Sports Roundup: Nantucket Football Wins Island Cup, Field Hockey & Boys Soccer Win Golden Anchors
David Creed •
Homecoming weekend has come and gone, and the Whaler sports teams capped off a busy day of sports with three varsity teams earning victories on Nantucket against Martha’s Vineyard. The day included a blowout victory for the football team in the Island Cup and shutout victories for the boys soccer and field hockey teams against Martha’s Vineyard to win their respective Golden Anchors. The volleyball team was also in action and earned a victory against the Monomoy Sharks, and the girls soccer team lost a heartbreaker to the Vineyard Saturday morning. All photos from Saturday’s games will be at the bottom of this roundup.
Taveras’ Five First Quarter Touchdowns Lead Whaler Football To Island Cup Victory
The football team beat the Vineyarders 56-7 in a thumping that will go down as the final regular season game in the history of Vito Capizzo Stadium – as construction of the new turf field is scheduled to begin after the fall season has concluded.
"What I told them this week is that this is their chance for their moment," Whaler head coach Fernando Jones said. "This was obviously a pretty good chance... last time on this field, or it could be last chance on this field. So to cap it off with this, have this sort of moment they can share with each other. Beyond everything, I think that's the coolest thing."
Senior captain David Guillen-Taveras exploded for five touchdowns in the first quarter and Nantucket took a 42-0 lead into the second quarter. The Whaler’s star running back said after the game his performance, and more importantly his team’s victory, is a special moment for him while crediting the offensive line.
“It means the world to me,” Taveras, who plans on playing college football, said postgame. “I put in countless hours this offseason to perfect my craft, and my senior year wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. But to finish it off with a big win like that means everything. It also wouldn’t have been possible without my linemen.”
"He's laser focused. He's trained. He's worked hard. Yeah, he had the fumble (in the first quarter) but it just rolls off his back," Jones said. "You know you can depend on him. He is just the best kid too. He's a great football player. He's an awesome football player. And he's just the best kid. I'm so happy. He was disappointed when I took him out. But I'm so happy for him that he can have this. Again, lasting memory for him."
Both sides mutually agreed to begin a running clock, and Nantucket was able to rotate through its depth chart to give senior players in reserve roles an opportunity to play and younger players their first taste of varsity experience.
Jones said while the season hasn’t gone as well as they may have hoped (now 2-5 this season and will not qualify for state tournament play), he is proud of the resilience his team showed and credited some of his upperclassmen such as Taveras, senior quarterback Eli MacIver, senior Keegan Canty (who had an interception in the game), Evan Cranston, Russell Simpson, and Mason Conrad amongst many others in his postgame remarks.
"It doesn't unfold this way but if I could give an MVP, guys like Eli, Canty, guys like Russell. These guys all the dirty work. They do so much. They're team guys. Guys like Evan, they sacrifice. My captains. They're consistent. Every practice, you know, I could talk about them all day. But just unsung guys like Mason Conrad and JJ (Chennis, who scored Nantucket's first score on a 31-yard run). They're consistent.”
MacIver said all of the hard work and effort throughout the season he and his teammates put in paid off in the end.
“Honestly I couldn’t care less about the record this year I’m glad that we kicked the Vineyard’s (butt) on our home turf in front of the island,” MacIver said. “Congrats to the team and all the hard work they put in preparing for the Vineyard. It all paid off in the end… especially for me, beating Vineyard that bad in my last Island Cup game felt amazing.”
The Whalers will now have the opportunity to possibly play one or two consolation matchups in November, but whether those take place is to be determined.
Field Hockey Shuts Out Martha’s Vineyard
The field hockey team was able to retain their Golden Anchor with a 1-0 victory over the Martha’s Vineyard. They have yet to lose a Golden Anchor game since the trophy was founded in 2023. Whaler head coach Dan Weber said he is very happy with how his team was able to earn the victory and gradually develop their game as the season progressed.
"We played a really tough schedule at the beginning of the year," Weber said. "We played all the big Cape schools twice before we played anybody in our division. We've kind of weathered the storm and yeah our schedule evened out, but we also started to play better. We kind of figured out the rotation within the lineup and where everybody was playing best, and so it took a little bit of time. But it's nice to finish the season strong. But this was a tough game. (Martha's Vineyard) is a much, much improved team. We had a hard time finding the back of the net today, but your senior captain gets the ball on her stick one time in a good spot and puts it in the back of the net. That's why she is who she is.”
That senior captain was Evie Phelps, who has been an instrumental piece of the program’s success this year and in recent seasons, scored Nantucket’s only goal.
"I think Evie, Rowan (Paul), and Sophia Sullivan, I would say more often than not, our goals are coming from one of them or created by one of them," Weber said. All three of them had a really, really strong season. I'll shout out Sophia Sullivan in particular because her name doesn't always show up on the stat sheet, but she is all over the place all of the time. She's a rock in the middle of the field. I thought she was awesome this season.”
The Whaler’s finished their regular season with a record of 7-8-3, but Saturday’s Golden Anchor victory capped off an impressive 6-2-1 finish to the Whaler’s regular season in their final nine games as they now shift focus to state tournament play. Their bracket will be released on Tuesday, November 3rd at 11 a.m.
Boys Soccer Sweeps Season Series Against Martha’s Vineyard
The boys soccer team shutout the Martha’s Vineyard 2-0 to secure the Golden Anchor in a tough, physical matchup against two evenly matched teams.
Aldo Lemus scored the Whaler’s lone goal on a penalty kick in the first hald and the game was sealed by freshman Danny Aguiar who was in the right place, right time according to Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan II and tapped home a ball off the back post off an assist from Raakin Brannigan. Parker Furtado was sharp in net and earned the shutout with six saves.
The win also secured the season sweep for the Whalers over their island rivals after they beat the Vineyarders on their home field 2-1 earlier this season.
The Whalers have one game left to play on Monday, November 2nd on the road against the Abington Green Wave and have an 11-4-2 overall record. The Whalers are already Cape & Island’s Atlantic Division League Champions after finishing 10-1-1 in league play.
In other Whaler sports news, longtime cheer coach Missy Perry was recognized and celebrated during halftime of the Whaler football game for her 35 years of dedication to the cheerleading program.
The volleyball team was the only Whaler team in action who did not play Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday and hosted the Monomoy Sharks, who beat Nantucket 3-2 in Monomoy on October 15th. The Whalers were able to win handily 3-0, and finished their regular season with an 11-6 record. The Whalers, having finished with a record of .500 or better, automatically clinch a spot in the MIAA Division 3 preliminary round of the state tournament. Brackets will be released on Tuesday, November 3rd at 1 p.m.
The girls soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Martha’s Vineyard to kick off the homecoming schedule Saturday morning 1-0. In the first half, both sides had opportunities to score but neither team was able to finish its chances. In the second half, the Vineyard controlled play for much of the half however the Whalers began generating some time of possession in their offensive end in the back end of the second half.
Then with less than a minute of time left on the clock, the Vineyard was able to get the greasy goal they were looking for to take the lead as the clock’s final seconds ticked off to win the Golden Anchor.
The Whalers are now 5-11 and have two more regular season games to play. They will host the St. John Paul II Lions on Monday, November 2nd at 2 p.m. This will also be the Whaler’s senior game with a recognition ceremony after the match. Then Nantucket will cap off its season with a road matchup Tuesday, November 3rd against the Sturgis West Navigators at 3 p.m.
The Whalers beat SJPII on the road 5-1 on September 29th and beat Sturgis West 2-0 at home on October 9th.
MIAA POWER RANKINGS (NEW RANKINGS RELEASED ON 10/30):
Boys Soccer: #10
Football: #24
Field Hockey: #27
Volleyball: #51
Girls Soccer: #56
For more photos, information, and updates related to Nantucket High School Sports, follow our Nantucket Current Sports Instagram Page here. To view the latest MIAA Power Rankings, follow this link.
Below are photos from all of the Whaler sports games on Saturday taken by Chris Tran and David Creed.
