The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity football team traveled to Mashpee on Friday for the first game of the season, taking on historically one of the toughest teams in the region.
The Island ultimately lost 54-28, but for the young Vineyard team, the game served as a lesson that gives coaching staff a baseline for areas to improve early in the season.
“We are a young team; playing Mashpee as the first game is always going to be a tough one out the gate. It’s a good learning experience,” said Assistant Coach Elijah Larue in an interview with The Times. “One of the better teams we play all year, they are a very good, physical team, and they are coached very well.”
At halftime, the Vineyarders were down by only two touchdowns, but in the second half, Larue said, the Vineyard team failed to finish some critical offensive drives. “We definitely left some points on the field,” he said. “It wasn’t our best offensive day; we could’ve finished some plays, but the kids played hard, tried their best, and that’s all we can ask for.”
The Vineyard team, with a significant amount of offensive players coming into high school from junior high football, are still adjusting to the jump in the physicality and speed of play.
“When you have a freshman starting on offense, it can be a big jump. Kids are bigger, and the pace is faster. Some kids may have gotten a little caught in the headlights,” said Larue.
Based on the team’s performance on Friday, Larue said, in practice this week the Vineyard football team will be watching game film and working a lot on defensive-zone coverage. For the offense, it’s a focus on expanding and improving the understanding of the playbook.
“We are right there physically and mentally –– we aren’t far off,” said Larue. “I think our team took away that we need to take practice a little more seriously; even if you’re not in, everybody needs to be paying attention. You never know when your name could be called.”
The Vineyard football team’s next game is on Saturday against the Sharon High School Eagles on the McCarthy Memorial Field. Kickoff is at 1:30 pm. It’s the first home game of the season.