NORTH ANDOVER — Marblehead High delivered the first real shot to the chin for North Andover this season. The Knight response was not exactly when coach John Dubzinski had hoped for.
“We said this was going to be the best team on our schedule to this point, and they were as advertised,” said Dubzinski. “They hit. They’re a great team. We saw that tonight.”
The Magicians put up a 17-0 lead before North Andover could manage a first down on their way to a 37-6 win here at Walsh Stadium before a full house on Friday night.
North Andover, which had hung 40-plus points on the board in its first two wins, 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 Finn Gallup and Colt Wales, had its way.
The Magicians moved 64 yards on 11 plays for their first score, a four-yard TD five by Brady Selvais.
Finbar Bresnahan added to the margin with a 20-yard, chip-shot field goal early in the second, before Gallup hit 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 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, Gallup and Yandel Garcia 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.”
Now 2-1, the Knights open their Merrimack Valley Conference campaign on Friday night at Chelmsford.
Marblehead 37, North Andover 6
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
M – Brady Selvais 4 run (Finbar Bresnahan kick)
Second Quarter
M – Bresnahan 20 field goal
M – Rylan Golden 10 pass from Finn Gallup (Bresnahan kick)
Third Quarter
NA – Jeff LaVolpicelo 18 pass from Billy Vincent (kick blocked
M – Bernardo Bannis 6 run (Bresnahan kick)
Fourth Quarter
M – Gallup 21 run (Bresnahan kick)
M – Yandel Garcia 10 run (kick blocked)
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Rushing: M – Selvais 6-11, Gallup 9-57, Golden 1-7, Crew Monaco 1-(-2), Colt Wales 6-35, Bannis 1-6; NA – Vincent 14-52, Ben Iglesias 14-34, LaVolpicelo 2-2
Passing: M – Gallup 5-6, 101, 1 TD; Wales 2-4, 49; NA – Vincent 2-8-1, 34, 1 TD
Receiving: M – Monaco 3-84, Golden 3-62, Selvais 1-4; NA – LaVolpicelo 1-18, Iglesias 1-6