Marblehead Football Captains Enjoy Glimpse Of Super Bowl Future

FOXBOROUGH, MA — All the Marblehead High School football captains had to do to see history on Tuesday was to walk down a hallway soaked with championship murals and look out the window to a Gillette Stadium field home to some of the region’s greatest football moments of the past two decades.

Not only were the Magicians witnessing history on this day, but they had also earned their right to be a part of it after Saturday’s 40-7 blasting of Westfield in the Division 3 state semifinals in Shrewsbury. That domination brought a Super Bowl berth next Thursday against North Attleboro and an invitation to the MIAA Super Bowl breakfast Tuesday morning.

"It was amazing," Marblehead captain Craig Michalowski told Patch. "Our team actually came here in 2016 for a Super Bowl when I was in seventh grade. Just to come down here again and be on the field this time. Seeing all the Patriots games from TV, and then being in the spot where Tom Brady threw hundreds of touchdown passes, and where (Rob) Gronkowski spiked the football, it's just crazy."

The Magicians arrived at Gillette as the only undefeated team in Division 4 with an 11-0 record, but still with something to prove. Marblehead (10-0) first must contend with fellow unbeaten and Division 5 Super Bowl-bound Swampscott (11-0) on Thanksgiving morning, then the Magicians will turn their full attention trying to win the first Super Bowl in program history.

"This is my third time being here for one of these breakfasts," Marblehead football coach Jim Rudloff noted. "It's a little different each time. You're not as wowed by being in Gillette. But you're excited for the reason you are here.

"And for the seniors, they're thrilled. This is the biggest day of their lives. It will never not be exciting. The wonderment of the field now is not as great for me. But being here is the best. It's a great morning."

It was a morning two years in the making for the coaches and captains who could not play last fall because of the coronavirus crisis, then did not have a playoff during the shortened, seven-game "Fall 2" makeup season in the spring.

"We ended up being able to have the COVID season winning seven games," Rudloff said. "Which really helped this year. I don't know where we'd be without being able to do that mini-season. That was nice. Any time you beat Swampscott it's nice, so to be able to get the opportunity to go there (last spring) and win that game made it feel like it was kind of our mini-Super Bowl because it meant so much to the kids."

But the captains said everything they've done — from last fall's coronavirus-restricted practices to last spring's romp through the North Shore competition — has been building toward the chance to travel to the home of the six-time champion New England Patriots for a true Super Bowl experience.

"We've been working since that spring season continuously," said senior captain James Doody, who caught one of senior quarterback Josh Robertson's four touchdown passes in Saturday's semifinal. "We're working this year, especially, for the seniors last spring who were not fortunate enough to be able to play in the playoffs since we had just the regular season. They have been supporting us, texting us. Even though they have been in college, they have been with us.

“(Senior captain) A.J. (Andriano) said it before that we are playing for all the past and present Magicians and trying to do something no Magicians team has ever done. We are playing for the whole town of Marblehead and we’re very, very excited.”

Rudloff admits it's unusual looking forward to a Super Bowl with a game against an undefeated archrival in the path to that ultimate glory.

"This year we really want to win it," Rudloff said of the Division 4 state title. "We don't want to just go. We're not happy just going."

While in years past some teams across the state in Super Bowl contention may have shifted focus and not taken the annual holiday clash quite as consequentially, Rudloff said he is well aware that was not going to be an option in Marblehead.

"It's kind of interesting because (Thanksgiving) is a nice benefit to have at the end of the year not making the Super Bowl so you can focus on your Thanksgiving opponent," he said. "Going to the Super Bowl can make Thanksgiving a little harder. It makes it a pain in the butt.

"But it's fortunate and nice to have the luxury to plan and worry about both games. There is not a better game in the state than Swampscott-Marblehead on Thanksgiving Day so we’re excited for both games."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)