Summer is over on Aug. 15 for high school football players, because it’s on this date that they report to their coaches for the first official day of practice. But in reality, these prospective candidates for varsity jobs actually begin working out all over again in the weightroom weeks after Thanksgiving. They are no different than any other high school athlete. It’s a 12-month commitment if they want to succeed beyond the regular season.
The football Magicians are still hard at work. Summer is just another season for them. They are involved in 7-v-7 tournaments and leagues, and camps to hone their skills for the aforementioned start of practice, where they will be reunited with coach Jim Rudloff.
The Marblehead boys have been getting in that winning frame of mind. They were the best team in the Merrimack College 7-v-7 tournament, going undefeated with a 7-0 record, including beating Tewksbury by one point in the semifinals to setup the overtime win over Melrose to bring home the championship trophy. Before those playoff wins, they also defeated Andover, Woburn, East Longmeadow, Wakefield and Lowell on the North Andover campus.
Senior Finn Gallup had been splitting time at quarterback the last two years with Colt Wales, but with Colt heading to Union College in the fall to continue his football career on the next level, he is looking forward to taking over the Marblehead starting job. He likes what he’s seeing so far this summer.
“It felt like we scored on almost every possession in the Merrimack tournament,” said Finn. “We have a lot of weapons on that side of the ball that are starting to click together.”
Gallup singled out the offensive contributions of Rylan Golden, Madden Lyons, Owen Coyne, Timmy Wales and Noah Wilson after the Merrimack tournament. “All these guys are really starting to understand the offense, but we are still waiting on some other guys to return from being away or who are currently recovering from injuries,” said Gallup.
Finn mentioned that it might take the defense time to get going, because they are pretty young, but overall, the day at Merrimack College was “great,” but he also admitted that “there’s still tons of work to be done before practice starts in mid-August.”
The Magicians also took part in another tournament at Boston College, where they defeated Nobles, Duxbury and Watertown, before losing to Masco in the playoffs. “That was a bad one,” Gallup said.
The football Magicians are scheduled to head to Maine on July 12 to play in the Northeast 7-v-7 one-day tournament. Gallup says they are aiming to come out on top in the North Division for an opportunity to win another championship. They will then return home to host a 7-v-7 league at Piper Field for three weeks. Rival Swampscott and the Lynn schools are among the teams participating in it. Between these organized scrimmages, they will be attending the Ben Martin Camp among others to pick up other nuances of the game. Martin, a Marblehead native and St. John’s Prep alumnus, was an assistant offensive line coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, and is now the head coach at the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut.
Gallup is confident that he can assume the responsibilities of a full-time starting quarterback this fall. “Splitting my sophomore and junior years at quarterback with Colt was great and very effective,” he said. “But I’m definitely ready to lead this team. Playing beside Colt was awesome, and I think I learned a lot from him and the rest of last year’s senior leaders.”
The Marblehead senior says being an underclassmen the last two years and taking a regular turn at quarterback provided him that experience to gain the necessary confidence to take over the position this year. “It’s a great responsibility to be the starting quarterback on this team, and I feel like I’m more than ready for it right now,” Finn added. “But we as a team just have to keep on learning how to play Marblehead football (this summer), and great things will happen in the fall.”
But that’s what the summer is all about, so that when they start up in September, they will be in midseason form.
