Marblehead would like a postseason invitation

The 2008 season will go down as a memorable one for the Marblehead High football program. Some of the memories will be good, some will be not as good, and some will be determined by the outcome of the 100th game with Swampscott on Thanksgiving Day.For the first time since 1986, the Magicians (6-4; 3-1 Northeastern Conference Small) have a chance to play for a championship, and a win on Thursday would put them in the playoffs, where no Marblehead team has ever gone. Marblehead has already clinched its first winning season since 1992, and in the process recorded historic wins over Beverly and Winthrop.Those are the good memories.The bad memories may be just as vivid. Magicians’ coach Doug Chernovetz was suspended for the first two games of the season for using chewing tobacco, ended up as the defendant in a lawsuit by a former player, and last week Marblehead had to take on Saugus after three players, one of whom is the starting quarterback, were suspended for two games ? including the Swampscott game ? for being present at a party where alcohol was involved.”There have been some ups and downs,” Chernovetz said. “But to go from where we were eight months ago to where we are now ? with a chance to play for a spot in the playoffs ? tells you all you need to know about how these kids have stuck together as a team.”Ten or 20 years from now, the 2008 team and what it has accomplished may be looked at as the pioneer of something special. Football is flourishing like it probably never has before in town – the 8th grade team won the Cape Ann Youth Football League title earlier this month and there were nearly 100 fourth and third graders participating in the program this fall.”I’ve said it takes five years to build a football program. Right now we’re in our fourth year, and we feel we’ve made improvements every year,” Chernovetz said. “The youth program has something like 270 kids, so we feel football in the town of Marblehead is headed in the right direction.”The season opened with promise as Marblehead racked up a 28-15 win at home over Ipswich behind two rushing touchdowns from Hayes Richardson. The following week, the Magicians defeated Chelsea, 24-10, on the road, with Brandan Lee scoring twice and Richardson throwing a TD pass to Sam Perlow.A long touchdown run by Nick Haller wasn’t enough to offset two touchdowns by Salem’s Eugene De la Cruz in a 14-8 loss to the Witches the following week, and the Magicians fell to 2-2 after a 28-14 loss to a good Georgetown team on the road.Lee scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner in the fourth quarter, as Marblehead bounced back with a 20-14 win over Revere the following week, and the Magicians closed out their non-division schedule with a 34-24 loss to Lynn English despite two touchdowns – one on an interception return and the other on a long pass – by Taariq Allen. Lee also scored on kickoff return.Richardson returned to the lineup from an injury and threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score in a 28-0 blowout of Danvers. Undoubtedly the biggest wins of the season were on Nov. 1 against Beverly, a team the Magicians had not beaten since 1996, and the following week, when Marblehead defeated Winthrop for the first time since 1998.In the Beverly game, the Magicians jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on a scoring pass from Richardson to Connor Carey, a TD run by Richardson and an interception return by defensive stalwart Perlow. Richardson also threw another long touchdown pass to Dan Comeau that offset a 23-point third quarter as the Magicians held on, 33-30.In the 33-23 victory over Winthrop, Allen and Richardson hooked up for two passing TDs in the first half, and Ian McKinley kicked a couple of field goals to keep the Magicians in the lead throughout the game.Winthrop’s win over Beverly and Swampscott’s victory over Danvers on Nov. 14 ensured the Big Blue and the Magicians would play for the NEC Small title and rendered meaningless in terms of the post-se