NORTH ANDOVER — The initial state football power rankings of the 2024 season came out at the absolute worst time possible for North Andover High School … Friday morning.
Marblehead’s footballers had the day — and a long, traffic-laden bus ride — to marinate over the fact that the 2-0 Knights were the top rated team in Division 2.
“They’re the best team in D-2, and we just proved who we are. And we’re going to keep working,” said Magicians junior quarterback Finn Gallup. “Bodie Smith, our captain, said that this is the best opportunity we have. We came to their crib, and we showed them what we’ve got.
“It’s huge, the biggest (win). Our coach (Jim Rudloff) just said it’s the biggest since the (2021) Super Bowl. This is a real statement win for us.”
The Magicians put up a 17-point lead before North Andover could manage a first down on their way to a 37-6 win at Walsh Stadium before a full house.
North Andover, which had hung 40-plus points on the board in its first two wins (including last Saturday at Beverly), falls to 2-1 on the year after managing just 23 yards on 12 first half offensive snaps.
Meanwhile, Marblehead, which alternated series at quarterback with Gallup and senior captain Colt Wales, had its way. The Magicians moved 64 yards on 11 plays for their first score, a 5-yard TD five by another captain, Brady Selvais.
Finbar Bresnahan added to the margin with a 20-yard chip-shot field goal early in the second, before Gallup hit wideout Rylan Golden for a 10-yard TD to make it 17-0. That touchdown was set up by Cam Quigley’s blazing 48-yard punt return to the Knights’ 14.
North Andover showed its heart coming out of halftime, taking the opening kick of the third and moving 80 yards on 13 plays to slice the margin to 17-6 on a Billy Vincent to Jeff LaVolpicelo 18-yard TD hookup.
Marblehead would have none of it, rolling off 20 unanswered to put the Knights away.
“If we’re down 17, it’s tough to come back quickly with the type of offense we have,” said North Andover coach John Dubzinski, whose kids chewed up nearly eight minutes with the TD drive. “Give the kids credit for coming back in the second half in the third quarter, putting the score in, but special teams killed us and we couldn’t get that stop when we needed it. It was just that perfect storm. They played well. We just didn’t.”
Bernardo Bannis (9 yards), Gallup (21) and Yandel Garcia (15) had second half touchdown runs for the Magicians, who outgained North Andover, 314-122, in the contest.
“Obviously, they were much better than us. They beat us up, up front,” said Dubzinski. “They controlled the line of scrimmage. They ran the ball effectively. We couldn’t run the ball effectively.”
Marblehead 37, North Andover 6
at Hayes Stadium, North Andover
Marblehead (2-2);7;10;7;13;37
North Andover (2-1);0;0;0;0;6
Scoring summary
M — Brady Selvais 5 run (Finn Bresnahan kick)
M — Bresnahan 20 field goal
M — Rylan Golden 10 pass from Finn Gallup (Bresnahan kick)
NA — Jeff LaVolpicelo 4 pass from Billy Vincent (kick blocked)
M — Bernardo Bannis 9 run (Bresnahan kick)
M — Gallup 21 run (Bresnahan kick)
M — Yandel Garcia 15 run (kick failed)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Marblehead — Finn Gallup 9-58, Yandel Garcia 6-50, Colt Wales 6-35, Brady Selvais 6-12, Bernardo Bannis 1-9, Rylan Golden 1-7, Crew Monaco 1-(-2); North Andover — Billy Vincent 14-52, Ben Iglesias 14-34, Jeff LaVolpicelo 2-2.
PASSING: Marblehead — Gallup 5-6-105-1-0, Wales 2-4-49-0-0; North Andover — Vincent 2-8-34-1-1.
RECEIVING: Marblehead — Monaco 3-84, Golden 3-66, Selvais 1-4; North Andover — LaVolpicelo 1-18, Iglesias 1-6.