The Marblehead High football Magicians beat the Medway Mustangs under the lights at Piper Field Friday, 26-0.
The Current spoke with MHS coach Jim Rudloff right after the game.
“I’m super happy for the guys,” said Marblehead head coach Jim Rudloff following the win. “The kids really performed outstanding tonight. The communication was terrific, the way the kids looked out for each other. I think offensively we made some mistakes, but both quarterbacks did a nice job tonight. It’s just a good win for the program going into next week.”
Marblehead quarterback Marcus Waitekus flipped the field on the game’s first play, firing a strike to wide receiver Tim Wales for a 26-yard gain to put the Magicians deep in enemy territory to start the game. After the stellar start, Marblehead’s opening drive would stall out in no-man’s land at the 22-yard line. The coaching staff made a quick decision to put the drive on the left foot of kicker Finbar Bresnahan, who knocked through a 39-yard field goal to put the Magicians up 3-0 early.
The Magicians would go back on offense after being pinned back to their own nine-yard line off of a stellar Medway punt. What could have been a 91-yard test of endurance turned into a drag race when senior back Vidal Clark found burst through a hole on the left side of the line to open grass, sprinting 70 yards to the house to put Marblehead up 9-0 with 3:32 to go in the first period.
After forcing another punt, the Marblehead offense pushed deep into Medway territory before stalling out just four yards from paydirt. Coach Rudloff again sent Bresnahan out to salvage the drive and the senior delivered, hitting a 22-yarder from the right hash to give the Magicians a 12-0 lead with three minutes remaining in the half.
Bresnahan would, again, come up big for Marblehead, kicking his third touchback on three kickoffs in the first half, pinning the Mustangs back to their own 20-yard line for what would be their final drive of the half.
Medway went quickly, entering the redzone with over a minute to play, but would be forced into a decision on fourth down with goal-to-go. The Mustangs elected to go for six from the Magician 14-yard line, but had their pass knocked down by the combined efforts of Annese and Brandon Jaquez to force a turnover on downs that would see the half to its conclusion.
Medway took the ball into enemy territory on their opening drive, but saw their hopes dashed when junior defensive back Trent Brown picked off Mason Webb’s pass and ran it back over 70 yards to the Mustang two-yard line. Quarterback Sawyer Adams did his best Josh Allen impression, carrying multiple would-be tacklers with him as he punched the ball over the line for another Marblehead score.
The Marblehead defense came up big again on the ensuing Medway possession, forcing and recovering a fumble at the Mustang 24-yard line. Rudloff rightly chose an aggressive playcall on the following down, allowing Waitekus to rip a deep ball to the back of the endzone into the mitts of James Machado to give the Magicians a 26-0 lead after the successful Bresnahan try.
The hosts took the ball one last time after the teams traded punts, but chose not to run up the score and kneel the final seconds out to seal their first win of the 2026 campaign with a 26-point shutout of Medfield.
Marblehead’s record now stands at 1-1 following their week-two triumph. The Magicians will move on to play the reigning MIAA Division 4 Champion Scituate Sailors (1-1) on the road Friday night. Kickoff at Caito Field is scheduled for 7 p.m.
