The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School varsity football team came out strong in their home opener on Saturday with a commanding 38-12 victory over the Sharon High School Eagles at the Island’s McCarthy memorial field.
For the Division Five Vineyard program, a win against the Division Two team early in the season could be crucial in qualifying for the MIAA state playoffs this season.
Head coach Tony Mottola credited the Vineyard win to their disciplined defensive core, which held strong and forced a number of turnovers, including an interception and fumble recovery.
“I was really happy with our performance today,” said Mottola after the game. “I thought our defense played great. We were swarming to the football. I just thought that we did a tremendous job, and I thought the coaching staff did a great job of getting our defense prepared and ready to play today.”
The Vineyarders kicked off at 1:30 pm on a beautiful September afternoon and on the first defensive showing, held Sharon at their own 40-yard line forcing a turnover on downs.
On the Vineyard’s first offensive drive of the day, quarterback William Nicholson (No. 10) scrambled from the 35-yard line into the end-zone, diving to strike the orange pylon with three defenders bearing down on him. Kicker Brett Regan (No. 27) tacked on an extra point to bring the Vineyarders up 7-0 with 7:23 left in the first quarter.
Sharon’s responded, making an offensive drive of their own to the Vineyards three-yard line, but the Vineyards defense made them work for it, holding Sharon for several downs before they eventually squeezed into the endzone on a run. Sharon failed on a two-point conversion, preserving the Vineyard’s lead at 7-6.
Off Sharon’s kick, Matthew MacMillen (No. 17) had a big return, bringing the Vineyard to Sharon’s 40-yard line. Shortly after, a handoff from quarterback Nicholson to MacMillen, with a beautiful block by Griffin Buehler (No. 5), allowed MacMillen to run the ball 20-yards into the endzone. Again, Regan’s kick extended the lead to 14-6.
On Sharon’s next drive to start the second quarter, freshman Otho Nunes (No. 11) intercepted a Sharon pass. “I thought he did a tremendous job today of setting the edge,” Mottola said of Nunes. “He knew exactly what was going to happen based on that play so that’s a positive thing.”
After a Vineyard turnover on downs, a fumble recovery at Sharon’s 30-yard line gave the Vineyarders another offensive chance. But the drive was stalled after some penalties near the endzone, including false starts and too many players on the field. The Vineyarders settled for a field goal from 12-yards out, bringing the score to 17-6 before halftime.
The Vineyarders opened the third quarter marching downfield on a strong offensive drive, which culminated in Matthew Alves (No. 1) diving across the goal line with Sharon defenders on his back. Despite a fumble, the Vineyard recovered the ball in the endzone for a touchdown with 10:21 left in the third quarter. Regan’s kick brought the score to 24-6.
In the fourth quarter, Vineyard again worked their way downfield where a short pass from Nicholson to MacMillen resulted in another Vineyard touchdown followed by another good field goal from Regan, bringing the score to 31 – 6 early in the fourth quarter. The final Vineyard touchdown of the day came from Syius Rivera (No. 44) on a run up the middle, paired with one more good kick that brought the score to 38 – 6. Sharon was able to score a touchdown in the last play of the game after the clock expired, finalizing the 38-12 Vineyard win.
“I didn’t feel like we had any let-downs; we have to clean up some stuff with the penalties, but I thought our kids came out with the right mindset and came out ready to roll,” said Mottola. “We’re going to build on all the positives that we did. I felt like the things that we did positively definitely outweighs the things that we didn’t do great. We can tighten up some stuff but we’re going to kind of keep moving forward with the things that we did positively and just hopefully play with some great enthusiasm and confidence.”
“Go Vineyard,” he added.
The Vineyarders are now 1 – 1 on the season, though both games were non league games.
Up next, the football team plays Cape Cod Regional Technical High School on Friday Sept. 26 at 6 pm in Cape Cod, their first league game of the year.