BOSTON – The Nantucket football team has heard a lot of smack talk coming from the other island in the Cape ahead of the 44th Annual Island Cup, and Martha’s Vineyard nearly got all the ammunition it needed to feed that fire with a fourth-quarter comeback at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

The Whalers, though, made sure to get the final word.

Arann Hanlon ran in a 9-yard touchdown in overtime and the Nantucket (4-8) defense kept the Vineyarders (5-5) out of the end zone in retaliation, holding off a late rally to pull out a 22-14 win and even up the overall series at 22 wins apiece.

“Our guys showed a lot of heart today,” said Nantucket head coach Reese Everett. “This was our Super Bowl, and our kids knew that coming into the game. … We didn’t buy into the nonsense coming from the other island, the talk. We just stayed true to ourselves, stayed true to our game.”

Nantucket got off to a fast start, using a 16-play drive on its first possession to build a 7-0 lead, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run from David Guillen-Taveras (29 yards). From there, neither defense allowed either offensive unit to deliver any serious blows in a low-scoring, three-and-out ridden second and third quarters.

Eventually, though, Martha’s Vineyard found a spark.

Quarterback William Nicholson (148 passing yards, 58 rushing yards, touchdown) picked up his game for the Vineyarders and paired with Guillermo Oliveira (130 rushing yards, touchdown) to lead their first scoring drive late in the third quarter. The point-after-attempt failed to keep Martha’s Vineyard down 7-6 with under two minutes left in the frame, and Nantucket responded with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Burke Lombardi to Eli MacIver on the next play to build the lead back up, but Martha’s Vineyard marched back down to tie things up with 8:16 left on Oliveira’s 1-yard touchdown run and two-point pass to Syius Rivera.

Again, the Vineyarders forced a stop on defense and used a long drive to set up a game-winning field goal attempt from 26 yards out with two seconds left.

But it pushed wide right, and Nantucket had new life with overtime.

“The conversation was simple,” Everett said. “We had to continue to give our all and continue to give heart. We had to fight to the finish, and it was certainly a dog fight. And we’re the last ones to throw the punch, and I’m so glad we did.”

Two plays in, Hanlon (51 rushing yards) got around the left edge for the go-ahead score. The Whalers then called his number again for the two-point attempt, which he barreled in.

“I knew once I put him in the backfield, he was going to execute,” Everett said. “Starting with our line and everybody else, we had to put the pedal to the metal.”

The Vineyarders’ offense had plenty of momentum after getting to the red zone with ease on its last three possessions of regulation, but a couple of penalties pushed it as far back as the 16-yard-line in overtime – including one that negated a touchdown run. Martha’s Vineyard still threatened by getting down to the 5, but a pass break-up from freshman Joao Silva on second-and long highlighted a defensive stand to seal the win.

“We have a lot of young starters for us right now, this is almost like a learning curve for them,” Everett said. “He’s going to take that with him, he’s going to cherish it, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to get better each and every day.”