Almost everyone on the Island knew it even before the final seconds ticked off the clock. If they didn't, they knew it before the Nantucket fans sailed for home at 4 p.m. The Vineyarders beat the Whalers in the final football game of the season. It was a good contest – and it was a sweet victory.

It is easier to be philosophical when the winners are celebrating across the Sound with the Island Trophy, but there were good signs in the Vineyard's performance against Nantucket on Saturday.

The 38-14 Whalers victory at Memorial Field on Nantucket assured them' a slot in the Division 5 superbowl and a 10-0 season. Yes, they are fast and big and the defensive line was relentless, but Martha's Vineyard is one of only two teams to score more than 8 points against them all year.

You don't have to be a fan of high school football to understand the rare chemistry that can transform a team and a sporting event.

The Vineyarders not only beat arch rival Nantucket 14-6 on Saturday for the Mayflower league championship and their first play-off berth ever, but they managed to produce two big plays and hold the line against an intimidating opponent with a spirit that doesn't come along very often.

Things looked bleak for Martha's Vineyard when Aaron Fox's one-yard touchdown plunge spotted Nantucket a 12-0 lead with 4:46 left. The Whalers had controlled the game from the opening drive, pounding the Vineyard with a balanced running and passing attack. Once again Nantucket attempted a two-point conversion; they were foiled by Mike Dowd's crunching hit on the goal line. The Whalers' inability to score extra points left a window for the Comeback, albeit a very small one.

At Nantucket Saturday there were two football games. One was staged on the playing field, properly, and Nantucket won convincingly, 34-0. Ultimately the only victim in that game was the playing field, and that will repair itself.

Thanksgiving feasting, means dark meat, white meat, and - this week on Martha's Vineyard - fresh Nantucket whalemeat. In the words of Coach Bob Tankard:

"How sweet it is!"

In the lobby of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, it's time to shake the dust from the trophy case. It's time to shine, time to make room for the big one.

The trophy, all two feet and some-odd inches of it.

Early on Saturday morning, a prevailing westerly sweeps the steppe called Martha's Vineyard Airport, and the regional high school football team hustles from the terminal into a potbellied Gull Airlines plane bound for Nantucket and The Game.

For the seventh straight year, Nantucket defeated Martha's Vineyard last Saturday in the historic contest between the two Island football teams, 30 to 20.

The game was played under majestic blue skies before a crowd of 2,500 spectators. It brings the overall record between the two schools to 23-10-2, in favor of Nantucket.

Saturday was a good day for flying to Nantucket — for a change. The PBA terminal was full of anxious Vineyarders hoping for an upset in the annual clash of the Islands on the football field. It was a gallant effort but in the end the Whalers were still undefeated for the season and the Vineyard has lost another close game to them, 12 to 0.

Depending on whom you talk to, what happened on Nantucket in November of 1992 is like a pleasant dream or a recurring nightmare.

"It was my worst loss ever in 31 years," exclaims Nantucket head football coach Vito Capizzo.

"It was my biggest win," says Vineyard coach Donald Herman.