Marblehead gridders pull away from Gloucester

MARBLEHEAD ? After letting an undermanned Gloucester team hang around for a little more than a quarter, the Marblehead High football team rolled to a 39-13 win over the Fishermen, Friday night, at Piper Field.Despite rainy, windy conditions, Ian Maag threw for four touchdowns and ran for another to help the Magicians (7-0) extend the best start in the 104-year history of their program. Defensively, Marblehead dominated in the second half, not allowing the Fishermen (1-6) to cross midfield.”It wasn’t any adjustments the coaches made, it was more a case of the kids just playing tougher in the second half,” said Rudloff.Jeremy Gillis caught a pair of touchdown passes, while Brian Daly and Zac Cuzner hauled in one each. Cuzner also took a lateral from Maag and ran for a 31-yard score on the Magicians’ first play from scrimmage.Gloucester got one rushing touchdown apiece from John Curcuru and Jordan Pallazola, but the Fishermen were playing without their starting quarterback (Santo Parisi), wingback (Zach Smith) and fullback (Jon Good).”The injury bug has hit us hard. We’re playing junior varsity players in a varsity game,” said Gloucester coach Tony Zerilli. “But I’m proud of our guys. They played hard. Marblehead is a helluva good team.”The Magicians scored just 26 seconds into the game, after Brooks Tyrrell’s 57-yard return of the opening kickoff set up Cuzner’s run around left end after taking a backwards pass from Maag.Gloucester answered with 57-yard punt return by Michael Guglielmi and a personal foul on Marblehead put the ball at the Magicians’ 15. Curcuru went off tackle on the next play for a touchdown.The Magicians scored on their next drive, when a 60-yard reception by Nick Perry moved the ball to the Gloucester 8. After an illegal procedure penalty and a 1-yard loss, Maag hit Gillis on the left side of the end zone with a perfect throw.Again, Gloucester retaliated with a touchdown, on a drive that was kept alive when the Magicians went offside on a punt on 4th-and-3. Three plays later, Pallazola bounced around left end for a 30-yard scoring run and Marblehead’s lead was trimmed to 13-12, with 8:35 left in the second quarter.The Fishermen recovered an onside kick, but the Magicians forced a 3-and-out as Marblehead’s defense began to assert itself.”They did a really good job of controlling the line of scrimmage,” said Zerilli. “And their two linebackers (Liam Gillis and Tyler Bates) are just all over the field.”The Magicians took command by scoring two touchdowns in the final 2:21 of the first half. A 33-yard completion to Daly helped set up a 10-yard touchdown throw to Cuzner. The ball was intended for Cressy, but was tipped in the air to Cuzner, who was standing right on the front line of the end zone.A three-and-out gave the ball back to Marblehead with 1:12 left in the first half, and Maag ran up the middle on a keeper for 32 yards, then threw to Cressy for 20 more to move the ball to the Gloucester 9. One play later, Maag went right up the gut for a touchdown to make the score 26-12.A 2-yard punt after Gloucester went three-and-out to open up the second half gave the Magicians good field position for their first drive of the third quarter, and one play later Maag found Daly for a 41-yard score.The Magicians put the game away with a touchdown on their next drive. Maag hit Gillis, who had no one within 10 yards of him, with a 25-yard pass over the middle.