By Matt Jenkins
WINTHROP — Technically, this game didn't mean anything.
But tell that to a Marblehead football team that now has to head into a championship game against Swampscott on Thanksgiving morning coming off a loss.
Winthrop knocked a little bit of the shine off a well-thought-of Magicians team by handing them a surprising 27-18 loss at Miller Field.
"They just came out and simply out-played us," Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff said. "They physically out-played us, they mentally out-played us and they out-coached us. Across the board we got our butts kicked tonight."
Rudloff and his coaching staff have to pick up the pieces to get the Magicians ready to play Swampscott for the Northeastern Conference Small title, which includes a trip to the postseason.
Marblehead is now 3-1 in the conference with one to go, while the Big Blue are 3-0 with a game against Beverly tomorrow. No matter what happens in that game, Marblehead and Swampscott will play for the title on Thanksgiving.
"I said to the kids before the game, and all week long that winning is contagious and losing is contagious," Rudloff said. "We really felt that we did need to win tonight, and I'm very disappointed in the way that we as a program responded to the challenge tonight."
Marblehead (8-2) scored first on a 7-yard TD pass from Hayes Richardson to Will Quigley, but Winthrop took the lead on Frank Ambrosino's 2-yard touchdown run and subsequent kick from Robert Deeb.
Ambrosino increased Winthrop's lead with a 40-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second half, and Marblehead was left to chase the Vikings the rest of the way.
"It was kind of like a gut-check week, practice-wise," Winthrop coach Sean Driscoll said. "We kind of put it on the line. We thought Marblehead was a good team, but we thought we could possibly get them in a sandwich-type game."
Richardson's 8-yard TD run cut it to 14-12, but Ambrosino scored again on a 3-yard run for a 20-12 lead. The key to Winthrop's third touchdown was the great field position it received from a blocked punt by Ambrosino that set up Winthrop (4-6) at the 22-yard line.
"We struggled still moving the ball because we just so young up front, and they've got a good team," Driscoll said. "I think it's going to be a good game on Thanksgiving and we just caught them at the right time."
Will Milano punched in Winthrop's final touchdown from the 1-yard line with 1:55 to go, and Richardson accounted for Marblehead's final points with a 13-yard TD run as time expired.
"That's a gut-check for them. They were just fantastic tonight. Every single kid for Winthrop came out to play," Rudloff said. "We made bad decisions during the game, and unfortunately I don't think the kids were ready to play tonight."
