St. John’s football defeats CM

DANVERS – Any of the fans who left Cronin Memorial Stadium after Tyler Coppola’s 43-yard touchdown run to give St. John’s Prep a 29-16 advantage with a little under three minutes remaining missed a wild finish on Saturday. After the theatrics had ended, the Prep still walked away with a win over Catholic Memorial, 42-29.CM29St. John’s42 For the folks at home doing the math, that is a combined total of 26 points scored in the final 2:54 of the game.After Coppola’s romp gave the Eagles (5-3) a 13-point lead, a combination of poor football and exciting plays broke out. On the ensuing possession for the Knights (5-2), quarterback Adam Doyle led his team 67 yards down field, completing four passes. The quick drive culminated in Doyle finding Brandon Hamel in the corner of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked by Nate Cyr of the Prep and was picked up and returned to the Catholic Memorial 23 by Gerald Kahari. While St. John’s did not score, and still led 29-22, the play foreshadowed the special teams bonanza that was about to unfold.With 1:22 remaining, Catholic Memorial executed a perfect onside kick that was recovered by Josh Charles. As the Knights were trying to mimic the drive they had just completed, Alex Moore came up with an interception, which he returned 70 yards for a touchdown. The scintillating runback put the Prep up 36-22 with roughly 30 seconds remaining in the game.Not to be outdone, Catholic Memorial’s Armani Reeves returned the Prep kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, one again putting the Knights within a score of the Eagles at 36-29. Reeves was seemingly tackled once at midfield and again almost pushed out of bounds, but in both cases managed to keep his footing for a final sprint to the end zone.The Prep gained possession after the Knights’ onside kick attempt tumbled out of bounds. With both sidelines playing chess, the Prep began to kneel the ball, thinking that Catholic Memorial did not have enough time outs remaining to prevent the clock from expiring. Instead, the referees had given St. John’s incorrect information on the number of timeouts the Knights still had, allowing for time to remain on the clock. With seven seconds remaining, the Prep was forced to punt the ball.While the Eagles were able to get off a clean punt, Catholic Memorial began to lateral the ball to keep possession alive. After two laterals were exchanged cleanly, the third lateral was fumbled. The fumble was picked up by Pat Shunney of St. John’s and returned 25 yards for a touchdown. As the siren signaled the end of the game, the Eagles were celebrating in the end zone and the end of an incredible three minutes of football.”(Catholic Memorial) is very good offensively. There is no question about that. They have some great skill kids, their quarterback is a bear. The receivers, the running backs, they have some great skill,” said Prep coach Jim O’Leary. “But we still managed to find a way to win in the end.”For St. John’s, Coppola finished with a total of two touchdowns and 247 yards rushing.St. John’s took a 7-6 lead into the half after Dillon Gonzalez scored on an eight-yard sweep. Also scoring for the Eagles was quarterback Tommy Gaudet on a nine-yard touchdown run.”I told our team before the game we were now in the playoffs,” said O’Leary, referring to the “must-win” atmosphere. “I told them that we have to find different ways to win. It is senior day, it’s been a very emotional week, and we came out with a win. I am very happy and we’re 1-0 in the (Catholic Conference).”