The Marblehead High football team's week of preparation for Ipswich was in some ways like chasing ghosts.
It may be Week 2 of the young season for the Magicians, but Ipswich has not stepped on the field for a real game yet. Combine that fact with Ipswich's youth and inexperience, and Marblehead has been left to prepare for tomorrow night's game at Jack Welch Stadium (7 p.m.) with some unusual methods.
"Any coach would prefer to have as much preparation as possible. The rules for the league for middle-of-the-season games are for coaches to exchange two game films, usually the last two. If it's an early season game, you usually make it a point to see the other team and get a scout, but we only got to see them in a scrimmage," Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. "It was under game conditions and I think we got a pretty good sense, but they were still trying different things. We had to do more of looking back in time at some of their tendencies while at the same time trying to figure out what they're doing in their game film."
The Ipswich program hit some rough times after winning the Division 3A Super Bowl in 2006. The Tigers lost 31 straight games between 2007-09, finally snapping the streak in dramatic fashion with a 14-13 upset of Hamilton-Wenham on Thanksgiving of '09.
They bounced back with a 4-6 season a year ago, and a winning attitude seems to be returning to Ipswich.
"They've got a lot of new players and have sort of reinvented themselves with a freshman quarterback (Nick Andreas)," Rudloff said. "We've seen a lot of them in the offseason 7-on-7s, and he's terrific. His mechanics are flawless. He doesn't look like a freshman, so we'll try to put some pressure on him. But at the same time it's a Wing-T offense they run, and that's the most difficult for us to play against."
In addition to Andreas, Ipswich will be relying on sophomore Derek Chamberlain, junior John Elnagger and seniors Louis Galanis and Chris Desmond.
Galanis, Elnagger and Peter Moutevelis are expected to be some of the different looks Ipswich provides running the ball, while Desmond, a senior captain, and Peyton Primack will be opening holes on the offensive line. Chamberlain, meanwhile, is the center of the Ipswich defense and he may be the player who made the biggest impression in the preseason.
"He works out so hard that I had to tell him to take a day off," Ipswich coach Ted Flaherty said about Chamberlain's commitment to getting stronger.
In many ways, Chamberlain's performance tomorrow night could be key to Ipswich's chances. It's more than likely that he'll be asked to tackle star Marblehead back Will Quigley on several occasions.
A senior and three-year starter, Quigley ran for more than 1,300 yards as a junior, but was limited to 33 yards on just 11 carries in the Magician's 14-12 season opening win over Pentucket at home last week.
It's fair to guess that his workload will increase tomorrow night.
"Will is entirely unselfish and doesn't care about carries; he just wants to win," Rudloff said. "Never in a million years would he say anything about his carries, but I did think the next day it must have been off for him to not be a major factor (against Pentucket)."
Another positive that came from Marblehead's win was that the Magicians were able to survive without Quigley doing a lot of damage, while at the same time giving confidence to other players.
Quarterbacks Ian Maag (junior) and Gus Percy (senior) both got their feet wet, splitting the duty by alternating plays all night against the Sachems. Both can throw the ball and are dangerous running with it, which could cause problems for the Tigers.
Marblehead is also eager to get back on the field and show it's better than the way it played on opening night.
"We had no hurry or sense of urgency in practice before Pentucket. Then, fast forward to the game and all of a sudden, you see yourself in a real game with fans and people in attendance when it matters and we weren't prepared and not playing at the same speed as the other team," Rudloff said. "We almost got embarrassed on our home field. Mentally we knew we were in for a dog fight, but we practiced like we were OK on offense all week. We were a little fat and happy with the way we played against Revere in our last scrimmage.
"I'm happy that we had something to work on all week and not doing things just to get better, but very specific things we needed to do better."
game of the week
Who: Marblehead vs. Ipswich
When: Tomorrow at Jack Welch Stadium (7 p.m.)
All-time series: Marblehead leads, 7-0
Last year: Marblehead, 34-6
Keys to the Game: Ipswich's ability to slow Marblehead running back Will Quigley could be of highest importance if the Tigers want to keep this game close. Quigley managed only 33 yards on 11 carries in his season opener, so it's fair to assume he's highly anticipating a better performance in his second game and is likely to get quite a few more carries. Sophomore middle linebacker Derek Chamberlain and outside linebacker John Elnagger could be the key players for Ipswich in its attempt to slow the Magicians' top back.
