With an early season nor’easter bearing down on the Bay State, the Marblehead Magicians took a tough 42-21 road loss to the twice-defending champion Scituate Sailors on Friday night.
“We were outcoached, we were outplayed,” said Marblehead head coach Jim Rudloff post game. “We were taking really bad angles, we were out of place on a lot of plays, we were looking at the wrong things. We’ve got to do a better job coaching that up… play calling, calling the defense. Everything.”
Marblehead started the game on their heels, being pushed back 80 yards in just five plays by the Sailors’ vaunted running attack. Senior running back Grayson Foley carried the ball for 55 yards on his first four rushes before quarterback Tyler Stelljes found the end zone on a keeper around the left side of the line for a 25-yard score.
The Magicians started their opening drive strong with quarterback Sawyer Adams finding Madden Lyons for a 16-yard reception to put Marblehead in enemy territory early. The drive came up empty, however, with the ball changing hands on an unsuccessful fourth down conversion attempt.
After the sides traded punts, Scituate doubled their lead on the strength of a 43-yard Foley romp to the end zone in which he shrugged off three would-be tacklers to put the Sailors up 14-0 with just under three minutes to play in the first period. Scituate struck again after taking over on downs by way of a pass to a wide open receiver in the middle of the field for a 46-yard score.
After another unsuccessful Marblehead drive, Scituate seemed to have salted the game away early with a 77-yard sprint down the sideline by Foley, but the play was called back due to holding at the line to gain, setting up a second first-and-10 opportunity for the hosts.
With the score being wiped away, the Magicians got up off the mat and punished a second mental mistake by the Sailors when Trent Brown snagged Stelljes’ pass and returned it to the 15-yard line. A penalty would see the Magicians start at the opposing 30, but Scituate returned the favor with a personal foul of their own to put the Magicians back in the red zone.
Bailey Finkle made his first grab of the year on a pass to the goal line by Adams before being tackled just short of a score. Adams punched the ball in himself to make it a two score game midway through the second quarter.
Scituate would not need the ball for long, scoring on another lengthy run by Foley to give them a 28-7 lead that they would take into halftime.
Marblehead seemed to come out of the half significantly stronger. Under the direction of quarterback Marcus Waitekus, the Magicians stormed their way down the field with the help of a pair of spectacular catches by Trent Brown to put the Magicians in range of the goal line. Lyons found the end zone on a quick screen from Waitekus to cut the lead to 14 following a Finbar Bresnahan kick.
Foley found his way to the endzone twice before Marblehead could respond, first on a 20-yard rush then on a 49-yard jog to the endzone after catching a pass in space to put the Sailors up 42-14 with six minutes to play.
Sawyer Adams would give the Marblehead fans in attendance something to remember when he turned what could have been a reasonable five yard gain into a 23-yard journey as he broke away from no less than five Scituate tackles to send the Magicians back to the North Shore on a slightly more positive note.
With their 42-14 loss, Marblehead drops to 1-2 as Northeastern Conference play begins next week. The Magicians will play the second leg of a three-game road trip against the Danvers Falcons next Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
