Vikings Hand Magicians First Loss

's varsity football team hit a speed bump Friday night in Winthrop, losing to the Vikings 29-12 after jumping out to an early 12-7 lead.

Winthrop scored 22 straight points Friday and earned their first win of the season. Marblehead lost for the first time since Thanksgiving Day 2010.

Marblehead (2-1) came into Friday night’s game with momentum gained from a close win over Pentucket in week one and a blowout victory over Ipswich last week. The Vikings lost to Swampscott last week 34-14, and were desperate to stop their seven-game losing streak at Miller Field.

Winthrop led early on a Jimmy Barker touchdown, which he punched in from the one yard line.

Ian Maag and Gus Percy rotated at quarterback for Marblehead, a decision that Viking head coach Sean Driscoll said led the Magicians into halftime with the lead.

“I liked what Marblehead did with the rotating quarterbacks and that number 20 (Will Quigley) is a heck of a runner, I saw Swampscott last week and Marblehead this week and that Thanksgiving game between the two of them is going to be a heck of a ballgame,” Driscoll said.

Winthrop roared out in the third quarter, scoring 22 points on touchdowns from Jordan Corbett-Frank, Mitchell Paulson and Dave Capone. 

“We were looking for a spark,” Winthrop coach Sean Driscoll said. “We got that with a good kickoff return to start the second half and we made a lot of plays, especially in the third quarter.”

Things looked grim for the Magicians, who struggled to get anything going in the second half.

“It was a tough loss, we really had some momentum heading into the second half,” Percy said. “They had a good kickoff return, we fumbled and that really helped them get past us.”

“We really didn’t play the type of game we expect to play or that the coaches expect us to play,” Maag said. “Winthrop played a good game against us, but it’s frustrating for our team because I know we can play so much better.”

With the lead, Winthrop did a great job of killing the clock, keeping the ball out of Percy and Maag’s hands as long as possible. Barker engineered a drive that started in the third quarter and ended in the fourth quarter that swallowed up close to 12 minutes off the game clock, eliminating any hopes the Magicians had of grabbing three quick scores to pull the game out.

Will Quigley led the Magicians on the ground with over 100 yards rushing.

“I think the coaches were frustrated with how we played, we were frustrated too,” Jeremy Gillis said. “We kind of killed ourselves by making a lot of small mistakes and Winthrop made a few big plays that hurt us.”

Gillis, a sophomore, scored the first two touchdowns of his varsity career in Friday’s loss.

“We played well early and we just couldn’t keep it going, the rain didn’t help us, but that’s no excuse,” Gillis said. “Hingham’s a good South Shore League team so we’ve got to be ready for Friday, we need to play the way we played early in the Winthrop game for a whole game next week.”

Game time on Friday night at Piper Field is set for 7 p.m. and Marblehead must be relieved to have their next two games at home. The Magicians kick off the month of October on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. before hitting the road to face Gloucester, Salem and Danvers.