Item Football 2009: Marblehead hopes to stay on last season’s roll

The Marblehead football squad recorded its first winning season since the early 1990s last season, going 6-5 under former Doug Chernovetz.The Magicians, who fell just short of claiming the Northeastern Conference South title, came up with victories over both Winthrop and Beverly, teams that Marblehead hadn’t beaten in quite some time.Jim Rudloff was tapped as the man to replace Chernovetz. Rudloff served as linebackers and running backs coach at Beverly for several seasons (the Magicians have now hired their last two football coaches from Dan Bauer’s staff in Beverly).Though this is his first head coaching role, Rudloff is no stranger to Marblehad football, as he was the defensive coordinator under Chernovetz’s predecessor, Bill Manchester.”This year’s team wants to prove that they didn’t just have one good season, but they want to build off that,” said Rudloff. “This year’s team wants to show that what they accomplished last year was just the start of putting together a winning program, and the important thing to stress is that they build upon that. They don’t want to feel cheated (after last year’s success), and go back to how things were before.”Rudloff welcomes a team that’s heavy on seniors, with 18 hoping to magic can carry over from last year to this season for the Magicians. Only 12 juniors are on the team, but with 22 sophomores, there should be experienced squads for years to come for Marblehead.”We have 48 varsity players (in camp), and what I’m really impressed with is their intelligence, commitment, and unity,” added Rudloff. “They’ve been giving 100 percent in everything, from the weightlifting to what we’ve been running in practice, and so on.”One of the seniors will be quarterback Hayes Richardson, who led the Magicians to the aforementioned wins over Beverly and Winthrop. Midway through last season, he also directed the team to a 28-0 victory over Danvers, in which he threw a trio of touchdown passes and ran for another.”Hayes is a very good runner, but we have to be careful with him,” Rudloff stated. “In every game he started and finished last year, we won. He won the Ipswich game (last season’s opener) with his feet, but we don’t want him to have to run. Everyone knows that we can pass, but it’s important for us to try to establish the run.”Marblehead will have a pair of captains in seniors Matt Evans (LB/C) and Evan Comeau (LB/FB). Other returning seniors are Matt O’Neil (LB-G), Kyle Edwards (RT), Joe Nuccio (LG), Blake Forman (DT), Flynn McCormack (S/WR). and Marceau Hardman (S/RB).Among returning juniors are Ben Koopman (LG), Liam Gilliland (LT), Ryan Stanojev (CB/WR). and Matt Perlow (S/RB).The Magicians kick off their season at Chris Piper Field against Pentucket Friday, before going on the road for the first time, traveling to Ipswich on Sept. 17. Marblehead will then return home to open its NEC schedule on Sept.r 25 against Classical.The team will play seven of its games in the friendly confines of Piper Field. “It’ll benefit us this season, but we’re hoping to switch one of our home games around.”Rudloff, after several years as an assistant, can hardly wait to get his first game as a head coach under way. “It’s a mixed bag of emotions, certainly. I have plenty of nervous energy, and I’m excited as well. Over the years, I’ve learned from every good and bad experience (in regards to coaching). There’s so much work to do, and we want to make sure we have a successful season. My goal is to have an overall winning program for years to come, and a strong youth program.”