Football: St. John’s Prep gallops past Central Catholic

Following Saturday afternoon?s precise 31-7 home dismantling of Central Catholic, the 2-0 St. John?s Prep football team is exactly where coach Jim O?Leary hoped it would be.?After a disappointing season last year, our experience is the difference. We have a lot of kids back and we?re a little more mature,” O?Leary said of the Eagles? impressive start.St. John?s opened a 14-0 halftime lead on Jack Shario touchdown passes of six yards to Lynn?s Gerald Kahari and 11 yards to Anthony Bongiorno. Meanwhile, the Eagles limited Central to a single first down in the half, that coming with less than two minutes left when SJP was in prevent mode. Linebacker Lucas Bavaro led the defensive charge.Jonathon Thomas (25 carries, 156 yards) expanded the lead to 21-0 with a 46-yard scoring burst in the third quarter. Central?s lone offensive highlight occurred later in the quarter when six-foot, four-inch receiver Michael Barry made a leaping catch over a well-positioned Eagles? defender, then completed a 57-yard scoring pass from Mike Milano to make it 21-7.St. John?s added Sean Smerczynski?s one-yard touchdown run and Stephen Cammaro?s 26-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.An effective passing game – Shario completed 8-of-12 passes for 135 yards to four receivers – supplemented the Prep?s typically punishing ground game. Alex Moore had three catches for 62 yards while Kahari added a pair for 29.?Everyone knows we want to run the ball but Jack is also doing a fine job of managing the offense and we have the ability to get the ball to players in space,” said O?Leary.O?Leary said the next couple of weeks “will be interesting” with road tests against No. 1 Everett and Top 10 foe Bridgewater-Raynham. He described Everett as “clearly the best team in the state.”uFriday, at Amesbury, Lynnfield High won its first football game of the season, 31-26The Pioneers, 1-1, spotted Amesbury a 21-0 lead by the middle of the second quarter before coming back.Kyle McGah ended up with four touchdown runs of three, 14, and four (twice). Also scoring the Pioneers was Alex Pascucci, who took a recovered fumble 20 yards to the house.