Beverly earns victory over Marblehead

BEVERLY – Punctuated by a few miscues, a crisp football game that mirrored the mid-October weather broke out at Hurd Stadium on Saturday as Beverly defeated Marblehead, 17-14.This one came down to turnovers, and the two lost fumbles for Marblehead cost the team a win.Late in the first quarter, Isaiah White broke through from nine yards out to score the first Beverly touchdown. Later in the half, with 2:38 on the clock, the Panthers put together a nine-play drive that led to Matt Madden kicking a 25-yard field goal and giving Beverly a 10-0 lead at halftime. The Beverly running backs of White, Madden, Peter Mulumba, and Steve Negron had established themselves as a force in the game.Meanwhile, the vaunted Marblehead offense could not get anything going. Quarterback Matt Millett was able to connect with a plethora of receivers, but was unable to churn out first downs. Brooks Tyrrell, a running back with a wild open-field style who also likes to punish would-be tacklers at the end of a run, was bottled up well by Beverly?s stout defense.?We did not execute well today. In the first half, we were out-physicalled by them,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff. “They are a very good team; we saw today what a healthy Beverly team is like. They did not do anything that we did not expect, or were not ready for, but they did a great job.”In the second half, “The Turnover” proved king.Beverly?s opening possession of the half was ground to a halt by Marblehead. Forced to punt, Beverly recovered a fumble on the punt return and sat 11 yards away from the goal line. Four plays later, on 4th-and-one from the one, Beverly duped everybody in the stadium by executing a trick play.Quarterback Nick Manthorne handed the ball off to a surprise in the backfield, Joe Kozlowski. Kozlowski then stopped his forward momentum, dodged two defenders who were bearing down on him, and lobbed the ball to his left — where it was caught by Manthorne in the end zone. The score stood at 17-0, Beverly.In response, Marblehead churned out 13 plays, with Millett finding receivers like Dylan Cressy and Jeremy Gillis, while Tyrrell found his stride.Then came the second fumble, this time on 1st-and-goal from the two. Beverly recovered in the end zone for a touchback.?The turnovers were huge, just huge,” said Beverly coach Dan Bauer. “One led to a score for us and the other prevented them from scoring.”Taking a page right out of Teddy Roosevelt?s quotation book, the Marblehead sideline decided that true character was not in how you stand, but in how many times you get up after being knocked down.The Marblehead defense forced a three-and-out and the Magicians offense got back out onto the field. In eight plays they moved downfield for a score. From 24 yards out, Millett found Brian Daly on a post pattern in the end zone.In the fourth quarter, Marblehead began to play with more urgency. The defense, led by Liam Gillis, limited Panther yardage and saved time on the clock. With 3:28 remaining in the game, Millett found Will Millett running wild across the middle, and eventually Daly again in the end zone. The corner fade to Daly was from 32 yards out and put Marblehead down by just three points, 17-14.After the Marblehead defense made another stop, the offense took to the field with under a minute to go.In a frenzy of action, and a combination of Beverly?s defense and a questionable non-call on the final passing play, the Panthers were able to hold.Millett finished the game 18 of 29 for 188 yards and two touchdowns.?We should?ve done more before the end of the game to win,” said Rudloff. “We?ve got two more weeks and we?re going to have to do a gut-check.”?That is one great football team,” said Bauer of Marblehead. “They are well coached, they play hard, and this was a hard-fought football game. But we?re never going to give in, never give up, and always push to win.”