Everything is bouncing the right way for the Marblehead High boys soccer team (8-2) to extend its winning streak to five games after securing three more victories against Gloucester (2-0, Oct. 5), Masco (1-0, Oct. 7) and non-league Everett (4-3, Oct. 9). The game against the Crimson Tide was a back-and-forth shootout, before the home team Magicians pulled it out.
Prior to the Everett game, these Magicians were seeded 28th, according to the MIAA Division 2 power rankings as of Oct. 9. There are 61 teams in this division statewide. Oliver Ames (10-0-1), Wayland (7-1), Northampton (10-0-1), Reading (5-1-1) and Marshfield (10-0-1) are currently the top five clubs.
After the Gloucester game, Marblehead coach Elmer Magana reiterated an often used saying, and those words “all in the family” truly applied to both teams, because Gloucester’s coach Armando Marnoto is Magana’s brother-in-law.
Magana said that the winner of the “Gloucester Derby” every year has the “bragging rights around the Thanksgiving Day table.” And this year, they belong to Magana after his Marblehead boys shut down Marnota’s Fishermen.
The visitors came away victorious, despite “battling wicked strong ocean winds and a stingy, gritty Gloucester defense,” Magana said.
Captain Erik Badzak scored Marblehead’s first half goal after a corner kick by Quinn Cohane.
In the second half, while Gloucester was pressing, striker David Magen split the center backs on a breakaway to score the all-important insurance tally.
Cohane, an outside winger, played a great game, according to Magana, while also assisting on both markers.
Goalie Andrew Halvorson made two pivotal saves to secure the shutout at the other end of the pitch.
But by game’s end, “neither wicked ocean winds nor family ties could stop the Magicians from coming out on top,” said Magana, who then added that he might have more than just bragging rights around the Thanksgiving Day table next month, he might also even get a drumstick.
Next up after this friendly game of Family Feud, Magana told his team that it was time to move on to “Chief Masconomet’s Kingdom in Boxford,” where it turned into another instant classic between the Magicians and the Chieftains.
“Both teams locked horns throughout almost the entire game,” said Magana, “but with five minutes to go on the clock Quinn (Cohane) battled through a tunnel of four Chieftains, who tried to kick and push him off the ball to no avail. As a result, they ended up seeing him fire a shot to the top left side of the net to give us the win.”
Magana knew that Masco’s strength is its center midfield attack, and so he had his club utilize a different formation to neutralize it.
Halvorson then did his part in net once again by making multiple saves in the clutch to keep his teammates in front. He also had defensive help from Mitchell Goldwater, Noah Smerka, Judah Spell and Jay Diggings. They too frustrated the Masco forwards.
Magana singled out center midfielder Charlie Phenix for his “monster game covering Masco’s top center midfielder one on one.” The coach also mentioned that striker David Magen kept the Masco defense on alert by constantly running all over the pitch.
“I’m extremely proud of the Herculean effort that we turned in to defeat the Chieftains,” said Magana. “They found an extra gear to keep on battling until the final second of the game.”
As a significant sidenote to this game, Marblehead is now the first boys soccer team to beat Masco three times since they came into the Northeastern Conference in 2020.
Following the close encounter in Boxford, the Magicians returned home to face Greater Boston League foe Everett last Friday night, and as it turned out, it sure wasn’t easy.
“After playing two physically demanding away games at Gloucester and Masco, we hosted Division 1 Everett, whose record and power ranking didn’t reflect just how good they are,” said Magana.
The Marblehead boys scored the first goal of the game right away in the first minute on a shot by Magen. But after that, Everett picked up some momentum to score the equalizer, before netting the go-ahead goal in the 50th minute. But Magen tied it up at two five minutes later.
Captain Mark Vinokur followed that up with a goal of his own on a free kick to the top right corner of the net to break the tie. Phenix was then credited with the necessary insurance marker from Magen, because as it turned out Everett wasn’t giving up the fight. They eventually scored with five minutes to go in the game to trim the deficit to just one.
Magen was Magana’s Player of the Match for his constant hustle, once again. “{Magen} emptied his tank pressuring the (Everett) defense, despite getting kicked and elbowed (all over the place). But he still found the will to score twice, while also assisting on Phenix’s goal,” Magana said.
Halvorson came up with the needed saves in net to preserve another win.
After this game, Magana specifically mentioned the efforts of Badzak, Spell, Goldwater, Smerka and Digging that secured win No. 8 at the halfway point of the season.
Magana also said that Nate Bentley was the team’s unsung hero after coming in twice for Goldwater, who kept on “getting chopped” by the Crimson Tide defense. “Nate held his ground to give Goldwater time to recuperate,” the coach added. “Gloucester and Masco gave us their best punch, and so did Everett, but in the end, we won all three games.”
Following the Everett tilt, Magana’s assistant Tom Roundy said it best: “Championship-caliber teams find a way to win, and that’s what we did (in this game).”
