Field goal sinks The Prep

DANVERS – The St. John’s Prep football team dominated in most of the statistical categories on Sunday at Cronin Memorial Stadium against Brockton. But the Eagles did not have the advantage in the one place it matters most: on the scoreboard.The Boxers put together a 19-play, 91-yard drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter and capped it with James McAvoy’s 19-yard field goal with 14.6 seconds left that gave them a 17-14 win over the Eagles.”I really like this team and we’re starting to play better,” Prep coach Jim O’Leary said. “But we’re now 1-3 and that’s not where we should be ? Brockton just made a couple of big plays.”Before the long drive to the winning field goal, the Boxers had hardly seen the ball in the second half. After scoring a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead on only four plays to begin the second half, Brockton’s offense wouldn’t set foot on the field again until the fourth quarter had started.The Eagles used their punishing ground attack to keep the ball for the next 10:31 of playing time. Quarterback Chris Coady (17-65) and tailback George Sessoms (20-72) did most of the work on the march.Twice the Prep was able to convert on fourth-and-one situations to keep the drive going and Sessoms picked up a fourth-and-four at the Brockton 35 late in the third. On the first play of the final quarter, St. John’s faced a fourth-and-13 at the 29. Coady rolled left and hit a diving Tyler Coppola for a 23-yard gain to the six.One play later, Coady snuck in from the one and Tad Beuchert’s extra point deadlocked the game at 14.”People have had trouble moving the ball on our defense this year and St. John’s did that,” Brockton coach Peter Colombo said. “And you have to give them credit for that.”An illegal block penalty on the ensuing kickoff pinned the Boxers deep in their own territory with 10:01 to go. But a 12-yard scamper on third down by Trevon Offley got Brockton out of the shadow of its goalposts.Later in the drive, quarterback Sam Previte kept the march going when he snuck for a first down on fourth-and-one at the Boxer 48. Two plays later, Previte’s right arm got Brockton within scoring distance.Facing third-and-12 at the Boxer 47, Previte hit speed demon Dominique Williams, who had returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring, for a 28-yard gain on a slant to the Prep 25.”Dominique is just so multi-dimensional,” Colombo said. “We’re able to use him in so many different ways.”Two plays later, the Eagles had Brockton on the ropes again as the Boxers faced third-and-9 at the 24. But Previte turned a broken play into a 16-yard scramble for a first down with just inside 2:00 left.Three plays later, McAvoy booted through his kick to give the Boxers the lead.”Brockton came out and made a couple of big plays,” O’Leary said.St. John’s got the ball at the Boxer 48 with 10 seconds left but a penalty and an incompletion later, Brockton had the win.