MARBLEHEAD — The Peabody football team rallied back from a 20-point deficit to Marblehead and had a chance to tie the game Saturday afternoon, but in the end a late interception by Marblehead’s Mark Paquette gave the Magicians a 20-13 victory in a Northeastern Conference battle at Piper Field.
Quarterback Shea Lynch completed 12-of-18 passes for 156 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his first varsity start under center, while receiver Brandon Pszenny had five receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Cam Cuzzi added 48 rushing yards in the loss.
For Marblehead, running back George Percy rushed for 130 yards and one touchdown in the win. Quarterback Josh Robertson completed 14-of-23 passes for 100 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 47 yards and one touchdown. Connor Cronin had 57 rushing yards and one receiving touchdown, while James Doody had four receptions for 68 yards.
Marblehead did all its scoring in the first half, jumping ahead in the first quarter on a three-yard touchdown run by Robertson to put the Magicians up 7-0. That score held until midway through the second, when Percy found the end zone on a three-yard run of his own to make it 14-0. After getting the ball back and making a late push into the red zone, Marblehead went up 20-0 right before halftime when Robertson connected with Cronin for a 10-yard touchdown.
But Peabody didn’t run away and hide at halftime, and instead the Tanners came out swinging. It started when Lynch found Pszenny for a 75-yard score to make it 20-6, then the Tanners got a defensive stop to get the ball back early in the fourth quarter. The Lynch-Pszenny connection came through for Peabody again in the fourth, when Lynch found Pszenny over the middle on a slant route for a 17-yard touchdown to make it 20-13.
The two teams exchanged possessions until the final minute of the game, when Marblehead punted back to Peabody with 38 seconds left. The Tanners ended up getting to the 25-yard line with about 15 seconds to play, and the first shot to the end zone fell short with nine seconds to go. On the next attempt, Paquette came down with the jump ball for Marblehead to seal the victory in the final seconds.
Peabody (0-1) travels to Masconomet Friday evening (5).
Marblehead (2-0) will host Saugus Saturday afternoon (2).