SWAMPSCOTT — It all came down to the final two seconds of the biggest game of the season Thursday morning, and after a 37-yard field goal by senior Eli Feingold, the Marblehead football team knocked off rival Swampscott by a score of 31-28 at Blocksidge Field.
With the win, Marblehead now leads the Turkey Day series 56-49-6.
“It was just an incredible, hard-fought game between both teams,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff. “Swampscott kept battling back all game long and it came down to the very last play. That’s all you can ask for.”
Magicians quarterback Joshua Robertson completed 17-of-25 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the win, while running back Connor Cronin had 101 total yards from scrimmage to go along with a touchdown. Receiver Craig Michalowski had six receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown, while running back George Percy rushed for two touchdowns.
For Swampscott, running back Xaviah Bascon had 101 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, with one of them coming on a punt return. Quarterback Cam O’Brien completed 6-of-10 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns, while receivers Cole Hamernick and Jason Codispoti each had a touchdown reception.
“Our seniors came out and played 44 minutes and left it all out there,” said Swampscott coach Bobby Serino. “Both teams came in here wanting to win this game more than anything, and both teams played like it.”
Swampscott got off to a solid start, forcing a three-and-out on defense to open the game before O’Brien connected with Codispoti on a 42-yard touchdown pass to make it 6-0.
But the Magicians answered right back, going on a 14-play drive that was capped off by a two-yard plunge from Percy. After the extra point, Marblehead was up 7-6.
What followed was a back-and-forth swing in momentum that you rarely see. After kicking off to Swampscott, Marblehead forced a fumble and recovered it in Big Blue territory. Six plays later, Percy punched his way into the end zone once again to make it 14-6 Magicians.
But as quickly as that happened, Swampscott answered.
On the ensuing kickoff, Bascon fielded the ball on a bounce, ran through a tackle and raced past everyone for a 73-yard return touchdown to make it 14-13.
But once again, Marblehead came right back down the field. This time it was Robertson and Michalowski who did most of the work, hooking up for a 40 yard gain before capping off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown connection to give the Magicians a 21-13 lead.
The scoring stalled out for the rest of the first half, and the two sides remained eight points apart at the halftime break.
Both teams struggled to move the ball for much of the second half, and after three quarters the score remained 21-20 in favor of Marblehead.
But then the Magicians took over on their own 20-yard line with 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter. They went on to put together a 15-play drive that took more than nine minutes off the game clock before Robertson connected with Cronin on a 14-yard touchdown pass to go up 28-20.
But Swampscott never backed down. After getting the ball back with 3 minutes to play, the Big Blue went on a six play drive — highlighted by a 50-yard connection between O’Brien and Hamernick — that was capped off with a two-yard touchdown run from Bascon with 45 seconds to play. After O’Brien and Hamernick hooked up once again for the two-point conversion, the score stood tied at 28-28.
That only set the stage for Feingold, as the Magicians got the ball back and quickly pushed the ball up the field. Robertson completed two passes and put together two runs to get the ball to the Swampscott 27-yard line with two seconds to play. From there it was Feingold’s game to win, and he didn’t miss.
Marblehead (11-0) moves on to the Division 3 Super Bowl against North Attleboro Thursday afternoon (3) at Gillette Stadium.
Swampscott (11-1) will take on North Reading in the Division 5 Super Bowl Wednesday night (8) at Gillette Stadium.
