Marblehead (0-3) is still searching for its first win after a hard-fought battle with North Andover (2-0) that ended with a final score of 22-7 in favor of the visiting Knights.
Defense dominated early at Piper Field Friday night, as every first quarter possession ended with a punt. North Andover looked poised to find the end zone on its opening possession of the second quarter in which they drove to a first-and-goal at the Magicians’ 8-yard line. However, a high snap over the head of quarterback Drew Fitzgerald resulted in a 19-yard loss.
The Knights eventually settled for a field goal and took a 3-0 lead. The Magicians answered with a 68-yard touchdown drive, mainly due to the right arm of quarterback Colt Wales. Wales completed a clutch pass on fourth-and-7 to Rylan Golden to keep the drive alive deep in North Andover territory.
The very next play, Wales found Ryan Commoss in the left corner of the end zone with less than a minute to go in the half for the game’s first touchdown. The Magicians took their newfound 7-3 lead into the locker room.
However, that would be the only score Marblehead would celebrate as the second half was dominated by the Knights. They regained the lead on the opening drive of the second half, highlighted by a 28-yard rush by running back Zach Wolinski.
Wolinski, alongside fellow running back Michael McNaught, combined for more than 100 scrimmage yards in the second half to propel their team to victory, including an eventual 52-yard screen pass to Wolinski on fourth down that set up a McNaught touchdown run to give North Andover a two-possession lead. The Knights put the contest on ice with a fourth quarter touchdown pass from Fitzgerald to tight end Jake Saalfrank.
Meanwhile, Marblehead’s offense failed to get anything going and was shut out for the final 24 minutes. Magicians’ head coach Jim Rudloff lent his thoughts on his team’s inability to slow down its opponent’s rushing attack in the second half.
“I think what’s disappointing is that we really looked bad against the jet sweep play and our kids just weren’t coming up, taking on blocks, and forcing the play,” he said.
He noted that the absence of team captains Christian Pacheco and Andy Palmer only added to Marblehead’s current uphill battle, but regardless, took the majority of responsibility for Marblehead’s 0-3 start.
“You’re looking just to see, at least, if we took a step forward,” Rudloff said. “And we didn’t. We really didn’t. We might have even taken a step backwards. I take responsibility for that. If the kids can’t get better, then there’s something wrong with the coaching… we’re very disappointed in where we are right now and the way we’ve looked.”
The Magicians try to right the ship on the road this Friday at Peabody (7 p.m.).