Marblehead outduels Beverly

MARBLEHEAD – Last night’s Marblehead-Beverly football tilt had all the hype of a heavyweight title bout, and it didn’t disappoint.The Magicians took over in the second half, scoring the last 19 points of the contest to tame the Panthers, 39-21, at Piper Field. It was Marblehead’s (8-1) sixth straight win, and moves the squad to 3-0 in the NEC South.Click here for a photo gallery.Marblehead had just been victimized by a quick Beverly strike when quarterback Mark Hannable teamed with receiver Steve Dubois for a 43-yard score to regain the lead at 21-20 only 12 seconds after the Magicians had edged ahead midway through the third quarter. Marblehead answered with a short drive of its own. Will Quigley (10-37) gained 20 yards to Beverly’s 49, cutting to the left for the yardage. After an incompletion, halfback Marcel Hardmon (19-151) did the rest of the work. He picked up 20 yards, going through a huge hole to the 29. On the following play, he took the handoff from quarterback Hayes Richardson, and slipped through a pair of Panther defenders and into the end zone for a 26-21 lead.Beverly (5-3, 2-2) came right back, moving into Marblehead territory on a third-down carry by Dubois, netting a dozen yards to the 43. Three more plays netted six additional yards to the Magicians 37, where Beverly had a 4th-and-four. Hannable was sacked by lineman Alex Haigis to thwart the drive.Marblehead added an insurance score, taking the ball on an eight-play, 57-yard drive, with the key play being a 34-yard burst by Hardmon on fourth-and-1 to Beverly’s 2. He brought the ball into the end zone to boost the lead to 32-21.Hannable (14-24-2-170) was picked off by Ryan Stanojev on the next Panther series, setting up the final Magicians possession. Marblehead had a fourth-and-6 from Beverly’s 34, when Richardson (9-16-0-137) connected with a wide-open Haigis at the 17. Hardmon capped off the 14-play drive with his third score of the night, a four-yard run, with just over a minute remaining.”All season long, we’ve been a second-half team,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff, who had been an assistant at Beverly the past few seasons, and had mixed emotions about the game as a result. “The kids were quiet before the game, perhaps a little too quiet. But when the game started, they had a different tone and intensity. The kids showed plenty of heart.”The Magicians had a believer in Beverly coach Dan Bauer.”It was a game of momentum, and Marblehead had a good running game in the second half,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a hard, physical game, especially with their balanced attack. We answered right after they scored, and then they scored again, and we weren’t able to stop them.”The Magicians opened the scoring midway through the opening period through special teams. After Marblehead failed to advance past Beverly’s 42 in its opening series, the Panthers couldn’t get out of their own territory, and were forced to punt. However, the Panther punter slipped while getting the kickoff, and Magicians defensive back Jake Kulevich picked the ball up at the 36, returning it for the game’s first points.However, the Panthers moved ahead late in the quarter, taking over at Marblehead’s 49 with less than a minute remaining. Halfback Nick Theriault (13-95) gained 12 yards to the Magicians 37. He got the ball back on the following play, cutting down along the far sidelines for a 7-6 Beverly lead.The Panthers then put together a solid nine-play, 82-yard drive in which the club picked up seven first downs. Hannable went 2-for-2 in the possession, capped off with his 15-yard keeper and a 14-6 Beverly advantage midway through the period.Yet the Magicians came right back to even up affairs. Beginning at the 19, Richardson and Haigis teamed for ten yards; then, Richardson found Quigley for 23 yards to put the ball at Beverly’s 48. Two plays later, Evan Comeau went downfield for 21 yards to the 27. On second-and-7 from the 24, Richardson faked a handoff, rolled out to his lef