REVERE — It didn’t take Marblehead long to realize that its game against Revere wouldn’t be a rerun of last week’s blowout victory over Triton.
The Magicians ultimately won, 18-6, but it certainly wasn’t the 55-point blowout from a week earlier. The Patriots put a scare into them, marching 75 yards in 16 plays to open the game, capped by Lucas Barbosa’s 6-yard run with 2:28 to go in the first quarter.
“The took the ball and ran it right down our throats,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff. “They kicked us all the way up the field.”
It continued to look as if this might be Revere’s night when, on Marblehead’s first possession of the night, quarterback Chris Gally was strip-sacked on a fourth-down play by Zachary Furlong, giving the Patriots a chance to add to their lead.
But the drive stalled. And from there it was disaster for Revere. Just before the drive ended, sophomore quarterback Calvin Boudreau threw an incompletion, but was hit as he got rid of the ball. As soon as he hit the ground, it was obvious something was wrong. It turned out to be a broken collarbone, which means he’ll be lost for the season.
“We were going to throw a lot,” said Revere coach Lou Cicatelli. “We knew we could. Calvin was playing real well, and he was making such good progress.”
With Boudreau out, Jonathan Murphy — whose injury last season paved the way for Boudreau — took over.
This seemed to pick Marblehead (2-0) up. The Magicians immediately launched a 12-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a Gally-to-Sean McCarthy 12-yard scoring strike with 51 seconds left in the half. Gally provided a nice balance to the running of Tim Cronin (13 carries, 98 yards, 1 touchdown). He was 4 of 9 through the air with an interception and a touchdown. But in this game, he made just as much of a contribution with his feet, rushing for 61 yards on 12 carries.
“Our receivers didn’t play well,” said Rudloff. “It was kind of a sloppy game for them. There were a few times where they weren’t where they were supposed to be when Chris threw the ball.”
As neither team converted on its first-half PAT attempts, the score stood 6-6 at halftime.
The Magicians got to work to open the third quarter. Gally and Cronin led them downfield on a 74-yard scoring drive in eight plays, with Cronin running the final four in. But Marblehead stuffed the conversion attempt, and it was 12-6 with plenty of time left.
Revere mounted another drive starting from its 8-yard line that was stalled on the Marblehead 32 when Mark Paquette picked off a Murphy pass. Still, said Rudloff, it was a sign of how well the Patriots played.
“They’re not going to quit,” said Rudloff. “That’s a good team over there.”
Revere did move the ball, especially the running-back tandem of Darius McNeill (11-83) and Lucas Barbosa (11-72).
“We played very well,” Cicatelli said. “We showed a lot of guts tonight. Joe Allanos (linebacker) played his heart out on defense.”
However, a series of personal-foul penalties late in the game left Cicatelli with a bad taste in his mouth.
“I’m disappointed,” Cicatelli said. “We’re not disciplined. If you get hit hard, you have 10 pounds of equipment on. Suck it up and move on.”
Tamelle Platt scored Marblehead’s third touchdown with time running out on an 8-yard run.
Both teams are back in action next Friday when Revere (0-2) hosts Classical (6:30) and Marblehead visits Peabody (7).