Thanksgiving preview: Marblehead hopes second time around is just as good

The Marblehead-Swampscott game on Thanksgiving (Piper Field, 10) will be an in-season rematch of a game earlier this fall (made possible by the revised high playoff format), and that’s something that worries Magicians’ coach Jim Rudloff.View season’s photos from throughout the fall season on the North Shore”It’s a tough game for us,” says Rudloff. “First, we just came off the playoff loss (to Tewksbury in the Division 3 Northeast final), so the energy level’s dropped off from that; and second, we already played them. So we’re treading new water. For the first time, a group of kids is going to play the same group of kids again.”So, he says, the edge has been taken off the rivalry.'”It’s not the same feeling,” he says. “We’re hoping that next week, when we get into all the pomp and circumstance – the pep rallies, the dinners – the kids will start sensing how important this is to people.”In the end, though, he’s confident his team will rise to this unique challenge.”We really have a resilient group of kids,” he said. “We took off until Wednesday (following last Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Tewksbury), just so they could recoup.”Now,” he says, “It’s time to remind them of last year (a defeat at the hands of the Big Blue). That’s still an open wound for me, losing that game, and how we underperformed. It just reinforced that anything’s possible.”Rudloff won’t easily forget last year. Coming into the game, the Magicians had the better record. But the Big Blue were ready for them.”It just shows that on Thanksgiving it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to take anything at all away from their players, but their biggest weapon was their coach (Steve Dembowski). He can find a way. And his team performed brilliantly. That’s how it goes.”The thought of Dembowski having coached against his team once already this year – even though Marblehead won the game easily – may make Rudloff nervous, but he can always look to the players he brings to the table to give him some relief.Coming into the season, the Magicians had four returning varsity starters – all receivers. Everything else was up in the air. Running back Brooks Tyrrell had played, but not started. Quarterback Matt Millett hurt himself playing lacrosse in the spring of 2012, and by the time he was ready to come back, Ian Maag had solidified his grip on the job.”Brooks has been great,” says Rudloff. “He seems to get those extra two or three yards on every run. And he’s a rugged kid who can dole out punishment to people who would normally be doling out the punishment. You’re going to pay a price for hitting him.”Millet ended up as an all-conference quarterback this season (as was Tyrrell at tailback).”You add that to four experienced receivers, and it makes us hard to defend. If they start bringing the safeties up, he can hit any one of those guys. And if the defense opens up the box a little, Brooks can make them pay.”Our balance makes everyone on the team a little better,” he says.The receivers are Brian Daly (leading receiver in the Northeastern Conference), co-captains Jeremy Gillis and Dylan Cressy, and junior Will Millett, Matt’s brother.”Matt can throw the ball to the perimeter to stretch defense out, and then they can all go vertical too. It really helps our running game.”The Magicians opened the season by piling up the points on its opposition, and that surprised Rudloff.”I knew we had the talent, but at the same time, no one wants to go into a season with question marks at quarterback and running back. We knew they had it in them, but for them to actually do it as well as they did … it was a bit of a surprise.”We had some kids really step up tremendously, like Will Millett and Spencer Craig (at linebacker). We also had Ben Anderson step up too.Their biggest problem, said Rudloff, “was learning how to keep their feet on the gas.”In both the Classical and Gloucester games (both wins), the Magicians jumped out to huge leads but had to sweat a little down the stretch.”Sometimes,” h