Thanksgiving 2010: Prep-Xaverian game will determine league winner

It seems like every year that the Catholic Conference championship gets settled at either Cronin Memorial Stadium in Danvers or the Hawk Bowl in Westwood, the respective homes of St. John’s Prep and Xaverian.This year will prove to be no different as the two perennial powerhouses will meet again tomorrow morning (10) in Westwood with the winner clinching a berth in the Division 1 playoffs against either Brockton or New Bedford on Tuesday (site and time TBD).Getting to this point has been a long and winding road for both clubs in 2010.The Eagles (6-4, 2-1) have averaged 26.4 points per game, one of the best marks in the Catholic Conference, and have been led by a senior laden offensive line and running back Tyler Coppola. Behind that mammoth line, Coppola has scored 16 touchdowns and had one of the best games by any running back in the area this year when he rushed for five scores and over 300 yards in a win over Mount St. Joseph’s (MD) on October 9th.”We have a good offensive line and Tyler has exploded throughout the year,” Prep coach Jim O’Leary said. “There are clearly no surprises with what we’re going to do. Our style lets us be in games late and control the ball.”The Eagles began their season with wins over Peabody and Merrimack Valley Conference/Large champion Central Catholic on home turf before giving Everett a challenge for three quarters of an eventual 27-7 loss.A 17-14 loss at Brockton was followed by the win over MSJ and a loss to Western Mass power St. John’s (Shrewsbury). A 24-0 win over Somerville sent the Eagles into the conference portion of their schedule, where they beat Catholic Memorial and Malden Catholic before squandering a lead against B.C. High and losing on a field goal in the final seconds.It’s that loss that has O’Leary’s attention heading into the battle with Xaverian.”Our major challenge is that we lost such a difficult game to BC High,” O’Leary said. “You always want to go into Thanksgiving with a win but the reality is that with all the craziness, this wound up being a winner-take-all game anyways.”The Eagles will have to be on their toes as they face a Xaverian team that is the lone unbeaten in the league at 3-0 and sports an 8-2 mark overall, losing to Everett and Bridgewater-Raynham. They also have signature wins over Brockton in overtime (23-20) and SJS (20-16).The reigning Division 1 Super Bowl champs, the Hawks are led by senior running back Joe Colton and senior quarterback Chris Calvanese. The two have combined to account for 27 total touchdowns while kicker Jules Murphy has booted five field goals and has a college-caliber leg.”Xaverian is a very good football team,” O’Leary said. “It will come down to turnovers as always and if we can control the ball and field position.”For the Eagles to control that field position, senior quarterback Tom Gaudet will have to be at his best. Gaudet has run for 11 touchdowns this season in charge of the Eagles option attack. The Prep defense, meanwhile, has improved steadily through the season and is holding opponents to 19.4 points per game.”Tommy has done a great job of running the offense and being a nice complement to Tyler,” O’Leary said. “And our defense is all good players and really young kids. We need to play very well and be around in the fourth quarter to make some noise in the game.”