Salem outlasts Marblehead in thriller

MARBLEHEAD ? Marblehead left too much time on the clock for Salem. Then Salem almost left too much time on the clock for Marblehead.Salem’s Christian Dunston threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Greg Speliotis and then a 2-point conversion to Ben Kapnis with 52.9 seconds left, and then survived a missed 31-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game to defeat Marblehead, 35-34, in an instant classic Friday night at Piper Field.The previously-unbeaten Magicians (7-1; 1-1) rallied from a 20-point second half deficit to take a 34-27 lead with a 38-yard touchdown run by Ian Maag with 2:32 left. The Witches (4-4; 1-1) went 80 yards in just over a minute, with Dunston keeping the play alive with his feet, and then finding Speliotis all alone on the other side of the field.There was some controversy during the drive as Marblehead was penalized 15 yards for a face mask when Dunston’s helmet came off during a sack. Instead of the Witches needing 18 yards on third down at the Magicians’ 40, they had a first down at Marblehead’s 25.”I never blame the officials, but I’m not sure what they saw,” Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. “Our player made a great play, and (Dunston’s) helmet came off. It shouldn’t have been a penalty.”Needing one point to tie and two to take the lead, Salem went for the latter, and Dunston rolled out to the right and hit a sliding Kapnis, who caught the ball just before it hit the ground.”There was no discussion. We were going for two,” Salem coach Scott Connolly said. “The way their offense was moving the ball in the second half, we wanted to decide it right there.”Maag hit five straight throws and then ran for 13 yards to move the ball to the Witches’ 14-yard line for a final field goal attempt from the left hash by Joe Newall. The kick had plenty of leg, but stayed left.”That’s not a chip shot for a high school kicker,” Rudloff said. “We didn’t lose the game because our kicker didn’t make a 31-yard field goal. We lost because we were out-played in the first half.”The Witches led, 21-7, after two quarters, partly because they were able to convert a pair of interceptions into points. Josh McRae brought back a pick 53 yards for Salem’s first score, and Dunston set up another touchdown with a 15-yard return that led to a 5-yard scoring run by Aaron Palmer. Salem’s other first half touchdown was on an 80-yard run by Speliotis.Marblehead’s only touchdown of the first half was on a 40-yard run by Brooks Tyrrell.Salem looked like it was in total command when Dunston threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Austin Connolly to cap its first drive of the second half. The ball was intended for another receiver and deflected by a defender right to Connolly, who put the Witches ahead, 27-7, with 2:26 left in the third quarter.Marblehead then started its comeback, answering immediately with a 71-yard drive that took less than two minutes. Maag ran 23 yards for the score. After a three-and-out by Salem, the Magicians scored quickly again, with Maag hitting a wide open Dylan Cressy on a 41-yard touchdown pass on a blown coverage assignment by Salem.Marblehead got the ball back with 7:24 left and drove 85 yards in nine plays, with Tyrrell and Maag accounting for most of the carries. Tyrrell scored from three yards out and Newall’s extra point gave the Magicians their first lead at 28-27, with 3:17 to play.Three plays later, the Magicians got the ball right back when Zac Cuzner intercepted Dunston at the Salem 45. After a 7-yard run by Tyrrell, Maag went up the middle to make the score 34-27. Importantly, the extra point try failed when the snap from center was low. Maag quickly tried to hit Nick Perry in the end zone, but his hurried throw was incomplete.That set up Salem’s winning drive, and its escape on the final play of the game.”This is a huge win for our program,” Connolly said. “To come in here and beat a very good Marblehead team is a feather in our cap.”