Prep readies for trip to Brockton

Fresh off shocking No. 1-ranked Everett on Monday, the St. John’s Prep football team was right back to work the next afternoon, preparing for its trip to Brockton’s Marciano Stadium on Friday night (7).The Eagles, who moved to 4-0 with the win, forced six turnovers and used stellar defense to snap the Crimson Tide’s 62-game regular-season winning streak.But coach Jim O’Leary knows that his team has to be ready for the Boxers on Friday.”The one thing you have to worry about is the emotional letdown,” O’Leary said. “If we can get through the first quarter with the game close, I think we’ll be OK.”The St. John’s players didn’t have a lot of time to savor the win at Everett, arriving back at the school’s Danvers campus at 10:30 p.m. that night and then having to practice the following afternoon following classes.”I feel bad for the kids that they didn’t get to enjoy it a little more, but the last two days of practice have been very good,” O’Leary said.In the same scenario as the team’s previous three wins, it was a different face that stepped up for the Prep. George Sessoms rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns.”It’s been a different guy for us every game,” O’Leary said. “And that’s making us hard to defend. It’s a situation where we’ll see what they are doing and we’ll pick and choose the right thing.”The Prep offense wasn’t the only story on Monday as the Eagles’ defense constantly harassed the Crimson Tide and gave St. John’s plenty of opportunities for points.”We’re a defense that tries to not give up home runs. We want to make people earn points,” O’Leary said. “And when you do that in high school, there’s going to be penalties and turnovers.”That defense will be called on again against a Brockton squad that lost to a potent Dracut team by two points and then was plagued by turnovers in a loss at Xaverian last week.”I suspect that they’ll be looking to get back on track,” joked O’Leary. “We respect their program and what they’ve done over the years. And it’s always tough to win down there.”