Marblehead rushes past Ipswich

IPSWICH – Given the opportunity to play on a short field most of the game, the Marblehead High football team made short work of Ipswich Friday night in a CAL/NEC crossover contest, 40-8.Excluding a final one-play possession from their own one-yard line to close the first half, the offense’s average starting point for its eight possessions was the Ipswich 35. By the time the starters exited midway through the third quarter, Marblehead (2-0) held a 34-0 lead.”I’m very pleased. We set goals after last week’s game and one of them was to have a much better week in practice. We did that. We’re not there yet, but this was a nice job,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff. “We’re a work in progress and tonight was a nice step forward.”Marblehead amassed prohibitive statistical edges in total offense (367-70), rushing (289-29) and first downs (13-6). It was the season opener for Ipswich and the mistake-prone Tigers simply never got going.Six players – alternating QBs Gus Percy and Ian Maag, running backs Will Quigley, Zac Cuzner and John Perry, and wideout Colton Dana – accounted for the Marblehead touchdowns. Meanwhile, Quigley, Oliver Gregory, Bing Bial and Crandall Maxwell recorded interceptions.The Tigers took a huge gamble with the game still scoreless midway through the first quarter when punter Louis Galanis took off on 4th-and-25 from his own three and was dropped a yard shy of a first down at the Ipswich 27. One play after Percy (6-for-6, 75 yards) found Bial for 19 yards to the Ipswich five, Maag scored on a designed QB draw and Christian Flores tacked on the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 2:06 left in the first quarter.Marblehead put the hammer down in a hurry after that. Quigley (11 carries, 86 yards) swept the left side and sprinted 58 untouched yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter and Flores’ kick made it 14-0.Three plays after Gregory’s 14-yard interception return to the Ipswich 14, Percy delivered a seven-yard scoring strike to Dana with 8:40 left in the half. A little more than two minutes later Percy rolled in from 20 yards on a keeper and Flores’ conversion kicks after both scores gave Marblehead a 28-0 lead at the break.When Cuzner strolled in from 10 yards, expanding the Magicians’ lead to 34-0 just 3:04 into the third period, the starters were done for the night. Buoyed by the determined running of the senior Perry (9 carries, 96 yards), the second unit put one on the board as well when Perry capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive from five yards out for a 40-0 lead with 10:54 to play.Ipswich averted the shutout on the ensuing kickoff when Peter Moutevelis went the distance from 81 yards. Quarterback Nick Andreas found Galanis for the two-point conversion and the 40-8 final.”I thought our quarterbacks executed much better tonight than they did last week. Our running backs did a nice job, especially John Perry. He’s a senior and it’s gotta’ be tough to sit behind Will but he’s really put his heart and soul into this season,” Rudloff said.