Dynamic Magicians Outlast Winthrop

MARBLEHEAD ? For the past two seasons, the Marblehead High football team’s offense revolved around Will Quigley. This year, the Magicians have a variety of weapons.Four different players scored for Marblehead, which fought off a determined Winthrop team to remain undefeated with a 27-15 win, Friday night, at Piper Field.Ian Maag threw touchdown passes of 16 yards to Will Millett and of 35 yards to Jeremy Gillis, while Zac Cuzner and Brooks Tyrrell added one rushing touchdown apiece for the Magicians (3-0).”That’s a good football team. They’re going to win some games,” Winthrop coach Sean Driscoll said. “But we’re going to win some games too.”Robert Diaz and David Gallo scored one touchdown apiece for the Vikings (1-2), who were right with the Magicians statistically. Winthrop possessed the ball for almost the entire first quarter, taking the opening kickoff and marching 79 yards in a whopping 20 plays. Diaz scored on a run from eight yards out.”That first drive was tremendous,” Driscoll said. “That’s what we want to do. Control the ball and keep their offense off the field.”Marblehead’s defense dominated from that point on, however, and didn’t allow the Vikings to cross midfield again until the fourth quarter.”Very minimal (adjustments),” Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. “It was more a case of the players starting to play better.”The Magicians answered Winthrop’s opening drive with a touchdown march of their own consuming 56 yards in nine plays. Tyrrell kept the drive alive by stretching for the sticks on 4th-and-2 from the Winthrop 33, and Maag (an economical 7-for-8 for 88 yards with no interceptions) hit Brian Daly for a 12-yard gain before he found Millett over the middle for Marblehead’s first touchdown.Winthrop blocked the extra point, though, and took a 7-6 lead into halftime.”It was pretty glum at halftime,” Rudloff said. “It wasn’t like we hadn’t moved the ball, we just didn’t have a lot of opportunities because they did such a good job of controlling the clock.”Taking the kickoff to begin the second half, Marblehead drove 61 yards in seven quick plays, including a 24-yard run by Maag that set up Tyrrell’s 4-yard scoring run. The Magicians then held three-and-out and got good field position at the Winthrop 46, and three plays later Maag threw a deep pass to Gillis, who made a terrific adjustment by cutting in front of a defender, hauled in the ball at about the 5-yard line and trotted into the end zone to give Marblehead a 20-7 lead with 5:37 left in the third quarter.”The third quarter is what killed us,” Driscoll said. “They made some big plays, and we couldn’t move the ball.”The Vikings found the end zone again, but lacking a quick strike offensive component didn’t do so until Gallo (94 yards-16 carries) scored from two yards out with just 1:15 left in the game.Marblehead’s Spencer Craig recovered the ensuing on-side kick. With Winthrop crowding the line of scrimmage, Cuzner (84 yards-7 rushes) broke through for 40 yards and then swept around right end for an 11-yard touchdown run that put the game away with 50.7 seconds left.