Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football coach Donald Herman, in 49 years as a player, assistant coach, and head coach, had never been on a team that allowed 60 points in a game. Saturday, at Dan McCarthy Field in Oak Bluffs, the unthinkable happened. The Brighton High Bengals and their high-powered offense torched the Vineyarders 60-41.
“We’ve had teams that have gone an entire season, 11 games, and not given up 60 points,” coach Herman said after the loss that dropped the Purple to 0-2 on the season.
Brighton quarterback Jalen Apperwhite and running back Ricardo Edwards ran roughshod over the Vineyard defense all afternoon. The coup de grace was an 86-yard Edwards scamper down the right sideline to complete the scoring with 1:03 left on the clock. Apperwhite tossed touchdown passes of 60, 49, and 37 yards and scored on a QB sneak.
Vineyard quarterback Mike Mussell had four TD passes on the day, a 17-yarder to Joe Turney, 34 yards to Andrew Carroll, 50 yards to Deshawn James, and a seven yard toss to Tyler Paulson. Turney opened the scoring with a five-yard TD run in the first quarter and Jacob Cardoza added an eight-yard score in the second.
The Vineyarders play at Randolph next Friday and host Eastern Athletic Conference powerhouse Bishop Feehan on September 27 at 6:30 pm.
