St. John’s football can’t stop Everett

DANVERS – The top-ranked football team in the state needed only 41 snaps on Sunday at Cronin Memorial Stadium to show why it is so highly regarded.Everett hit big play after big play as Jonathan DiBiaso threw three touchdown passes to engineer the Crimson Tide to a 35-0 win over St. John’s Prep.”We did a good job of stopping them from running the ball and we came up with some big plays on offense,” Everett coach John DiBiaso said. “We were a little sloppy at times on offense but you can’t really be disappointed when you put 35 on the board.”The Eagles (0-3) did a good job of keeping Everett’s offense off the field at times but managed only 89 yards rushing on 43 carries while three quarterbacks combined to toss three interceptions.”I know it doesn’t seem like it and is crazy but that’s the best blocking we’ve had up front all year,” Prep coach Jim O’Leary said. “Everett has a very good defense and you can’t spot a team like that points. We’re just not good enough to do something like that.”Everett got the opening kick and needed only 2:34 to race down field and strike. DiBiaso went 19 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Vondell Langston added a 20-yard jaunt a play later before DiBiaso capped the drive with a 10-yard slant to Kenny Calaj for a 7-0 lead.The Eagles would hold the ball for the next five minutes but managed only 23 yards before punting. One play later, it was 14-0, Crimson Tide, when Jakkarie Washington turned a screen pass into a 72-yard dash to the house.St. John’s next snap resulted in a tipped ball and an interception by Gilly DeSouza. The Crimson Tide marched inside the Prep 10 early in the second quarter but back-to-back incompletions helped the Eagles complete a goal-line stand.”Our defense played very well. We just had a couple of tipped balls go against us,” O’Leary said.The second of those tipped balls came after the Prep stopped Everett for the second time inside the 10-yard line. One play after the stop, Jack Sharrio’s pass was batted in the air and picked off by DeSouza, who took it 18 yards for a 21-0 lead at the half.Johnathan Thomas gave the Prep a bit of life when he returned the second half kick to the Everett 47. The Eagles eventually reached the Everett 30 before the Crimson Tide stopped the drive on downs.The Prep defense also stepped up and kept the Tide without a first down in the third quarter but weren’t so lucky early in the fourth. Calaj dashed 63 yards on the second snap of the final period to make it 28-0 and put the game out of reach.DiBiaso capped the scoring when he hit Jaylen McRae for a 35-yard touchdown that saw the wideout make a spectacular one-handed grab in the right corner of the end zone.