Dreams come true for Marblehead in win

LYNN – The magical season that the Marblehead football team has had thus far is like a dream, especially for head coach Jim Rudloff, and one that he and the rest of the Magicians don’t want to see end anytime soon.”Dreams do come true,” said Rudloff as his squad defeated Rockland, 21-12, Tuesday in the Division 3 playoffs at Manning Field. This was Marblehead’s first-ever postseason appearance. The win puts the Magicians in the Super Bowl against Bishop Feehan – which defeated Dighton-Rehoboth 42-13 on Tuesday in Taunton – Saturday morning at Gillette Stadium (11).This was a program that was much maligned for the better part of 15 years, but this year’s crew had many a bounce go its way this fall to the tune of a 10-2 mark.”I’m so proud of these kids,” Rudloff said. “But I’m very superstitious and don’t want to get ahead and think about the next game. It’s just unfathomable that a Marblehead football team is playing at Gillette Stadium.”The Magicians worked one of their spells with just over a minute remaining in the first half. Leading 14-6, they took over at their 19 after stonewalling Bulldogs back Terrence Gibson (16-66) on fourth-and-seven on the 23.Quarterback Hayes Richardson (4-for-9, 91 yards passing) scampered for 25 yards to the 44 before going out of bounds. After a one-yard gain on first down, Richardson teamed with receiver Alex Haigis for 14 yards to put the ball at Rockland’s 41. Two consecutive 14-yard completions to receiver Matt Perlow placed the ball at the 13. An incompletion followed, before back Evan Comeau bulldozed his way into the end zone with an insurance score with 18 seconds left. It took the Magicians only 56 seconds to travel 81 yards.”Offensive coordinator Mike Giardi saw that Rockland was soft in certain areas. It was a great job of play-calling,” Rudloff said. “Hayes had a nice rhythm on that drive.”Marblehead saw the Bulldogs take the second-half kickoff and march down the field in a 16-play, 59-yard drive that consumed well over six and a half minutes.”They play the type of football that we expected them to play (keeping the ball on the ground, chewing up the clock and prolonging their drives),” Rudloff said.Moments after Marblehead took the lead on its opening possession (1-yard keeper by Richardson), Rockland responded with a 12-play, 62-yard scoring drive, taking almost six minutes off the clock. Overall, Rockland ran the ball 49 times and passed 12 times.”We don’t see that type of ball in the (Northeastern) Conference where you run it all the time,” Rudloff said.Marblehead’s defense was stingy in the second half. Ryan Stanojev had an interception in the third quarter and the “D” managed to stop the Bulldogs late in the game at the Marblehead 41.”Our defense bent, but it didn’t break,” the coach said. “We couldn’t let them run all day long. It was good for us at the end when we were able to force them to throw late (in the game).”Still, there’s one dream that Rudloff had a few weeks ago that will certainly be coming true on Saturday.”I went to the Patriots-Dolphins game at Gillette (earlier this season) with a friend and I had a fleeting thought: Could I one day be standing on these sidelines?” Rudloff said. “Then it (the thought) quickly went away.”Rudloff will see that dream come true on Saturday, but a much bigger event to dream of will be leaving Gillette wearing the Super Bowl crown. Only a few short years ago, that would have been nothing more than a pipe dream for the Marblehead football program, but this year there’s a very good chance of seeing it become a reality – and that is what we all want our dreams to become.