The Magicians continued their unbeaten run in dominant fashion, beating the North Andover Scarlet Knights, 48-0, at Piper Field Saturday, Sept. 26.
“We needed this so badly,” said Head Coach Jim Rudloff after the game. “We haven’t executed a full game yet, we either had a bad first half or second half, so tonight I’m more pleased than anything that a great week in practice translated into everyone doing well tonight.”
After grinding to a scoreless first quarter, Marblehead put the first points on the board by way of a 16-yard Finn Gallup run to put the hosts up 7-0.
After the Marblehead defense forced North Andover to go three-and-out, the Magicians struck again on their first play from scrimmage when Gallup found Tim Wales along the sideline. The junior juked out three Scarlet Knights on his way to a 52-yard touchdown reception. Finbar Bresnahan’s kick made the score 14-0 Marblehead with 6:25 to play in the second quarter.
AYS IN MARBLEHEAD
Gallup continued to shred the North Andover secondary through the air as his receiving corps picked up five 20-plus-yard receptions in the first half. The last of Marblehead’s explosive first half plays was made while Gallup fought through contact to get the ball to a wide open Rylan Golden in the back of the endzone to give Marblehead a 21-0 lead heading to the break.
Not to be outdone, the Magician defense made some big plays of their own, collecting three sacks in the first half.
The ‘Headers continued to pour on the coal after the halftime intermission, scoring just four plays into their first possession. A strike by Gallup to Owen Coyne seemed to catch the North Andover defense unaware, allowing the junior to run unimpeded 46-yards to the end zone, upping the lead to 28.
After regaining possession on a fourth down stop, the Magicians elected to begin distributing the ball to new ball carriers. Vidal Clark got his first two touches of the year on back-to-back plays, scoring from 14-yards on the latter carry to give Marblehead a 35-point advantage.
Breydan Callahan would join in on the scoring bonanza late in the third quarter, scoring from 25 yards. The 42-0 Marblehead lead forced the game clock to continue to wind for the final 90 seconds of the third quarter and, ultimately, the entirety of the final term.
Sophomore quarterback Marcus Waitekus entered in relief of Gallup to start the fourth quarter, leading his first full drive of the season. The drive stayed on the ground for its entirety, concluding with a one-yard plunge from Armany Villar for his first score of the season to put the final tallies on the board.
With the 48-0 victory, the Magicians wrapped up a strong first half of the season and headed into the bye-week undefeated.
“We just saw, for the first time, that hard work pays off,” said Coach Rudloff. “We want to make sure that the kids are on point all week long during the bye week.”
The 4-0 Magicians will play next on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 11:00 a.m. against the Beverly Panthers in Beverly for their first Northeastern Conference matchup of the season.
