Scot Cooper
Swampscott’s Mia Schena scored the first of her three touchdowns on her team’s first play from scrimmage to give the Big Blue a lead it would never relinquish, but Marblehead managing to make things interesting in the waning moments of the annual flag football matchup between senior girls from the two rival schools Saturday morning, Nov. 19, at Swampscott’s Blocksidge Field.
By late in the fourth quarter, Marblehead had battled back to make the score 21-13. Needing a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie, Marblehead got the ball deep into Swampscott territory, but time expired after a pass from Nev Koughan to Lucy Sabin inside the Big Blue 20.
Marblehead’s Stella Monaco thought her team was moving well, but the clock was not on the visitors’ side.
“I think time was our biggest enemy,” Monaco said. “We thought we could catch them and win it. It would have been tough because there are so many good athletes on Swampscott. We were playing well in the second half, but the clock was our enemy – our biggest enemy.
Monaco continued, “We needed to come out stronger in the first half than we did, but I thought everyone played really hard in the second half, but we just ran out of time.”
Marblehead’s offense came on two touchdowns by Sydney Langton and an extra point by Monaco. Langton also said they needed a better start, and it caught up to them late in the fourth quarter.
“If we came out stronger at the beginning, I think we could have taken them,” Langton said. “Our defense did a good job, but we needed to give ourselves a better chance to win.”
Marblehead coach Jacqueline Bouchard gave credit to all her girls and her coaching staff, which got every single player – 97 in all – into Saturday’s game but not the results she was hoping for.
“Swampscott played very well, but our offense and our defense also worked hard, and our coaches were able to get everyone in, so we’re happy with that, but not the (result),” the coach said. “It was close. We were right there. The girls got a good pep talk at halftime from the coaches, and they really picked it up in the second half.”
Bouchard added, “We were right there at the end. It was just a great game for everyone on our team.”