The final game of the season for the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team on Saturday offered plenty of excitement for the homecoming crowd, as the Vineyarders rolled over Brighton by a final score of 41-8.

It was a satisfying win for players and coaches — as well as the approximately 500 fans in the stands. For the past 50-plus years the Vineyard has played Nantucket the weekend before Thanksgiving, but this year the opposing players were dressed in Brighton’s red and yellow instead of the Whalers’ customary blue and white.

Despite the snow and cold, the winter sports season is off to a hot start at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School with the boys’ basketball and hockey teams posting early big wins.

Meanwhile, the girls’ hockey team has been shaken by the sudden departure of longtime head coach Sam Sherman just two games into the season. Athletic director Sandy Mincone said Mr. Sherman turned in his resignation last Friday; the Vineyarders were 0-2 on the season after opening with losses to Whitman-Hanson last Saturday and Sandwich last Wednesday.

There was a noticeable feeling of loss around the Vineyard this week.

“I can’t believe we’re not playing Nantucket this weekend,” one man lamented Monday while waiting for a haircut at Bert’s barber shop in Vineyard Haven. “What is the world coming to?”

For the first time in nearly 50 years, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard will not play the Island Cup football game this weekend, one of the most celebrated and storied traditions for both Islands that was cancelled this year for financial reasons.

The weekend before Thanksgiving will be noticeably less festive on the Vineyard this year as school officials this week confirmed that the storied Island Cup football game with inter-Island rival Nantucket has been cancelled for the first time in almost 50 years.

Sandy Mincone, the new athletic director for the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, told the Gazette this week that Nantucket pulled out of the long-standing tradition due to financial reasons.

Matt Mincone, coach of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ hockey team, wasn’t disappointed by his team’s crushing 3-2 loss last Friday against Coyle Cassidy in the Division 2 South Sectional semifinals, a game decided by the largely unfamiliar format of a shoot-out.

Nor was the coach sad, or enraged by the shoot-out loss. Instead it left him, as it did many players and parents, feeling simply numb.

Although persistent drizzle made the playing field slippery on Wednesday, the undefeated Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls’ lacrosse team had no problems finding their footing, easily defeating lower-seeded Oliver Ames in the Division II sectionals of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament to advance to the next round.

The weather may still be cold and grey, but spring was in full swing on the Vineyard’s athletic fields this week as the high school spring sports teams held practices and played in their first games of the season.

The boys’ tennis team split a pair of matches, while the softball team dropped their opener after a promising preseason. The boys’ lacrosse fell behind early in their opener but rallied late to make the game close, while the girls’ lacrosse team was dominant in its opener, winning easily by a 12-goal margin.

The Vineyard boys’ tennis team this week earned a number three seed and a bye in the first round of the MIAA tournament, and will play at home on Monday; meanwhile the boys’ lacrosse team lost to Sandwich in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday.

The boys’ tennis team finished the season with a 14-4 record, and unofficially won the Eastern Athletic Conference with a league record of 7-1 — unofficial because the Vineyard does not become a full member of the conference until next year.

A little sun, a little rain, temperatures hovering in the upper 40s and the wind blowing hard — it was perfect weather for the opening weekend of Vineyard Youth Soccer’s little-heralded, largely-accomplished and newly expanded travel program on the fields at the West Tisbury School.

The Island’s travel soccer teams kicked off the first round of the season with home openers against several teams from the South Coast Soccer League on Saturday.

The dream season for girls' lacrosse came to an end Friday on a muddy, rain-soaked field at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School against a
powerful team from Hingham. The Hingham girls prevailed 11-8 in the second
round of the state tournament. The Vineyard girls, who have been undefeated
all season and had advanced to the second round with a solid win on
Wednesday, could not get the job done before a cheering crowd on a soggy
day.

“I couldn't be prouder of the kids. They've been terrific all season
long.