HAULING IN A TITLE: Marblehead finally wins Super Bowl, holds off North Attleboro in thriller

Dec. 3—FOXBOROUGH — Five years ago, Connor Cronin was a sixth grade water boy for the Marblehead High football team when they played at the Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium.

Thursday afternoon, you might've wondered if Cronin could actually walk on water.

A junior slot receiver for the Magicians, Cronin caught 10 passes for an eye-popping 263 yards, including a game-winning 83-yard touchdown pass from senior captain Josh Robertson with less than three-and-a-half minutes to play, as Marblehead won its first-ever Super Bowl with a 35-28 triumph over North Attleboro in the Division 3 state championship game.

Cronin, who also made a miracle reception between two North Attleboro defenders that resulted in a 72-yard score with five seconds left in the first half (tying the game at 14-all), fittingly sealed the best victory in program history and a perfect 12-0 season when he intercepted a fourth down pass with 1:13 to play.

"Walking into this stadium, it was something special. The atmosphere is awesome," said Cronin. "We were playing for our whole town ... and we just made history."

Robertson, a senior captain, was sublime in his own right. He completed 14-of-18 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He also scored on an 8-yard zone read in the third quarter.

"We put in so much work into this, perfecting our craft. We have a great group of guys, and to end it like this is amazing," said Robertson.

Marblehead, which has now won a state-best 20 consecutive games dating back to 2019, won its first Super Bowl after falling in both the 2009 and 2016 title game.

"I didn't want to be here again explaining why we couldn't and how we couldn't (win)," said a visibly relieved Magicians head coach Jim Rudloff. "I've done it before, and it's not fun."

When asked what the state crown means to both he and his program, and the normally loquacious Rudloff paused, held back his emotions and said "Pride".

"If you put this much time and effort into it, you can't pretend you don't care. I care. I care very much," he said. "It means something to me, and now I don't have to worry about that any more. Now it's just 'Marblehead football', not that Marblehead can't win the big one."

North Attleboro (8-4) had rallied from a 28-14 deficit and tied the game with 4:20 remaining on captain Tyler DeMattio's third touchdown run of the afternoon. The bruising back finished with 105 yards on 24 carries and became the first opponent to run for triple digits on Marblehead since Richie Canova of Danvers did so on Oct. 25, 2019.

But Marblehead had time ... and Cronin ... on its side.

On 3rd-and-7 from his own 17-yard line, Cronin caught a quick screen from Robertson in the left flat. Senior captain and tight end James Doody, lined up to Cronin's right, freed up his teammate by getting the defender off of him as soon as Cronin made the catch. He began sprinting upfield and past the Red Rocketeers' defense.

Magicians wideout Shane Keough made another key block near midfield, allowing Cronin to cut right near the Patriots' logo and, in his words, "turn on the jets to get to that end zone."

"It was a great play, a truly crazy play," he said.

Unbelievably, it wasn't even his most impressive touchdown of the day. That came with five seconds left in the second quarter when he went up between two North Attleboro defenders at the visitors' 30-yard line, won the ball and broke free of the two safeties, Nathan Shultz and Danny Curran. Cronin then bolted forward, wriggled out of a would-be tackle by cornerback Jovany Rivera at the 5, and dove into the end zone. The entire way, Cronin was able to keep his feet, hold onto the ball and not have his knee hit the turf until he reached paydirt.

The second of Eli Feingold's five extra point kicks extra point knotted things up.

"I wanted that ball," said Cronin, who had a combined 333 yards of offense including his rushing total and two kick returns. "Great defense, but I squeezed through. I was able to get it, shake off some tackles and score ... it was amazing, a huge momentum change."

"It's something you can't coach and you can't explain," said Rudloff. "He's a special kid. We had all of his services today: running ability, catching ability and making some huge plays on defense. He stepped up in an unbelievable way."

Senior running back and outside linebacker George Percy, who dropped several North Attleboro ballcarriers for big hits, caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Robertson following an interception from teammate Liam McIlroy on the third play of the third quarter. It gave Marblehead a 21-14 lead. Then, following a James Galante 36-yard punt return, Robertson completed another drive with his 8-yard rushing score and 28-14 edge.

The Red Rocketeers refused to give in, however, and went 89 yards in 14 plays while taking almost eight minutes off the clock as captain Tyler Bannon ran it in from six yards out. They tied the game on DeMattio's third TD in the final period.

Marblehead's offensive line — captain A.J. Andriano, Jack Aneshansley, Sam Annese, Ned Fitzgerald (who was also a monster on defense) and Christian Pacheco got better and better as the game went on. Galante, captain Craig Michalowski, and Drew Annese were other Magicians who came up with championship plays.

"We talked all week about not letting (nerves) happen," said Rudloff. "We wanted to be aggressive, physical, nasty. We wanted those guys saying, 'We don't want to play those guys again.' Everyone felt that way. There was just this idea of '(losing) is not going to happen again'."

It didn't, and as a result Marblehead finally has is long-awaited Super Bowl title.

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN

Marblehead 35, North Attleboro 28

Division 3 Super Bowl

at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough

North Attleboro (8-4) 0 14 7 7 28

Marblehead (12-0) 0 14 14 7 35

Scoring summary

M-Connor Cronin 4 pass from Josh Robertson (Eli Feingold kick)

NA-Tyler DeMattio 5 run (DiMattio kick)

NA-DeMattio 4 run (DeMattio kick)

M-Cronin 72 pass from Robertson (Feingold kick)

M-George Percy 20 pass from Robertson (Feingold kick)

M-Robertson 8 run (Feingold kick)

NA-Tyler Bannon 5 run (DeMattio kick)

NA-DeMattio 3 run (DeMattio kick)

M-Cronin 83 pass from Robertson (Feingold)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: North Attleboro — Tyler DeMattio 24-105, Tyler Bannon 18-92, Nathan Shultz 1-4, Chase Frisoli 3-0; Marblehead — George Percy 7-51, Connor Cronin 5-22, Josh Robertson 10-(-17).

PASSING: North Attleboro — Frisoli 10-18-144-0-2 Marblehead — Robertson 14-18-290-4-0.

RECEIVING: North Attleboro — Shultz 3-50, Jack Munley 2-31, Bannon 2-29, Gavin Wells 2-23, Aidan Conrad 1-11 Marblehead — Cronin 10-263, Percy 3-28, Craig Michalowski 1-(-1).

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN