English
Spanish
Portuguese
Arabic
Haitian Creole
Chinese (Traditional)
Mustang QB writes himself right into record books with 217 yds., 4 TDs in 34-14 Thanksgiving Day victory
By Steve Freker
For the just over two hours it took to seal the deal, Justin Marino was “One Man Gang” in the flesh. On Thanksgiving morning, in the longest continuous high school rivalry in the nation, #10 Marino got “All 10s” for his boffo performance in Medford’s 34-14 victory over Malden at Macdonald Stadium.
It was no secret what the Mustang quarterback was going to do coming into this one: Run the ball early, often and then run some more. Like many Medford opponents before them this season, Malden discovered that stopping Marino quickly became a mission to at least slow him down. Unfortunately for host Malden, its defense was able to do neither.
Just like the wet, cold and dreary weather that was forecast well before it drenched this Thanksgiving morning, Marino, an ultra-athletic, 6-2, 195 dynamo, came just as advertised. Already surpassing the milestone 1,000-yard rushing mark before this game even started, Marino simply went off once again. Carrying 28 times in all, Marino totaled 217 yards, 4 touchdown runs and 2 2-point conversion runs – 2 TD scores in the first half and 2 more in the third quarter – to close it out for the winning Mustangs.
Dominating, one-man performance by Marino
With a whopping 28 points scored, it turned out to be the most dominating individual performance, scoring-wise, in the history of the series. Another first: No other game in the 136 played before this past Thanksgiving morning featured a quarterback soaking up so much of the spotlight.
“Justin Marino is a special player. He’s one of a kind,” Medford Head Coach Justin Curley, coaching in his sixth Malden-Medford game, said. “[Marino] is very level-headed and that makes all the difference.”
This game certainly did not start as a Medford blowout win. On the contrary, the play in the first half pointed to a toe-to-toe slugfest, potentially a low-scoring affair due to the weather, which featured a steady, driving rain that began right about gametime and picked up in intensity after halftime.
Medford got on the scoreboard on the game’s opening series, as the visitors ate up both the clock and Macdonald Stadium real estate, driving 83 yards into the end zone on 14 plays. After 12 straight runs, with 10 keepers by Marino, the Mustang QB finally threw a pass, connecting on a wobbly, 23-yard swing pass to running back Guilherme Martins for a first down at Malden’s 2-yard. Marino finished the drive with a 2-yard run up the middle with 4:04 left in the first quarter. Malden’s defense stuffed Marino on the conversion try and Medford led, 6-0.
Malden took over and got its own drive going, rolling along to the Medford 18-yard line, before getting stung by the penalty bug. Three inopportune flags stalled and then ended Malden’s drive, turning the ball over to Medford on downs after such a promising start. From there, Malden’s defense had its best looks of the day, stopping Medford and Marino on two straight Mustang possessions.
Malden actually took the first lead of the game
Medford led by just a 6-0 margin when the first quarter ended, and midway through the second quarter, Malden launched a drive, which saw the home team briefly take the lead. After a 9-play, penalty-free drive, Malden freshman phenom Jayden McGuffie scored on a 3-yard run with 4:22 left before halftime on a dive over right tackle. Malden senior Aidan Brett ran around right end on a designed keeper for the conversion to make it 8-6.
That play proved costly, however, as for the second straight Thanksgiving morning in as many years, Brett was injured and knocked out of action for the rest of the game with an injury, this time what was thought to be a collarbone mishap. He never returned to the field.
With just over four minutes left before halftime, Medford went back to work and used up all of the remaining time on the clock, scoring on the very last play of the first half – a backbreaker – when Marino ran around left end, 10 yards, for a Medford touchdown.
It was a 14-6 halftime lead for Medford
Marino kept at it again for the conversion try, and the Mustangs headed into the visitors’ locker room with a 14-8 halftime lead. Malden seemed very much in the hunt at that point, as Marino had carried 12 times for a solid 65 yards and the 2 TDs, but the Tornado defense had kept him contained, at least at times. That all became a distant memory in the second half, as it quickly became “All Marino, All the Time,” and Malden did little to stop it.
Medford stalled on its first drive of the third quarter, and Malden took over on downs on its own 25-yard line. Malden made a little hay with two McGuffie runs to the Medford 15-yard line, but disaster struck when 6-6, 340 Nathan Brou levelled McGuffie with a bruising hit, knocking the ball free. Medford recovered the fumble and Marino scored on the next play, his third TD coming on a 9-yard run, again around left end. The Mustangs led, 20-8.
Medford would add two more scores: another 1-yard TD keeper by Marino just before the end of the third quarter and, in the fourth quarter, a 7-yard run by Prince Exavier for a 34-8 lead. Malden scored its second TD, also by McGuffie, on a 7-yard run, with 33 seconds left on the clock, to create the 34-14 final.
“We knew what [Medford] wanted to do and who we had to stop, #10, and we did not get the job done,” said Malden fourth-year Head Coach Witche Exilhomme, who saw Medford win its second straight Thanksgiving Day game for the first time since 2001.
***
BOXSCORE
Medford 34, Malden 14
Medford 6 8 14 6—34
Malden 0 8 0 6—14
First quarter
MEDFORD: Justin Marino 10-yard run (rush failed).
Second quarter
MALDEN: Aidan Brett 3-yard run (Jayden McGuffie run).
MEDFORD: Marino 1-yard run (Marino run).
Third quarter
MEDFORD: Marino 29-yard run (Marino run).
MEDFORD: Marino 1-yard run (rush failed).
Fourth quarter
MEDFORD: Xavier Prince 4-yard run (rush failed).
MALDEN: McGuffie 7-yard run (rush failed).
