knew coming into this game it was going to be a huge test for us," Whaler head coach Coreese Everett said. "I mean unfortunately, the teams that we played prior they weren't winning as many games, so they didn't have that feel of, you know, a competitive spirit or a winning team. So coming in to today, we knew we were going to face a little bit of adversity, but it was just a lesson learned of how we will face adversity. If we're down, are we going to hang our heads or are we going to pick our heads up and keep fighting all the way through, and I think the boys fought all the way through today.”
The game was 0-0 after one quarter of play with Sandwich on offense for most of the opening frame but the Whalers – led by sophomore quarterback Burke Lombardi - caught fire over the final three quarters to help Nantucket earn a 34-14 victory and remain undefeated.
Lombardi started the scoring off with a 41-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to senior captain Arann Hanlon with 9:29 to go in the second quarter and then junior running back David Guillen-Taveras punched it in from one-yard out on the next Whaler drive to give Nantucket a 13-0 lead with 5:16 to go in the first half.
Sandwich cut it to a 13-7 game following a 23 yard run from Damien King to make it a one score game at halftime, but the Whalers came out strong in the second half with junior wide receiver Eli MacIver scampering in for an 18 yard score and Hanlon converting a two-point conversion to make it 21-7 with 9:34 left in the third quarter.
The scoring continues to come from several players, something Everett had been hoping for all season long.
"We have a lot of our key players a little banged up right now,” Everett said. “That's the nature of the sport. We're going to get banged up so how fast can we recover? I talked about it all season to have strength in numbers. If someone does go down that we kind of rely on, we have somebody to pull from the sideline that can produce as well.”
Sandwich made it a 21-14 game after Tucker Carline scored on a 10-yard sweep with 2:24 to go in the third, but Nantucket answered again with Lombardi leading an impressive drive that ended with a beautiful 10-yard fade pass to sophomore wide receiver Joao Silva to make it 28-14 with 8:26 to go in the game.
Sandwich went on offense hoping to answer once again, but their luck ran out when Whaler senior captain and middle linebacker Jeremy Jenkinson sealed the victory with his third pick six of the season to make it 34-14 with 7:20 to go in the game. He went on to snatch a second interception with 2:13 to go in the game, and the Whalers entered their victory formation after earning a first down.
“Ever since he came on for us last year, he’s been a warrior for us,” Everett said of Jenkinson. “He’s a great leader. He rallies everyone around him even though he doesn’t really talk much. He’s not as vocal, but his energy and his body language tells the team he means business, and everyone picks up on that. He is a warrior for us.”
Nantucket was supposed to travel to Martha’s Vineyard for the Island Cup on Saturday, November 1st, however it appears the game will be forfeited after the Martha’s Vineyard Times reported Sunday morning that Martha's Vineyard football head coach Tony Mottola told them the team plans to forfeit the game due to injuries and "off-field infractions" severely reducing the Vineyard’s roster.
“It’s really just the safety of the kids at this point," Mottola told the Times on Sunday. "We have available for practices right now 15-18 players and of those players 7-8 of them are freshman. We have currently six positions with no substitutes. If a kid were to go down mid-game we would have to forfeit."
Mottola told the Times the decision will likely be made official on Monday. The Current reached out to Nantucket Athletic Director Travis Lombardi Sunday morning shortly after news broke of the Vineyard's intention to forfeit the game, seeking confirmation of the game's cancellation, but had not received a reply as of Monday morning.
The Whalers are currently in the midst of an undefeated season (7-0) and will be making their first state tournament appearance since 2021. They are currently the #8 seed in the Div. 6 state tournament bracket, and would earn at least one home playoff game if they remain inside the top eight (16 teams make the tournament).
Field Hockey Wins Golden Anchor Following Shutout Victory
The field hockey team won the Golden Anchor for a third straight year following a 3-0 victory over Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday. The win cemented the Whaler’s regular season record at 12-5-1.
"They've gotten a lot better for sure," Whaler head coach Dan Weber said of Martha's Vineyard. "We only beat them 3-0 (on the Vineyard) too. It's been tighter this year, which I think is good. I think it's good if they're good and we're good. That's a fun thing, but it's always nice to win, to finish off the season with a win. Winning the Golden Anchor is cool as well. I said to the girls, you don't know what it's like to lose it yet, so don't take it for granted. I think they're just used to winning it so maybe the intensity or excitement surrounding it is maybe not there yet, but we haven't lost it yet, so we don't know what that feels like. If they keep getting better, which they are, then I think that that's good for this game.”
Rowan Paul, Sadie Paterson, and Evie Phelps were the three Whaler goal scorers. It was Paterson’s 15th goal of the season, Paul’s 11th, and Phelps’ sixth goal.
“I think if you watch the games you'd think Evie has more (goals)," Weber said. "She just does so much stuff that creates goals that maybe she's not always on the scoresheet, but she does a really nice job. Speed kills man. She's fast, so she creates a lot of trouble.”
Nantucket will now await the revealing of their bracket, which will be October 28th at 11 a.m. They are currently the #13 seed in the latest power rankings that were released on Friday.
Boys Soccer Loses To Martha’s Vineyard In Penalty Kicks
There may not be a better rivalry between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard sports teams than what is brewing between the two boys soccer programs. The teams tied 2-2 on Saturday and for a second straight year, awarded the Golden Anchor to the winner of penalty kicks. The Vineyard ultimately won and got revenge on the Whalers after Nantucket won last year, but Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan II came out of the match proud of his players for their compete after Nantucket fell into an early 2-0 hole.
“There was a lot that they had to deal with today but they found a way to draw back," an emotional Brannigan said. "Down the two goals, they showed a lot of heart, a lot of character, and that's huge just getting to that point, you know, down two goals in a game like today when our backs were against it for the first 25 to 30 minutes until we settled down.”
Brannigan said he felt the team was out-tacticked in the first 15-20 minutes of the game, but changed their formation to have four players in the back which appeared to help them counter Martha’s Vineyard’s attack. The first goal was scored on a free kick by sophomore Aldo Lemus to make it 2-1 in the first half. The second goal was scored on by sophomore Tigger Sirisophapong in the second half.
The Whalers also welcomed back their goalie, senior captain Alex Ivilov, who has missed all of the season to this point due to an injury he sustained last spring. He played admirably – showing little to no rust and made several saves to help Nantucket earn the 2-2 tie after coming into the match cold with his team trailing 2-0.
"I'm really happy for him," Brannigan said. "It wasn't necessarily our plan. He was planning on getting minutes. How many minutes we weren't 100 percent sure, but we were going to put him in in the first half with about 10 minutes till halftime, and we did that, and it was great to see him getting that support that he got from his teammates and the home crowd. He did great. It was really good to see him back out there.”
While Nantucket lost the match in penalty kicks, that was strictly to decide the winner of the Golden Anchor. The game will go down as a tie for state tournament power rankings purposes, and the Whaler’s record is now 10-4-1 with three games to go.
Nantucket will host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins for their senior game on Monday, October 27th at 4 p.m. They are currently the #28 seed as of the latest Division 3 power rankings released on Friday.
Cross Country Competes In Cape & Island League Meet
The Whaler cross country team competed off island in the Cape & Island’s league meet over the weekend, and the boys placed second overall – losing to Sturgis West by one point.
Below is how each of the runners fared.
Michael Sullivan ran 17:16 (PR) for 2nd overall.
Morry Cardona ran 18:30 (PR) for 9th overall.
Dorian Manov ran 18:40 for 11th overall.
Brian Kimball ran 18:40 for 12th overall.
Jimmy Fuller ran 19:04 (PR) for 15th overall.
Nick Ferrantella ran 19:05 (PR) for 16th overall.
Hayden Roberts ran 19:34 (PR) for 20th overall.
“Our top five average is down to 18:26,” Whaler head coach Matthew Phipps said. “Harlan Wright won the JV race. On the girls side, Leila Noddin ran 20:25 (PR) for 6th overall, Anna Cronin ran 21:06 (PR) for 9th overall, and Daniella Morris ran 25:16 (PR).”
Girls Soccer Loses To Martha’s Vineyard
The girls soccer team lost to Martha’s Vineyard 5-0 Saturday afternoon. They are currently the #47 seed in the latest Division 3 power rankings and now have a record of 5-7-3 this season.
The Whalers have three games remaining on their schedule and in order to earn a state tournament spot as a play-in team, must either win the final three games of their season or win two games and tie one game in order to finish with a record of .500 or better. Those three games are:
- On the road against Diman Regional Vocational/Technical High School on Monday, October 27th at 3:30 p.m. Nantucket has not played Diman yet this season.
- Home against Monomoy High School on Wednesday, October 29th at 4 p.m. Nantucket tied Monomoy 1-1 on the road September 12th. This is also the Whaler's senior game.
- On the road against St. John Paul II High School on Thursday, October 30th at 3:30 p.m. Nantucket tied SJP 1-1 at home on September 18th.
You can view more photos from the homecoming games here.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, October 27th:
The boys soccer team will host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins for at 4 p.m. and honor their senior players.
The girls soccer team will be on the road playing Diman Regional Vocational/Technical High School at 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 28th:
There are no games scheduled for this date, however the annual Powderpuff game will be played at 7 p.m. at Vito Capizzo Stadium.
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