The Vineyard team narrowly avoided a shutout in the closing minutes of the Island Cup. Final score: Nantucket 48, Vineyard 7.

Nantucket struck early and often as it leads the Vineyard 29-0 at halftime.

The start of the Island Cup is just minutes away as the Vineyard and Nanucket face off for football bragging rights. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m under very sunny skies.

The annual Island Cup football rivalry between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket is set to return this weekend, a year after it was cancelled for only the second time in its long history.

Legendary Nantucket football coach Vito Capizzo, who led the Whalers in decades of Island Cup rivalry games against the Vineyard, died May 17. He was 78.

An inspired Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football team ended its season with a victory last Friday night, taking a bit of the sting out of a season cut short.