The Island Cup is more than a game to players, coaches, and fans of the Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard football teams. On Sunday the Whalers (4-2) and the Vineyarders (1-4) will strap on the pads to play in the rivalries 41st Island Cup on Nantucket in front of thousands of fans.
This year’s group of Whaler football players are excited to write the next chapter in this storied rivalry. Whaler’s junior defensive end Jeremy Caspe has seen the intensity go up several notches this week in practice. He said they hear the noise about the Vineyard not being as talented as in years past, but Caspe is confident that his team has blocked that chatter out of their locker room.
“This game means everything and yeah we hear about them supposedly not being what they once were but we cannot underestimate them,” Caspe said. “It doesn’t change the fact that we want to crush them. It is pretty serious every time we play each other. The excitement is over the top. A switch flipped this week. The energy at practice was just crazy. We were banging so hard. I have never seen that from our team before. It was wild to practice this week.”
The game hasn’t been played since 2019 when the Whalers soundly beat the Vineyard 47-20 to keep the cup on Nantucket, where it has stayed since 2016. Last season’s Island Cup was cancelled after the Vineyard’s entire defense was placed in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.
Whaler football head coach Joe Perry learned the true meaning of this game while playing under legendary Nantucket football coach Vito Capizzo in the 1980s. There is a specific way every Whaler football team should play, Perry said, and it is especially important that they play that brand of football when the Vineyard comes to town.
“This game always feels like it is for all the marbles,” Perry said. “It is for bragging rights. Records go out the window. We could both come in there 3-5 and it doesn’t matter. It all comes down to this. It is similar to any teams Thanksgiving game off island. We want to have those bragging rights while we hold the cup up high.”
“You hear this talk around them that they are a weak team, well, I don’t believe that. They have athletes on that island and generations of football players whose sons are playing now. We are in for a battle. We are going to play ball and hit hard.”
Whaler senior safety Garner Ray said he and every senior has been looking forward to their senior Island Cup game since they were in elementary school playing football at the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club. He said it is a very special game with lots of stress, emotions, and physicality that in order to be won, will require every Nantucket player to give maximum effort every play.
“It’s the Super Bowl for both islands pretty much.,” Ray said. “I remember going to the games as a kid and the atmosphere is just electric. You hear stories from what seems like everyone who has played in one and how they remember their senior Island Cup game. It’s something we will all look back on in 20 years as coach Perry always says but don’t be that team that lets the cup float away.”
“It’s the biggest game of our high school football careers. Everyone from both islands comes to watch this game. It’s a special day for everyone.”
Don Herman is in his 32nd season as the Vineyard’s head coach. He said he asked his players after a practice this week to raise their hand if they have played in a varsity Island Cup game.
“I think I had three hands go up,” Herman said. “Last time we actually played this game was on the Vineyard and these seniors were sophomores. A lot of these kids are going to experience this special game for the first time.”
The Vineyard is led by senior running back Jayden Coyle (#19), who Herman says is a throwback football player. Coyle also plays defense and is currently playing inside linebacker after stints at safety and outside linebacker earlier this season.
“If we had ten more of him we would be undefeated,” Herman said. “He is what I consider a good, old fashioned football player. He isn’t big, probably only 150 or 160 pounds. But he is a tough son of a b****. He is a fundamentally sound football player. We don’t give out MVP awards because this is a team sport but if we did, it would be him.”
Two of the Vineyard’s four losses this season were overtime losses at home. One was to the Salem Witches 8-6 on Sept. 18th and the other was a 15-7 loss to the Sharon Eagles on Oct. 8. The Vineyard won their first game of the season last week against Cathedral/Matignon 32-0. Coyle took over the game with 10 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns, along with six tackles on defense.
The Vineyard and Whalers have one common opponent in regular season play. The Vineyard lost to the Sandwich Blue Knights 28-0 on Oct. 1 while Nantucket beat Sandwich 34-26 (triple overtime) on Oct. 16.
The Whalers also played the Nauset Warriors last month and beat them 38-0. Martha’s Vineyard also played the Warriors on Oct. 15 but the game was a scrimmage and not an actual game, Herman said. The Vineyard lost the scrimmage 24-6.
Senior running back Justin Bloise figures to get plenty of touches once again for Nantucket after a stellar performance against Sandwich when he carried the ball 20 times for 114 yards and three touchdowns. He added a fourth touchdown on a 37-yard catch from sophomore quarterback Carlos Aguilar, who played the best football game of his young varsity career that day.
“I told Justin before that Sandwich game that he needs to carry this team and have 20+ touches every game,” Perry said. “I also think we should be able to do some ball positioning on them on special teams to set up good field position for our offense.”
Herman said it was obvious Bloise took over the Sandwich game and said Nantucket has a four-headed monster leading the way offensively.
“There are a lot of times we may just not have answers for that,” Herman said. “That is just a reality. It is very hard to coach against speed and they have some really talented athletes at the skill positions so we have to find a way to limit the danger they can do. Not too many people have been able to do that to them so far. I have had a couple of players like (Bloise) where you give him the ball and you know if he has the ball we have a chance to score whenever he touches the ball. If you have one little hiccup on defense when he has his hands on the ball, he will take it to the house. Then if you focus too much on him, there are some other kids on Nantucket who can take it to the house too.”
Perry expects Aguilar to continue building on his performance against Sandwich and expects other leaders on the team like Makai Bodden, Caiden Shea, JJ Bennett, Ryan Downey, and Zayvion Stanley to rise to the occasion and play a sound game as well.
Senior lineman Anthony Esker missed the 2019 Island Cup after spraining his MCL and has been eager to get a crack at the Vineyard ever since. He said he and his teammates have had this game circled and have the same mindset heading into tomorrow’s game: do whatever it takes.
“We will do anything we can to keep the cup here,” Esker said. “That is the goal and we want to make the island proud. I feel like everyone doubts us now that Devonte (Usher) and Torane (Burton) graduated and because our offensive line isn’t that big. But we get the job done because we have such great chemistry. It doesn’t matter what the Vineyard’s record is. They are going to come here, hit hard, and play their best because of this legendary rivalry and how it goes back so many years to when some of my coaches were playing.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 2pm.
