ITEM PHOTO | KATIE MORRISON
Marblehead’s Andy Clough takes a moment to collect himself after Saturday’s Division 2A Super Bowl loss to Falmouth.
By GORDON VINCENT
FOXBOROUGH — There are only a handful of high school football teams in the state better than Marblehead. Unfortunately, the Magicians ran into one of them in the Division 2A Super Bowl Saturday.
Gates Kelliher rushed for 95 yards and three touchdowns while Nick Couhig ran for one score and threw for another to lead Falmouth (13-0) to a convincing 34-13 win over Marblehead, at Gillette Stadium.
Drew Gally threw touchdown passes to Manning Sears and Derek Marino for the Magicians (11-1) who had never trailed at any point in the season coming into the game but never led against the Clippers. Falmouth executed its triple option offense to near perfection behind a gigantic offensive line.
“I thought they were bigger, faster, stronger and better than we were,” Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. “And they were ready to play from the opening kickoff, while we weren’t. I thought for whatever reason we came out tentative and cautious, which is something this team hasn’t been all year.”
Falmouth scored just 2:13 into the game, when Couhig threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jean Vasquez, who slipped behind a defender on a post pattern. The Magicians made it as far as the Clippers’ 34-yard line on their first drive, but Gally was stopped short of the first down marker when he tried a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Clippers doubled their lead when they scored on an 86-yard drive that included nine runs and one pass, a 33-yard completion to Trent Leachman that moved the ball to the Magicians’ 18. Three plays later, Couhig gained seven yards on fourth-and-2, and Kelliher scored on the next play, with 3:20 left in the first half.
“We don’t throw the ball a lot, but when we do we like to take deep shots,” Falmouth coach Derek Almeida said. “With our running game, we’ll try to draw the safeties up and then try to throw the ball over the top.”
Falmouth also scored on its first drive of the second half, an epic 95-yard drive after a good punt by Sam Paquette pinned the Clippers deep. Kelliher kept the march alive with a 6-yard run on fourth-and-1 from the Magicians’ 23, and one play later Couhig ran into the end zone that, with the extra point, gave the Clippers a 21-0 lead with 3:06 left in the third quarter.
“I thought that drive was huge for us,” Almeida said. “They seemed to come out of halftime with more emotion and that drive got the momentum back on our side.”
Marblehead answered quickly, with a 5-play, 59-yard scoring drive that lasted just 41 seconds. Gally found Sears for a 27-yard touchdown pass after two Falmouth defenders collided to make the score 21-6. Falmouth, however, came right back with a touchdown, as Kelliher ended a 65-yard, 11-play march with a 3-yard scoring run.
The Magicians responded again, with Gally completing five passes on a 69-yard drive that culminated with Marino’s 8-yard touchdown reception. Paquette’s extra point kick made the score 27-13, with 5:07 left.
Marblehead recovered the ensuing onside kick, but possession was nullified for an offside penalty on the Magicians and the Clippers fell on a subsequent onside kick attempt. One play later, Kelliher rumbled up the middle for a 42-yard touchdown that made the score 34-13 with 4:08 left and put the game away.
“It’s tough to take when you make it all this way and lose, but give (Falmouth) all the credit,” Rudloff said. “The better team won today.”