Math didn’t matter for the Eagles

DANVERS ? The St. John’s Prep players probably had other things on their minds at the time, but the Eagles officially eliminated from post-season contention not by Xaverian, but when Peabody lost, 14-6, to Saugus.The Peabody/Saugus game ended while the Prep/Xaverian game was still in the third quarter, with the game still tied at 7-7. Xaverian went on to win, 21-16, and made moot all the permutations and calculations that were necessary for the Eagles to qualify for the Div. 1 playoff game on Tuesday against Brockton, but surprisingly except for Peabody’s loss all the other games that had to break in the Prep’s favor did just that.There had been much discussion leading up to the game about the possibilities if there had been a deadlock for first place in the Catholic Conference, which uses a ratings-based system that includes opponents’ strength as a tiebreaker.Had the Prep beaten Xaverian, there would have been a 3-way tie at the top with B.C. High. St. John’s would have wound up with the most strength-of-opponents points had Peabody, Central Catholic or St. John’s of Shrewsbury won, and four other teams had lost.Amazingly, it almost happened. Central defeated Andover, and St. John’s of Shrewsbury defeated St. Peter-Marian. Also, Springfield Cathedral, Falmouth, Cambridge and Acton-Boxborough lost, with the Colonials bowing out in a double overtime to Westford Academy.uPrep coach Jim O’Leary had the honor of presenting the Brother William Drinan trophy to the Hawks after the game. Drinan, who was headmaster at St. John’s Prep from 1989-2001, died on Sept. 28. He was also Xaverian’s headmaster from 1971-83.O’Leary told the Hawks, who gathered in one of the end zones of the league, that as champions of the Catholic Conference that they now “represent the entire league” in the playoffs and encouraged them “to take care of business on Tuesday” in Brockton.Xaverian coach Charlie Stevenson said Brockton leads the series with the Hawks, 13-12.”Of course, we’d like to make it 13-13,” said Stevenson. “It’s perhaps on of the greatest rivalries in the state of Massachusetts, and we’re excited about playing them in a playoff game. Our playoffs really started three weeks ago. We had to beat B.C. High, then (Catholic Memorial), then the Prep. Now we have a chance to play another one of our big rivals.”Xaverian beat Brockton, 14-7, on Sept. 25 at Marciano Stadium.uSt. John’s running back George Sessoms was set to end his high school career with another 100-yard game until he was tackled for a 4-yard loss on a pitchout during the Prep’s final drive of the game. Sessoms finished the day with 98 yards on 16 carries, though he was the focus of Xaverian’s defense.”I thought except for (two runs of 29 and 38 yards) we did a pretty good job on him,” Stevenson said. “He’s such a dangerous back. What did he run for, something like 1,000 yards in the past two weeks?”