Marblehead football reigns in rain

MARBLEHEAD – Not even on-again, off-again downpours were enough to put the brakes on the Marblehead football team Thursday night at Piper Field.The Magicians got 171 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Will Quigley while the defense stuffed Ipswich, holding the Tigers to 67 total yards and four first downs in a 34-6 non-league win.Ipswich6Marblehead34 “We had a great week of practice,” Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. “They responded very well after losing the way we did last weekend (to Pentucket on a late safety).”Click here for a photo gallery.The Magicians (1-1) showed no hangover from their heartbreaking loss in week one, coming out from the start and dominating Ipswich in all phases of the game.Tiger quarterback Brendan Gallagher never was able to get settled from the get-go while 31 rushing attempts netted just 54 yards for Ipswich.”What really happened is we were dominated on the line,” Ipswich coach Ted Flaherty said. “We lost the battle at the line of scrimmage and didn’t tackle very well on defense.”After forcing a three-and-out on the game’s initial series, Marblehead came out and established its punishing ground attack as Quigley broke off 21 yards on a second down carry.One play later, quarterback Dan Colbert kept on an option play and went 28 yards untouched for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead less than four minutes in.”Danny is a quiet and very unassuming kid,” Rudloff said “If you met him on the street, you’d never know he’s a football player, let alone our quarterback. But what he did tonight was give us another dimension with his running.”Ipswich went nowhere on its next possession and a short punt gave Marblehead back the ball at its 48. From there, the Magicians needed nine plays and a little over four minutes to find pay dirt as Colbert hit Ryan Stanojev with a 19-yard strike on a slant pattern to make it 14-0 after a Quigley 2-point conversion catch.The Tigers (1-1) would get a 20-yard run from Gallagher on the opening play of the second quarter but turned the ball over at their 28 three plays later on a botched punt.Marblehead actually wasted a play before Quigley raced those 28 yards to give the Magicians a 21-0 lead.Following another Tiger punt, Marblehead would drive 68 yards in 10 plays to take a 28-0 lead into the half on Colton Dana’s 24-yard touchdown run that saw him break three tackles.”Colton is playing a notch above where he should be right now as a new player,” Rudloff said.The Tigers would put together their lone sustained drive of the game in the third quarter, taking over seven minutes off the clock to march 67 yards in 11 plays, culminating in Jake LeBlanc’s seven yard run that made it 28-6.Quigley would complete his outstanding night late in the third, going 58 yards to the house for his third score and the game’s final points.”Nobody has worked as hard as Will has,” Rudloff said. “He was in here the day after our Super Bowl loss lifting weights and it’s just one of those fire in the belly things with him.”