The wait is over for Super Bowl contenders Marblehead and Gloucester

The past two weeks have arguably been the most exciting period of time in the history of the Marblehead High football program.First, there was the buildup to the winner-take-all Thanksgiving Day game with Swampscott, which the Magicians defeated with a touchdown in the final minute to clinch the Northeastern Conference’s small division title, their first football championship since 1973.The Magicians (10-2; 4-1) then defeated Rockland, 21-12, in a playoff game on Tuesday in Lynn to earn their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, against Bishop Feehan, today (11 a.m.) at Gillette StadiumThe team has been the talk of the town, and the chatter has increased with each passing day. The players have become celebrities. Some of the seniors showed up at the Marblehead Village School on Friday to sign autographs and were greeted like conquering heroes. Scores of red-and-black clad fans are expected to make the trip to Foxboro today.While all of this excitement is new and fresh in Marblehead, post-season games are almost an expectation for Bishop Feehan, a private school based in Attleboro. The Shamrocks (9-2; 4-0 Eastern Athletic Conference) have appeared in eight Super Bowls, most recently in 2007 when they defeated Walpole, 26-20.From 2000-04, Bishop Feehan appeared in five straight bowls, winning the last four in a row. The school’s all-time Super Bowl record is 6-2. They earned their spot in the Div. 3 Super Bowl by routing Dighton-Rehoboth, 42-13, on Tuesday. Most of the Shamrocks’ wins have been blowouts, except for a 16-14 victory over Foxboro in the opening game of the season and a 25-24 triumph over Somerset on Nov. 16 that clinched the EAC crown. Feehan’s two losses were to non-league foes North Attleboro (24-0) and Attleboro (34-14).In their win on Thursday, the Shamrocks piled up more than 400 yards of offense using a balanced attack that featured 179 yards and three touchdowns from running back Zach Schweiger and 158 yards passing from quarterback Tom Romero, who threw a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Derek Beyer, and ran for another score.Quarterback Hayes Richardson has been the point man for the Magicians, throwing 17 TD passes and running for 17 more touchdowns. Alex Haigis and Matt Perlow are two of Richardson’s favorite targets, and Marcel Hardmon has emerged as a top running threat in the second half of the season. Defensively, Evan Comeau is the Magicians’ leader in tackles.Gloucester vs. Bridgewater-RaynhamThe Div. 1A game (8 p.m.) also features a match up between a seasoned participant and a team that hasn’t won in awhile. The Fishermen (12-0) are making their third straight appearance, while the Trojans (10-2) are returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2001, though the program had a strong tradition in the prior millennium.Bridgewater-Raynham won a coin flip that decided a three-way tie in the Old Colony League, and then cruised to a 28-0 win over a Needham team (7-5) that was probably the fourth best team in the Bay State Conference this season but finished in first place in the league’s Carey (large school) Division.Quarterback Mike Connolly, whose favorite receiver is Kevin Bumpus, leads the Trojans. Three different running backs scored touchdowns for B-R on Tuesday, and Neil Harrington set up two of those scores with long kick returns. The defense limited Needham to 122 yards of total offense.”They have a very balanced team,” Gloucester coach Paul Ingram said. “Their quarterback has a really, really strong arm. He can make a lot of throws most high school quarterbacks can’t make.”The Fishermen once again dominated the NEC, winning their games by an average of 22 points. Their only two real tests during the regular season were a 21-14 win over Super Bowl participant Masconomet and a 21-14 dispatch of a pesky Classical team. Gloucester qualified for the Super Bowl with a 34-28 victory over Westford on Tuesday.The Fishermen are a run-first team led by halfback Conor Ressel, though quarterback