FOXBOROUGH — The monkey is finally off the back of the Marblehead football team.
Behind a pair of unbelievable performances by the duo of senior Joshua Robertson and junior Connor Cronin, the No. 1 Magicians finished off a perfect season by taking down No. 3 North Attleborough, 35-28, to win the Division 3 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium Thursday evening — the first Super Bowl win in the program’s history.
“This has been 10 years in the making, and it’s an incredible day for all of the people who have helped this team over the years,” said Marblehead head coach Jim Rudloff, who coached the Magicians in their Super Bowl losses in 2009 and 2016. “The amount of fight and determination in these guys, from the top guys on the roster to the very bottom and the entire coaching staff, is hard to fathom.”
Cronin — who was the Magicians’ waterboy during the 2016 season — was by far the star of the game, hauling in 10 receptions for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Robertson completed 14-of-18 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for a touchdown. Senior running back George Percy totaled 79 yards from scrimmage and added a receiving touchdown.
The Marblehead offense was clicking from the very first snap, as the Magicians moved the ball methodically down the field on the opening drive. But after moving down to the five-yard line, the drive stalled out and Marblehead turned the ball over on downs.
After forcing a North Attleborough punt, Marblehead got the ball back and started moving it again. After a few strong passing plays got the Magicians back inside the five-yard line, a bad snap pushed them back and stalled the drive again. But an encroachment penalty by the Rocketeers shortened up the fourth-down attempt, and Marblehead went for it.
The Magicians didn’t let the opportunity slip by this time, as Robertson threw up a goal-line fade for Cronin and the senior running back came down with the ball to make it a 7-0 game.
But North Attleborough answered right back. The Rocketeers opened up the field with the passing game to move into the red zone, then reverted back to the power football they’re known for. After senior Tyler DeMattio rumbled for a six-yard touchdown, the score was tied at 7-7 midway through the second quarter.
North Attleborough then forced a Marblehead punt and capitalized, getting another touchdown from DeMattio to take a 14-7 lead with 42 seconds left in the first half.
But, just as was the case on Thanksgiving Day against Swampscott, there was just enough time on the clock for the Magicians.
After a couple of short gains wound the clock down further, Robertson and Cronin made a big move. Robertson dropped back, avoided two rushers by stepping up in the pocket and launched a deep pass down the seam. Cronin, who was covered by two defenders, somehow came down with an acrobatic catch and then stayed on his feet long enough to find the end zone and tie the score at 14-14 at the halftime break.
That momentum continued right into the start of the second half, as the Magicians got an interception from Liam McIlroy on the opening drive and turned around one play later to score. This time, Robertson hit Percy on a quick screen pass and Percy raced 20 yards for the score.
But it didn’t end there, as the Magicians forced a punt and got the ball right back. After James Galante’s big punt return set Marblehead up in the red zone, Robertson finished things off by rushing for an eight-yard score to make it 28-14 with 7:55 to play in the third quarter.
North Attleborough responded with a touchdown run from Tyler Bannon, and then the Rocketeers forced a Marblehead fumble early in the fourth quarter to take back even more momentum. Several plays later, DeMattio made the Magicians pay by rushing in a four-yard touchdown to tie the score at 28-28 with 4:20 to play.
But that only set up the last-minute heroics for Marblehead.
With little more than two minutes left in the game, Robertson hit Cronin on a quick screen pass. Cronin broke a tackle and turned on the jets, racing 83 yards to score the go-ahead touchdown that would be the difference for the Magicians.
“We ran that play a few times during the game and (North Attleborough) covered it really well, so we didn’t think it would be available for us,” said Rudloff. “But give credit to everyone on that play, from Josh to Connor to Shane Keough, who threw the big block that sprung him. It was a true team effort there.”
Marblehead closes out the season at 12-0 and currently has the longest winning streak in the state at 20 games in a row.
And once they crossed into Marblehead on the way back to the high school on Thursday night, the Magicians were escorted through town by an orchestra of sirens and lights from the Marblehead firefighters and policemen.
