MARBLEHEAD — The No. 1 Marblehead football team continued its journey to the Division 3 Super Bowl, as it defeated No. 8 Masconomet Chieftains by a score of 21-7 Friday night at Piper Field.
For the majority of the first quarter, both defenses showed their skill. Both Marblehead and Masconomet had its first two drives end in three-and-outs. The Magicians’ defense came out on top, as senior Craig Michalowski picked off junior Masconomet quarterback Matt Richardson to seal the game with more than four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Marblehead head coach Jim Rudloff, while pleased with the win, wasn’t thrilled after the game.
“We saw in the first half our team looked OK,” he said. “We struggled in the first drive to get things going. Defensively in the first half we looked good and then something changed at halftime. Our guys literally had no heart. There was no desire. We were getting physically blown up. We were getting beaten on double teams. It was the worst game of football I’ve seen this team play all year.”
The Chieftains started their third drive of the game from their own nine-yard line after a fantastic punt from the Magicians They gained some yards on the ground courtesy of great field vision from junior quarterback Matt Richardson.
Still, Masconomet failed to gain any momentum and was forced to punt with more than two minutes left in the opening quarter. The Chieftains defense didn’t get any favors, as a poor punt had Marblehead start its ensuing drive on its opponent’s 45-yard line.
The Magicians drove down the field in under two minutes and senior quarterback Joshua Robertson ran into the end zone from seven yards out. The point-after attempt from senior Eli Feingold was good and Marblehead had a 7-0 lead with just over a minute left in the first quarter.
Masconomet’s offensive struggles continued as the offense was once again forced to punt with the Magicians regaining possession at their own 33-yard line with just under a minute left in the quarter. Marblehead maintained possession through the second quarter and senior George Percy burst his way into the end zone from the 3-yard line. With another successful PAT, the Magicians had a 14-0 lead.
The Magicians got on the board once more before the end of the half. Robertson launched a 47-yard touchdown pass to senior James Doody. The point after was good from Feingold and Marblehead had a 21-0 lead as both sides entered halftime.
In the third quarter, the game slowed down as Masconomet’s defense forced a turnover on downs and gained possession at its own 15-yard line. While the Chieftains were forced to punt, they finally found success after forcing another turnover on downs.
Masconomet drove 65 yards down the field and Richardson threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Tyler McMahon for the Chieftains lone score on Friday night. The point after attempt was good to make it 21-7 and Marblehead saw the rest of the game out to take the victory.
Robertson finished the night with 171 yards passing and completed 77 percent of his passes while racking up two total touchdowns.
Rudloff thought the offensive line could have given the quarterback more time to make plays, but there are still some adjustments that Robertson needs to make.
“I thought our offensive line played a poor game tonight so Josh was struggling to have time to execute some of the plays that he normally has time to do. He made a lot of good decisions,” Rudloff said before mentioning that Robertson knew when to throw the ball away. “He had a good game, but there’s still some things where we’re trying to do too much, but certainly Josh was not to blame for the way we played today.”
Marblehead will face No. 5 Westfield in the Division 3 semifinal round next Friday (TBD) at a neutral site.
