David Creed •
It was a busy Saturday on the island whereas the Whalers celebrated their homecoming weekend. The soccer staff earned a victory and stays undefeated this season, the sphere hockey staff beat the Vineyard to win their third golden anchor, the cross nation staff was off island and competed of their league meet, the boys soccer staff tied Martha’s Vineyard however misplaced the Golden Anchor following penalty kicks, and the women soccer staff misplaced to the Vineyard.
Football Improves To 7-0 Following Win Over Sandwich
The soccer staff hosted the Sandwich Blue Knights for his or her homecoming recreation on Saturday hoping to enhance to 7-0 this season, but it surely grew to become clear early on that the win wouldn’t come simply.
“We knew coming into this game it was going to be a huge test for us,” Whaler head coach Coreese Everett mentioned. “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 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 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 to give Nantucket a 13-0 lead with 5:16 to go in the first half.
Sandwich minimize it to a 13-7 recreation following a 23 yard run from Damien King to make it a one rating recreation at halftime, however the Whalers got here out sturdy within the first half with junior huge receiver Eli MacIver working it in for an 18 yard rating and Hanlon transformed a two-point conversion to make it 21-7 with 9:34 left within the third quarter.
The scoring continues to return from a number of gamers, one thing Everett had been hoping for all season lengthy.
“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 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 catch a second interception with 2:13 to go in the game, and the Whalers entered their victory formation.
“Ever since he came on for us last year, he’s been a warrior for us,” Everett mentioned 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 speculated to journey to Martha’s Vineyard for the Island Cup on Saturday, November 1st, nevertheless it seems the sport can be forfeited after the Martha’s Vineyard Times reported Sunday morning that Martha’s Vineyard soccer head coach Tony Mottola informed them the staff plans to forfeit the sport on account of accidents and “off-field infractions” severely lowering the Vineyard’s roster. “It’s actually simply the security of the children at this level,” Mottola told the Times on Sunday. “We have accessible for practices proper now 15-18 gamers and of these gamers 7-8 of them are freshman. We have presently six positions with no substitutes. If a child have been to go down mid-game we must 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.
Field Hockey Wins Golden Anchor Following Shutout Victory
The subject hockey staff gained the Golden Anchor for a 3rd straight 12 months following a 3-0 victory over Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday. The win solidified the Whaler’s common season report at 12-5-1.
“They’ve gotten a lot better for sure,” Whaler head coach Dan Weber mentioned of Martha’s Vineyard. “We only beat them 3-0 there 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,” Weber mentioned. “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 is probably not a greater rivalry between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard than what’s brewing between the 2 boys soccer packages. The groups tied 2-2 on Saturday and for a second straight 12 months, needed to award the Golden Anchor to the winner of penalty kicks. The Vineyard in the end gained, after Nantucket gained final 12 months, however Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan II got here out of the match pleased with his gamers.
“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 mentioned he felt the staff was out-tacticked within the first 15-20 minutes of the sport, however modified their formation to have 4 gamers within the again which appeared to assist them counter Martha’s Vineyard’s assault.
The Whalers additionally welcomed again senior captain Alex Ivilov, who has missed all the season thus far on account of an harm he sustained final spring. He performed admirably – displaying little to no rust and made a number of saves to assist Nantucket earn the 2-2 tie after coming into the match along with his staff trailing 2-0.
“I’m really happy for him,” Brannigan mentioned. “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 nation staff competed within the Cape & Island’s league meet over the weekend, and the boys positioned second general – dropping to Sturgis West by one level.
Below is how every of the runners fared.
Michael Sullivan ran 17:16 (PR) for twond general.
Morry Cardona ran 18:30 (PR) for 9th general.
Dorian Manov ran 18:40 for 11th general.
Brian Kimball ran 18:40 for 12th general.
Jimmy Fuller ran 19:04 (PR) for 15th general.
Nick Ferrantella ran 19:05 (PR) for 16th general.
Hayden Roberts ran 19:34 (PR) for 20th general.
“Our top 5 average is down to 18:26,” Whaler head coach Matthew Phipps mentioned. “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 women soccer staff misplaced to Martha’s Vineyard 5-0 Saturday afternoon. They are presently the #47 seed within the newest Division 3 power rankings and now have a report of 5-7-3 this season.
The Whalers have three video games remaining on their schedule and with a view to earn a state match spot as a play-in staff, should win the ultimate three video games of their season. Those video games are:
On the street towards Diman Regional Vocational/Technical High School on Monday, October 27th at 3:30 p.m. Nantucket has not performed Diman but this season.
Home towards Monomoy High School on Wednesday, October 29th at 4 p.m. Nantucket tied Monomoy 1-1 on the street September 12th.
On the street towards St. John Paul II High School on Thursday, October 30th at 3:30 p.m. Nantucket tied SJP 1-1 at residence on September 18th.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, October twenty seventh:
The boys soccer staff will host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins for at 4 p.m. and honor their senior gamers.
The women soccer staff can be on the street taking part in Diman Regional Vocational/Technical High School at 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October twenty eighth:
There are not any video games scheduled for this date, nevertheless the annual Powderpuff recreation can be performed at 7 p.m. at Vito Capizzo Stadium.
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