Marblehead extracts revenge on Swampscott

MARBLEHEAD – Revenge can be the best motivation sometimes. For the Marblehead girls flag football team, that was the fuel that lit the fire on Saturday morning at a chilly Piper Field in their annual meeting with rival Swampscott.The Magicians were determined to get their title back after losing in double overtime a year ago to the Big Blue and thanks to a dominating defensive effort and timely big plays, Marblehead rolled to a 27-7 win in front of a boisterous crowd.Marblehead held the Big Blue to only 193 yards of total offense, most of which came long after the outcome was in doubt. The Magicians also controlled the clock thanks to a ground game that pounded out 229 yards on 31 carries, led by 90 yards and a touchdown from Rachelle Casimir.”All we did was run,” Marblehead coach Jacqui Bouchard said. “All of our quarterbacks were really smart and they knew what we wanted to do. My girls won with heart and our defense was so strong.”For the Big Blue, it was a frustrating day at times as they struggled to put together sustained drives. They gained only 89 yards and two first downs in the opening half as Marblehead opened up a commanding 21-0 lead.”(Marblehead) had a great defensive team,” Swampscott coach Joe Tenney said. “Our defense did pretty well also. But they got a couple of big plays that really hurt us.”The tone for the day was set right out of the gate as Swampscott had to punt on its first possession. Marblehead got the ball at its 45 and needed only four plays to open the scoring as Shanice James swept around the left side and went 35 yards untouched on a third-and-five to give the Magicians a 7-0 lead after Faith Ferrucci’s extra point.Swampscott drove into Marblehead territory early in the second quarter but the Magicians came up with a defensive stand, stopping Sam Rizzo was on fourth-and-two at the 35 to turn the ball over on downs.On the next snap following a false start penalty, Casimir took a handoff from Emily Messinger and raced 71 yards up the right sideline to give her team a 14-0 lead with 10:00 left in the first half.Swampscott again had to punt on its next series and the Magicians looked ready to deliver a knockout blow when they drove into the red zone. But the Big Blue defense came up big and forced a turnover on downs with 1:02 left.Swampscott tried to get a quick strike before the break but three plays ended up in a loss of a yard and forced a punt with :30 left. Marblehead’s Carlyn McGrath fielded the kick at her 44, cut to the right and found a wall of blockers as she went 56 yards to the house to send Marblehead to the half with a 21-0 lead.”The girls were a little nervous at the beginning but the first big play really settled us down,” Bouchard said.In need of a lift, Swampscott got it at the start of the second half as they forced a punt that gave them the ball at the Magicians 24.The Big Blue drove inside the 10 on the hard running of Mackenzie Robertson and Abby Bucklin but the Marblehead defense rose up again and turned them away on downs. The Magicians offense then went about turning out the lights.McGrath and Mia Bongiorno did all the work on a brisk four play drive that covered 86 yards in a little under three minutes. McGrath capped the march with a 64 yard dash up the middle that gave her team a 27-0 lead with 1:39 left in the third.The Marblehead defense would thwart the Big Blue on their next two offensive series to put the game away. Emily Bray (6-105) would give Swampscott fans something to cheer about with 2:19 left to go when she raced 85 yards for a touchdown to close the scoring.”We came out and played well in the second half but you can’t be just a second half team,” Tenney said. “They kept fighting and that’s all I could ask for.”