Walsh adds name to a litany of Swampscott quarterbacks

SWAMPSCOTT – Michael Walsh is one of another of a litany of solid quarterbacks in the Swampscott football tradition. Names like Barbuzzi, Cameron, Kinchley, and Cassidy have all performed splendidly wear the blue and white, and Walsh joined them this season by leading his team to several come-from-behind wins in 2010.The most recent came yesterday, when he directed his team, which had been trailing at the end of the opening quarter, 14-0, to a thrilling 21-20 victory at Blocksidge Field. All Walsh did was throw for 306 yards in a 19-for-26 performance. This came despite a first half in which he tossed the ball away to Marblehead defenders and fumbled the ball away once.Walsh led his team on a three-play, 90-yard drive with less than two minutes to go with the game winning score, an 81-yard screen to teammate A. J. Baker.”He’s such a great athlete,” said Walsh of Baker, who have been teammates since their days in Pop Warner. “He had the great blocks by (Peter) Yasi and (Zach) Beermann, and he just took off,”Trailing by double digits was nothing new for Walsh and the Big Blue, who came back from huge deficits against Revere, Triton, and Lynn English to cap off wins in an 8-3 season (the team also missed out on another against Winthrop, when the Vikings scored with five seconds remaining for their first win).”Coach (Steve) Dembowski does a great job making adjustments for the second half, and we have a lot of confidence in one another. We also have good depth as well.”How did the team find the skill for all the second half comebacks accumulated over the course of the season? “It all started with in June with pre season conditioning,” said the quarterback, who’ll be a senior next fall.”We were prepared for anything and everything.”Walsh, who is also a defensive back, was on the sidelines for the final Magicians drive, which saw them scoring on a 22-yard pass as time expired. “I was biting my nails, and really wanted to be out there. But it was a great win.”The righty signal caller overcame a shaky first half to score the team’s first touchdown on their first possession of the second half, then tossed a 22-yard touchdown to Beermann midway through the final period to deadlock the game.”I talked to the coach before each drive about what plays to call, what to do, and what to expect. It’s just up to us to execute the plays,” Walsh said.uMarblehead lost tailback Will Quigley (in the first) and receiver Ryan Stanojev (in the third) with injuries, yet Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff cpuldn’t have been more pleased with how his team responded.”We had to reach deep in the second half, especially with those two out,” said the second-year coach about playing without Quigley and Stanojev, although Stanjev did return in the fourth quarter.”We were without our tailback (Quigley) and our best athlete (Stanojev), and I’m proud of how we reacted.”Oliver Kim, who filled in for Quigley, ran for 45 yards on 10 carries, including a 37-yard jaunt in which he bulldozed his way through the Big Blue line.Rudloff saw his senior quarterback, Dan Colbert, mature in the last few games.”He was a like a different quarterback the past five games or so. He entered this season two years removed from his last action (due to missing last season with a torn ACL), but has played very well as of late. I just wish the season could be five games longer so he could continue playing (like this).”uWith the win, Swampscott takes a 48-47-7 series lead. The Big Blue haven’t lost to Marblehead at home since 2006, in which the Magicians scored the game’s only points on an interception return by linebacker Sam Perlow.uNot only did Walsh lead the team with his arm (21 TD passes), he also did so with his legs as the teams leading rusher (755 yards) and scorer (14 TDS).