The Vineyard high school football team lost a hard-fought game against Old Rochester Saturday while the indoor track team wrapped up its season on the Cape against Nauset.
Saturday was gray and drizzly day at the Dan McCarthy Field when the Old Rochester Bulldogs came to town. The Vineyard took a 6-0 lead early and was down a point at halftime, but then Old Rochester unloaded for 23 third-quarter points and eventually secured a 30-12 win.
While the final score was lopsided, the Vineyarders were encouraged by the play of freshman running back Luciano Baldwin who led the team in rushing with 53 yards on nine carries. Sophomore TJ Lett also played well on both sides of the ball for the Vineyard with 44 yards on the ground, multiple pass breakups on defense and three unassisted tackles.
Middle linebacker Hunter Meader led the Vineyard defense with 13 total tackles. Alec Calverley had 11 tackles for the Vineyard while Owen Metell made nine tackles and a sack. Oscar Shepherd was also productive on defense with eight tackles and a fumble recovery.
Vineyard head coach Donald Herman said the difference in the game came down to which team played hardest until the whistle blew.
“We would make contact with a gang tackle but then we wouldn’t finish. We didn’t play to the whistle, so we gave up a lot of yards after contact,” Coach Herman said.
Nevertheless, he was impressed by the young players that stepped up late in the game.
“Those guys don’t get many reps during the week of practice so for them to be able to step in like that, they did about as well as they could and that was encouraging,” the coach said.
Next up for the Vineyard is the Island Cup game on Nantucket next Saturday.
Nantucket holds the same record as the Vineyard with two wins and three losses.
There is no Steamship Authority boat leaving the Vineyard and sailing directly to Nantucket this year. Instead, the team will travel from Woods Hole to Hyannis and then to Nantucket with hopes of bringing the Island Cup back with them on the long journey home.
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The indoor track team’s final dual meet of the season saw both the girls and boys squads take first place in five events each against Nauset.
For the Vineyard girls, Eloise Christy won the 600 meter with a time of 1:50.3, while her sister Wren Christy won the one mile with a finishing time of 5:39.4. Eloise also took the top spot in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet 8 inches, and Anabelle Biggs won the long jump for the Vineyard after springing 16 feet. In shot put, Ashlei Clarke put purple at the top leaderboard for the second week in a row with a 28’1.5 toss.
For the Vineyard boys, Nick Pecararo won the 300 meter with a finishing time of 38.5 seconds. Daniel DaSilva won the 600 meter in 1:32.5 and Jonathan Norton won the 1000 meter with a time of 2:49.5. In the one mile, Zach Utz blazed a purple trail to victory with a time of 4.38.9, while Norton rounded out the Vineyard wins finishing the 55 meter hurdles in 8.7 seconds.
Vineyard head coach Joe Schroeder said it was a successful indoor season that offered his team a great opportunity to prepare for the spring track season. Practices for high school spring sports are set to begin on Monday, April 26.
