PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Marblehead’s Andy Clough (#13) and Aidan Gillis (#52) have their sights set on bringing down Swampscott’s Isaiah Bascon.
By SCOT COOPER
SWAMPSCOTT — Big Blue coach Bob Serino is 0-2 on Thanksgiving since taking over the reins from Steve Dembowski in Swampscott. The coach said that his team and coaches needed to get much better after losing 51-0 to Marblehead last Thanksgiving.
The team did improve in some areas this season, and Serino said he was very proud of the way his team competed for four quarters Thursday morning in a 27-6 loss to the Magicians. The Swampscott coach said his team needs to do more things better next fall, including adding more team speed, like Marblehead has up and down its lineup.
“You look at Marblehead, they’re so quick, they come out fast and keep going,” Serino said. “They are a really great team, and we want to get on their level, so we have work to do. Our guys played hard and battled, but like I said, we have work to do.”
Photo gallery: Swampscott vs. Marblehead 2016 Thanksgiving football game
Marblehead’s Jim Rudloff has watched his team go unbeaten in the regular season, with a Super Bowl game coming up next weekend. Rudloff said before the season started that he was sick of “being the Buffalo Bills” and not getting where his team wanted to be.
“We’re happy where we are, we have a very big game coming up, Swampscott pushed us so we had to work hard in this one,” Rudloff said. “We’re a little banged up because it was a tough game, it was a nice win by our team today.”
For the Marblehead players, they were determined to do what they did all season: take it one game at a time. Magicians’ quarterback Drew Gally and one of his favorite targets, co-captain Manning Sears, said the Magicians were focused on beating Swampscott before they started getting ready to play Falmouth in the Super Bowl.
“This game was incredibly important. Every game is important for us, no matter who we play or when,” Gally said. “The Thanksgiving games with Swampscott mean a ton to everybody, and we wanted to play well today before we start to get ready for next week.”
Gally said that this week is going to business as usual as the Magicians prepare for the big game and a chance to run the table and go 12-0 for the season.
“We’re excited for this week. We’re obviously going to be practicing as hard as we can, we might get a day off, but we need a great week of practice to get ready for next week,” Gally said.
Sears said the team wanted to get a quick start, get a lead and then get the starters out of the ballgame.
“We have a big game coming up at Gillette, so we really wanted a quick start to get some points on the board, get ahead and take the starters out at the half,” Sears said. “We got the job done and we were able to win the game.”
Sears said he and the rest of the squad were 100% committed to winning their fourth straight Thanksgiving game against the Big Blue.
“You grow up watching the Thanksgiving game, this game is one of the reasons that we all play football. Swampscott-Marblehead is one of the best rivalries in the state, it’s great to play in this game,” Sears said. “We love beating those guys, we were focused on beating those guys, and we’re pretty excited to get ready for the Super Bowl.”
Swampscott has not won on the holiday since 2012, when coach Serino’s son, Robert, was playing for the Big Blue. Bob Serino now has Robert by his side as one of his assistant coaches.
There were some family ties on the Magicians side as well. Marblehead running back Drew Bisegna and receivers Justin Faia and Derek Marino all contributed to the Magicians’ win Thursday morning, and all three of their fathers went to Swampscott High School.
With his season concluded at 4-7, Bob Serino said that he’d be a Marblehead backer next Saturday.
“They have a great team, they do so many things well, and I’ll be rooting for them in the Super Bowl,” the Big Blue coach said.