The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team endured a tough 48-7 loss to the Falmouth High School Clippers at the McCarthy Stadium field on Friday night. Despite a high spirited homecoming weekend student section, the Island team was plagued by offensive turnovers, including multiple fumbles on Vineyard kick returns to give Falmouth extra scoring opportunities.
The Island team is now 2 – 3 on the season.
The Vineyarders kicked off to start the game, but on the second play of the night, Falmouth was able to make a long run to the end-zone to take an early lead. Followed by a successful two-point conversion, the Clippers went up 8-0.
Falmouth kicked off to the Island team but the bouncing kick skipped off the Vineyard returner’s chest allowing Falmouth to recover the ball at the Vineyard’s 10-yard line. The Vineyard’s defense quelled the Clipper’s offensive drive with Matthew MacMillan (No. 17) breaking up a Clipper touchdown pass to give the Vineyard’s offense a new life, but Falmouth’s defense stopped the Island team’s drive, forcing the Vineyard to turnover on downs.
Falmouth picked up offense on the Vineyards 37-yard line where they connected a long pass into the end-zone followed by another successful two-point conversion, extending the lead to 16-0 in the first quarter. The Vineyarders fought back late in the quarter, scoring on a short pass to MacMillan who ran into the end-zone. A clean extra point by Brett Regan (No. 27) cut the lead to 16-7 with 1:29 to go in the quarter.
Momentum continued in the Vineyard’s favor for a moment. Griffin Buehler’s (No. 5) interception on Falmouth’s first play of the second quarter sparked some Island hope, but then on the very next play, the Clippers quickly intercepted a Vineyard pass from the 4-yard line and returned it for a touchdown. Another clean Clipper two-point conversion put the lead at 24-7.
After a long back-and-forth, midfield battle, Falmouth broke through and scored again with 1:58 to go in the second. The two-point conversion failed, setting Falmouth’s lead to 30-7.
On the kickoff to the Vineyard squad, another error by the Island team’s receiver resulted in Falmouth recovering the ball at the Vineyards 24-yard line. A long pass by the Clippers earned the Cape Cod team another touchdown with 45.3 second left in the half bringing the lead to 36-7.
Later in the night, Falmouth forced a turnover with a strong defensive stand and ran the ball in on a following offensive play to bring the lead to 42-7. Scoring slowed for Falmouth through the second half but the Clippers added one more touchdown in the fourth quarter with 10 minutes left bringing the final tally to 48-7.
