Sports Highlights

By Don Lyons - October 11, 2007

Golfers lose 2, win 1

The MVRHS golfers lost a close match to D/Y Wednesday, then dropped Nantucket there, 166-191. Tony Grillo's par 36, Henry Smith's 49, Albion Alley's 42, Sam Scott's 41, Luke Pisano's 45, and Gregg Leonard's 46 added up to the winning total. Grillo's was the medalist round of the match.

The undefeated Old Rochester Regional golf team edged the Vineyarders at the Rochester Golf Club's par 34 course, Tuesday, 30.5 to 23.5. Tony Grillo, Roger Smith, and Sam Scott all halved their opponents. Tony and Ned Havel, who lost to Gregg Leonard in the third flight, had sub-par medalist rounds of 33. Albion Alley and Luke Pisano lost. The Vineyard club swingers are 12-4-1 on the year.

Field hockey celebrates over Bishop Stang

The MVRHS varsity field hockey squad (seen here after beating Stang Oct. 2) continued its winning ways with a 1-0 win over Bourne Monday.

Youth hockey update

The MV Squirts lost to the Franklin Flyers, Sunday, 7-4. Austin Morely, Dorian Johnson, and Barry MacDonald each had a goal and an assist. Emerson Mahoney also scored and James Sashin assisted,

Monday the Squirts ran into a buzz saw and lost to Tri-County, 13-1. Charles Perry's goal, with help from Emerson Mahoney and Barry MacDonald, averted a whitewash.

Saturday, the MVYH Bantams squeezed by Needham, 3-2. Charles Goldthwait scored unassisted. Then Tyler Araujo found the net, assisted by Goldthwait and Dakota Delviento, With less than a minute remaining, Araujo's unassisted goal gave the nod to the Islanders.

Also Saturday, the M.V. PeeWees trounced Canton, 9-2 on goals by Tyson Araujo (2), Shay Hill (3), Matt Davies, Max Davies (2) and Harrison Rodrigues. Assists were credited to Araujo (2), Hill (2), Davies, Rodrigues (2), Marco Petricone (3) and Callee Jackson. Noah Kleinhanz was outstanding in goal.

Monday the MVYH PeeWees shut out Tri-County, 9-0. Scoring was by Max Davies (3), Harrison Rodrigues (2), Shay Hill (2), Matt Davies, and Tyson Araujo. Assisting were Davies, Rodrigues (2), Hill (2), Araujo, and Ben Bilzerian.

All Neponset Valley League games are played at the Foxboro Sports Center.

Kent is champ

Playing in the level 7 round robin, Vineyard Youth Tennis player Kent Leonard won first-place honors in the Mid-Cape Tennis Tournament, Saturday at South Yarmouth, for youngsters 12 and under.

Kent won his matches 7-5, 6-1, and 6-0.

Girls take XC bronze

The MVRHS girls varsity cross-country team placed third behind Somerset's 50 and D/Y's 60, just edging out Greater New Bedford's 129 and Coyle Cassidy's 130 with a score of 128 at the third annual South Coastal Cross Country Challenge at New Bedford, Sunday.

Also ran: Sandwich 137, Grand Island 140, Seekonk 202, Notre Dame 204, Dartmouth 206 and Diman 304.

Hilary Dreyer led the Vineyarders finishing 7th in 21:24. Next was Kim Carlomagno, 20th in 22:27 and Megan Dreyer, 22nd at 22:32.

Sara Jean Flanders finished 32nd in 23:17 and Ellie Hehre was 69th at 26:20.

M.V. boys are 8th

The boys varsity came in eighth out of 16 teams. New Bedford ran away with the gold. The Whalers had three in the top ten, three more in the top 20, and finished with a score of 43. Grand Island's Evan Tsambelis completed the 5K run in 16:07, four seconds ahead of Jeremy Francisco of Dartmouth. They led their teams to second and fifth place respectively.

Third and fourth were D/Y and Somerset. Taunton and Seekonk were sixth and seventh.

Max Conley was the first Islander to finish, in 18:05. He was 17th overall and led Lucas Emin, who was 20th, by three seconds.

Forrest Harcourt was 29th in 18:35 and Evan Kendall 41st at 19:08. Robbie Osmers finished 58th in 19:44.

Teams following M.V. were (9) New Bedford, (10) Dover Sherborn, (11) Bourne, (12) Diman, (13) Old Rochester, (14) Coyle Cassidy, (15) Falmouth, and (16) Bishop Stang.

Soccer success

The MVRHS soccer teams improved their season records at the expense of Wareham, Friday.

The girls won their home game, 3-0 on goals by Erin Morris, Molly Fischer, and Maddy Penicaud assisted by Rachel Schubert, Emma Lee Iversen and Bethany Pennington. Goalie Kia Minor was credited with the shutout.

It was the Island girls' second win against Wareham.

Saturday the M.V. girls thrashed Diman Voke at home, 8-0, another shutout for Kia Minor. Scorers were Molly Fischer (2), Rachel Schubert (2), Meaghan Gouldrup, Erin Morris, Nica Sylvia, and Alexia Schroeder. Meaghan also had an assist.

Tuesday, the girls tied Wareham off Island, 1-1, on a penalty kick cashed by Rachel Schubert after freshman Crystal Miske drew the foul. Gaby Sullo and Taylor Hughes loomed large on defense.

The Island girls have now won four, lost seven, tied two.

Boys win, tie

The M.V. boys team improved to 6-1-4 with a 5-1 win at Wareham. Nico Cuba scored first, followed by J.P. Oliveira (2) and Alex Poole (2). Billy Reagan had two assists.

Monday the team tied Bourne on the Canalmen's home turf, 1-1. Joao Paulo Oliveira scored the Vineyard's only goal in the first half, assisted by Alex Poole. Bourne evened the count early in the second period.

Schools track teams compete

In the third round of interscholastic dual track meets at the High school oval, Friday, the Edgartown girls had their way with Oak Bluffs, 45-23, while the Oak Bluffs boys were outscoring E-town, 38-25.

Kylee Willoughby doubled for Edgartown in the long jump (12' 5.5") and the dash (14.40). O.B.'s Shavanae Anderson won the discus (60' 9") and was second in the long jump and 100.

Tyler Araujo continued his mastery of the throws for O.B., winning the shot put (36' 6") and the discus (97' 11"). Will Dietz doubled for Edgartown in the long jump (13' 5") and hurdles (12.65.) Jeremy Alley-Tarter's winning time in the mile was 5:37.

In the other dual meet, the West Tisbury girls topped Tisbury's, 37-26, while the harbor town boys were dominating their country cousins, 43-20. Maggie Riseborough doubled for Tisbury in the throws - shot and discus - and Mia Benedetto won both the long jump and sprint (and was second in the 200) for WesTiz. Izzy Smith led a W.T. sweep of the hurdles. Nicole Parkhurst paced a WesTiz sweep in the mile at 6:50.

Rafael Maciel won both the long jump and 200 for Tisbury.

W.T. teammates Mike Schroeder and Cooper Chapman were separated by less than a second at the conclusion of the mile.

This Friday the interscholastic track and field season comes to a climax in the quadrilateral meet for the Island cups.

You're on camera

With NBC watching (and filming for some Sunday evening viewing) Martha's Vineyard defeated Hull in the Pirates' den, 35-20, keeping the Purple record pristine at 5-0, before a packed stadium crowd estimated to be 1,000.

Hull received the kickoff and put the ball in play on their own 18-yard line. After three plays - a short run, a fumble, an incomplete pass - they punted to the 35. Rushes by Matt Lucier and Eric Dolliver brought the ball to the 24. Then Josh Paulson carried to the 5 and Dolliver bulled into the end zone from there. Mister Dependable, Zach Coutinho, kicked the extra point.

Proving that their opening sequence was a fluke, the Pirates moved from their own 29 in 16 plays to score from three yards out, then tied the score kicking an extra point, 7-7.

Michael O'Donaghue's kick return gave the Vineyard good position at mid-field. Runs by Dolliver and Nick Gross advanced the ball to the 30 and a pass from Mike McCarthy to Paulson was good for the TD. Coutinho, of course, added the 14th point.

The Vineyard defense frustrated the Pirates' attempt to move and M.V. took over on their own 46. A pass to Paulson put the ball on the Hull 32. Another to O'Donaghue, who made a circus catch, and it was 20-7. Zach's big toe made it 21.

With time running out in the half, Hull took to the air with moderate success, but they failed to score.

M.V. received the kick to begin the second half on their 25. A run by Paulson gave them a first down on the 38 but they stalled there and Lucier punted to the Hull 36. Eight plays moved the line of scrimmage to the M.V. 2-yard line where Andrew Larsen recovered a Pirate fumble for the Purple. It took the Islanders just seven plays to go 98 yards and score their fourth TD on a 40-yard pass to Paulson. Coutinho, of course, and its was 28-7.

Hull began their next possession on their own 43. Seven plays later, now in the fourth quarter, the Pirates cashed in: 28-13. A kick made it 14.

Because of a short - too short - onside kick, M.V. took over on their 43.

A personal foul backed them up and Lucier punted to the Hull 30. Unable to move, Hull gave over the ball on the 40. Runs by Nick Gross advanced the ball to the Hull 5 from where Paulson ran it in. Coutinho yet again: 35-14.

Time was running out, slowly. It took 20 minutes to play the final two. The outcome had been decided some ago, but Hull did manage to post a third TD with two seconds remaining.

The extra point kick was blocked and the game ended with the Vineyard up, 35-20.

It was Hull's fourth loss against one win. Suffice to say, they looked better than that.

International game

Jeremy Scheffer is looking for baseball equipment - bats, mitts, gloves, balls, catchers equipment, et al, to take to children in Honduras. All over Central America baseball is THE game, played all year long, but few are able to afford to purchase the gear the game requires.

Jeremy plans to leave for Honduras Oct. 21. Call him if you can help: 508-645-2680.

Bill's perfect day

Bill Damora of Point Pleasant, N.J., dropped 25 clay pigeons, a perfect round of skeet with his 20-gauge shotgun at the M.V. Rod & Gun Club's skeet range, Wednesday. It was his second perfect round, having broken 25 "birds" a year ago with a 12-gauge gun. Bill received another 25-straight pin for his efforts.

Ping-pong paddlers

Quinapong, the Island's answer for table tennis aficionados, is back in session meeting Mondays at the Aquinnah town hall from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, and at the West Tisbury school at the same time on Thursdays. Players of all abilities are welcome. Call Spa Tharpe with questions, 645-3688.

Signage

If Columbus comes, can the Whalers be far behind?

The road signs that will bedeck the road from the Vineyard Haven ferry dock to the high school on November 17 are now for sale - $15 each.

To purchase a sign or for more information, call coach of cheerleaders Rebecca Cass, 508-693-1594.