Marblehead, Lynnfield, Gloucester set to go

If it’s December and you’re still playing high school football, it’s been a good year.The Marblehead High, Lynnfield High and Gloucester High football teams have managed to find their way into basketball season and if all goes well tonight, they’ll be heading to Gillette Stadium Saturday to play in their respective Super Bowls.Marblehead will play Rockland at Manning Field at 5:15 p.m. in the Division 3 playoffs and Lynnfield will face Austin Prep at Reading High at 5:15 p.m. in the Division 3A playoffs. Gloucester (Division 1A) has the second game at Manning Field, playing Westford Academy at 7:45 p.m.Marblehead vs. RocklandAt Manning Field (5:15 p.m.), Marblehead football coach Jim Rudloff and his staff have had their work cut out the last several days trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy under circumstances that are far from normal.”We’re in uncharted waters here,” Rudloff said.Marblehead has had a season of firsts. The Magicians won their first Northeastern Conference title this year and they reached the postseason for the first time in the history of the program. Now the task is to extend the season another couple of days with a win over Rockland in the Division 3 playoffs.Rudloff said he and his staff have been trying to keep to their regular practice routine as much as possible, but at the same time, not put a damper on the experience.”None of us has been here before,” he said, adding that they have to balance the excitement and newness with making sure they do what they have to do to prepare for the game.Rudloff said he’s superstitious and because of that, he didn’t start worrying about Rockland until after his team beat Swampscott on Thanksgiving morning. Thanksgiving night, however, was a different story as he and his staff burned the midnight oil learning all they could about tonight’s opponent.The first clue about what they would be in for came from the local media that covers Rockland. They refer to two of the team’s big threats as “thunder and lightning.” The thunder is provided by fullback Mike Driscoll (8 touchdown runs) and the lightning by Terrance Gibson (12 TD runs).”They’re very much a grind-it-out type of team,” Rudloff said. “On offense they want to control the clock. They’re very happy to get four to six yards per carry.”Rudloff said Driscoll is about the size of a Northeastern Conference tackle and when he carries the ball, he just pounds it up the middle.”There’s nothing fancy. They just wear you down,” he said.Gibson is the lightning part of the equation, running the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds.”He’s just incredibly talented at tailback,” Rudloff said.Rudloff said it’s important that his team put points on the game given the shortened quarters (10 minutes) and Rockland’s ability to use the clock.Rockland (6-5) plays in the Fisher Division of the Patriot Conference. The team finished 5-0 in league play after starting the season 0-3 against nonleague opponents Falmouth, Whitman-Hanson and Abington. Rockland was 1-4 through its first four games before running off five straight wins.Rockland will have to contend with a potent offensive attack led by quarterback Hayes Richardson, who ran for 16 touchdowns and passed for 16 touchdowns. Marcel Hardmon (9 TD runs) and Will Quigley (8 TD runs) have also made the Magicians a tough team to keep out of the end zone. Marblehead has averaged 30.9 points per game while holding the opposition to 14.3 points.Lynnfield vs. Austin PrepAt Reading High (5:15), the Pioneers haven’t seen the postseason since 1986 when they played Lincoln-Sudbury, and lost. Like Rudloff, Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman has been trying to allow his players to revel in the excitement while remaining focused on the task at hand.”It’s been real exciting for the kids,” Weidman said. “It’s been kind of a whirlwind.”Weidman knows his team will have its hands full against the Cougars.”I think it will be a good game,” he said. “This is a team that’s really good at what they do. They stay at it.