Marblehead football falls in title quest

TEWKSBURY – The Marblehead football team fell to Tewksbury this afternoon, 34-21, in the Division 3 Northeast final at the Redmen’s field.The loss eliminates the Magicians from post-season play while Tewksbury goes on to play Melrose (D3 Northwest winner) in the North final next Saturday (11) at Cawley Stadium in Lowell.The game was a back-and-forth affair in the first half, with Marblehead taking leads of 7-0 and 21-14 only to see Tewksbury tied it back up both times.The second half was just the opposite. There was no scoring until late in the fourth quarter, when Tewksbury picked off a pass and ran it into the end zone to break the tie. Then, after a Marblehead fumble, the Redmen scored again.In the first year of a radically revamped Super Bowl format, Bishop Fenwick is the North Shore’s only survivor to this point. The Crusaders, who won the North title Friday night with a victory over Northeast Regional, will play Abington Friday night (7) at Woburn’s Connolly Memorial Stadium, for the Eastern Mass. title. The winner will proceed to the Division 5 Super Bowl Dec. 7 at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium play the Central/West winner.Manning Field was not chosen as a venue for any post-season football games.As there are no Division 1 schools in Central or Western Mass, Central Catholic, which stunned Everett, 20-15, will face Xaverian in the Division 1 Super Bowl. The other five berths — including Division 3, which also has no Central/West teams — will be determined next week, either Friday or Saturday. The North/South winners in Division 3 will play each other in the Super Bowl.