WESTON — The Marblehead football team got off to a strong start in Saturday’s non-playoff game. However, host Wayland finished strong and cruised to a victory.
The Magicians, who fell to Super Bowl-bound Melrose in the Division 4 North semifinal, scored touchdowns in the first two quarters before allowing the last four unanswered and suffering a 28-14 loss.
“We thought we had a good game plan going in and the kids played hard in the first half, executing what we saw from them on film,” Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. “We committed a lot of penalties and really just couldn’t do anything right in the second half on both sides of the ball.”
Marblehead did not score on its first two possessions, but freshman Connor Cronin intercepted Mason Bolivar’s pass over the middle to set up the opening score. Four plays later, with less than a minute to play in the first quarter, the Magicians took a 7-0 lead on Joshua Robertson’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Brady Lavender and Eli Feingold’s ensuing PAT.
On the flip side, Marblehead’s defense was stout in the first half, forcing Wayland off the field in three downs in back-to-back series.
“It was good to see us getting different guys involved, but from our first game we have eight starters out,” Rudloff said. “We’re down to a lot of sophomores, and we had a freshman (Cronin) start and play the whole game at free safety. We’ve never had that before, but he did a great job.”
A 12-yard pass to Tim Cronin, Connor’s senior brother, helped double the Marblehead lead with 5:02 left in the second quarter. However, two illegal Marblehead illegal blocks and a blocked punt set the Warriors up with prime field position before the end of the half, and Jaison Tucker scored from two yards out before Harrison Kiesman’s kick made the score 14-7.
A blocked punt on Wayland’s second series of the third quarter did not turn into points, but the Warriors were able to tie the game on Nickolas Dresens’ 26-yard fumble recovery.
In the fourth quarter, Bolivar’s 1-yard keeper on fourth down and the following PAT gave Wayland the lead with five minutes to play before another blocked punt set up Tucker’s 8-yard touchdown a minute later.
“It looked like our kids just stopped playing hard in the second half, and you could sense that on the sideline,” Rudloff said. “I don’t know if they’re tired because it’s been a long season and it was a long trip, but it was disappointing as a head coach because you’re going to have to handle those things if you want to be a good team.”
Following the loss, the Magicians will look to recover for their annual Thanksgiving clash with archrival Swampscott.
