At last, it’s time. The Marblehead High varsity football team returns to action Friday night for a season-opening date with Bishop Fenwick. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Peabody’s Donaldson Stadium.
The Magicians are captained by Colt Wales, Bodie Smith, Justin Gonzalez, Brady Selvais, and Crew Monaco. The group looks to avenge last season’s 14-10 home loss to Fenwick, also a Week 1 game.
Truth be told, that loss to the Crusaders sent the Magicians down a four-game losing streak (King Philip, North Andover, Peabody) to begin the season.
But, good programs respond. Marblehead rattled off four consecutive victories against Masconomet, Beverly, Danvers, and Middleborough to reach the Elite 8 of the MIAA Division 4 state tournament, where it fell to sixth-ranked Grafton.
Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff acknowledged the tough schedule for his program this fall.
“We have a loaded schedule this year, so we’re going to be up against it,” he said. “We have some tough teams we’re facing this season. We have a long way to go, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”
And when it comes to Friday night, the goal is simple: start fast.
“They have the experience of having that happen (starting season 0-4)… Hopefully, they learned they don’t want to be put in that position again. We need to change how we prepare and our focus to make sure we don’t get off to a start like that,” Rudloff said. “God forbid we have a similar start to last year, at least we know how we can dig ourselves out of it.”
It’s a new era for Fenwick, too, which can fight for a state championship once again after last season’s school-wide postseason ban.
“Right now, our goal is just to be ready to play Marblehead and work on getting better every day,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods. “All four of our captains (Brayden Clifford, Lincoln Dugan, Aiden Byrne, Dylan Patturelli) had key contributions last year, and some for multiple years, so they know what to expect on Friday nights and they know how to prepare for games.”