PEABODY — With most expecting a massacre on the menu, a football game broke out Friday night at Coley Lee Field.
Unbeaten Marblehead found itself tied with winless Peabody in the third quarter, but cleaned up enough of its mistakes to score the last three touchdowns and pull away for a 35-14 victory.
“It was the classic trap game. We came here with no energy, couldn’t get anything going and really had to put our foot on the gas in the second half,” said Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff, whose team has now 13 straight regular season games.
“Give a ton of credit to Peabody. They may be a little down this year, but they fought like hell and they made this a good game.”
It was a one-point game at halftime with the visitors ahead, 7-6, before Marblehead (6-0) asserted itself with a ground-and-pound drive capped by the first of two Brayden Callahan touchdowns to stretch its lead.
Peabody’s emerging junior star, Mark Mendonca, delivered an electric 91-yard kick return to signal the battle was far from over. When senior Joaquim Chaves rushed in the 2-point try to tie the proceedings, 14-14, with 8:03 left in the third, it was game on.
“The way we answered Marblehead’s opening drive was so encouraging,” said Peabody (0-6) head coach Mark Bettencourt. “It felt like, ‘Here we go, here we come.'”
Instead, Marblehead’s defense took over.
The Magicians got an interception from Trent Brown and forced another punt (aided big-time by defensive lineman Jack Morin deflecting what looked like a wide open screen pass) while their offense built a multi-score lead thanks to big plays.
Senior quarterback Finn Gallup threw for 265 yards and made the Tanners pay deep down the field. He completed four passes longer than 30 yards: One a first half TD to Tim Wales, one a 56-yard bomb to Owen Coyne, and two to sophomore Madden Lyons, who had a breakout game with seven snags for 112 yards.
“When Finn escapes trouble, he always keeps his eyes downfield and that’s huge for us,” said Rudloff, whose signal caller converted third-and-long with impressive frequency. “Finn always gets the ball down the field — that’s one of his best traits.”
Callahan and Marblehead’s offensive line also ruled the roost in second half. He scored the go-ahead touchdown with 5:15 left in the third from nine yards out, and if rushing yards tell the story of game then this one largely belonged to the Magicians after they outrushed the Tanners, 250-20.
“A lot of it is broken tackles by Brayden, but I have to credit the offensive line for opening up holes,” said Rudloff. “We fed him the ball in the first half and those holes weren’t there. We couldn’t get anything going.”
Peabody’s defensive front was a big part of that as captain Matt Dresser had a monster game. Newcomer Jameson Cejour also had a whale of a game on the defensive line for the Tanners, along with senior Nate Ambrozavitch.
“We did a lot of good things, but you saw our lack of depth. We wore down,” said Bettencourt. “I wish I’d called a few timeouts in that stretch to give us a little bit of a breather on defense.”
Brown also made a circus catch in the near corner of the end zone for the game’s final touchdown on a third-and-long play with 4:42 to go.
Junior Andrew DellaCamera blocked Peabody’s final punt and it was recovered by junior Jacob Parisi. Sophomores James Machado and Quinn Maguire also made key tackles for Marblehead.
Two keys for the Magicians in the second half were cleaning up the turnovers and penalties. They lost the turnover battle, 2-0, in the first half and won it, 1-0, in the second while being flagged for six first half penalties and just one after the break.
“Some of our mistakes … we’re past the time for slapping your helmet and being like, ‘I can’t believe I did that.’ We have to get past the brain farts,” said Rudloff.
Mendonca intercepted Gallup on Marblehead’s first drive and the Tanners turned it into points for a 6-0 lead. Jack Smith had a big catch up the sidelines to set up Luke Maglione’s shovel pass to Cory Dooley for the score.
Peabody’s other turnover came when Gabe Casisno punched the ball loose as a Marblehader was running into the end zone, and Smith recovered for a touchback.
Marblehead 35, Loser 14
at Coley Lee Field, Peabody
Marblehead (6-0);0;7;14;14;35
Peabody (0-6);0;6;8;0;14
Scoring summary
P — Cory Dooley 3 pass from Luke Maglione (kick blocked)
M — Tim Wales 30 pass from Finn Gallup (Finbar Bresnahan kick)
M — Gallup 5 run (Bresnahan kick)
P — Mark Mendonca 91 kick return (Joaquim Chaves rush)
M — Breydan Callahan 9 run (Bresnahan kick)
M — Callahan 4 run (Bresnahan kick)
M — Trent Brown 13 pass from Gallup (Bresnahan kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Marblehead — Breydan Callahan 23-169, Finn Gallup 8-65, Vidal Clark 2-11, Madden Lyons 2-5; Peabody — Jaoquim Chaves 10-22, Yadiel Vallaneuva 1-4, Luke Maglione 2-2, Christ Jeune 1-(-8) .
PASSING: Marblehead — Gallup 16-22-265-2-1; Peabody — Maglione 12-21-77-1-1.
RECEIVING: Marblehead — Lyons 7-112, Owen Coyne 3-68, Trent Brown 4-43, Tim Wales 2-42; Peabody — Jack Smith 4-34, Cory Dooley 5-25, Mark Mendonca 1-12, Chaves 1-4, Brian Collins Dixon 1-2.