Everett gets the jump on St. John’s Prep

DANVERS – John DiBiaso’s ability to prepare teams following a loss has been the hallmark of his success at Everett, which entered Saturday’s highly-anticipated Top 10 match-up against St. John’s Prep at Cronin Stadium with a 10-0 mark in such games since 2000.Make that 11-0 after the Crimson Tide (2-1) — which lost to Xaverian two weeks ago — jumped the Prep early, withstood a St. John’s surge, and closed out a 35-14 win that ruined Homecoming Day for the Eagles in more ways than one.While the loss stung, of immediate concern was the status of the Eagles’ Maryland-bound senior running back Johnny Thomas, who left midway through the third quarter with a right knee injury and did not return. A doctor examined Thomas on site and an MRI was scheduled to determine the extent of damage.”We’re not going to play with 10 guys. We’re going to play with 11 next week and, hopefully, we get him back,” said St. John’s coach Jim O’Leary, who didn’t speculate as to the severity of the injury. “I know it’s his right knee, but I’m not a doctor.”During the bye week, DiBiaso scrapped the spread offense and dusted off an old school Veer/Flex look. It worked for 214 rushing yards and five rushing TDs with English transfer Isiah Davis (8 carries, 50 yards, 2 TDs) making a significant contribution in his Everett debut.Meanwhile, the Eagles (2-2) struggled to find and sustain any rhythm. They turned the ball over three times and committed drive-altering penalties on both sides of the ball. And Everett’s defense was locked on Thomas, who had 20 carries for 97 yards before his injury. “We just can’t spot them points, I don’t care how good you are, you can’t do that,” said O’Leary. “It was very similar to the (Bridgewater-Raynham) game. The second half, we made mistakes and the ball didn’t bounce our way. (Everett) had a bye week and they coached them up.”After the Prep stalled at the Everett 36 on the game’s first possession, four different Everett players carried on an 8-play drive capped by Davis’s 16-yard sweep of the left side for the score. Matheus Varela’s first of five PATs made it 7-0.Everett’s Omar Herrera recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the St. John’s nine and Davis vaulted up and over the pile from a yard out three plays later. Varela’s kick made it 14-0 with 2:14 left in the opening quarter.St. John’s helped Everett’s third drive with a facemask penalty after Joe D’Onofrio had been stopped well short of a first down on fourth down at the St. John’s 13. D’Onofrio cashed in the gift two plays later from the two and Varela extended the lead to 21-0 with 7:47 left in the half.The Eagles executed the two-minute offense to perfection as quarterback Mike Geaslen completed passes of 25 yards to Logan Mahoney and 39 yards to Jake Burt during a 72-yard drive capped by Geaslen’s fourth-down scoring flip of four yards to Owen Rockett as time expired. Joshua Hilty’s PAT made it 21-7 at the break.Following a scoreless third quarter, St. John’s closed to within a score when junior Cody Harwood finished off the drive during which Thomas was injured with a three-yard run. Hilty’s PAT made it 21-14 with 9:32 to play.However, Everett quarterback Raheem Wingard’s 25-yard scoring run sealed it less than two minutes later and D’Onofrio tacked on his second from three yards with 1:28 left.Everett is now 10-1-2 all-time against St. John’s and 27-8 against Catholic Conference teams under DiBiaso. Incredibly, the Tide has not lost two games in a row since 1993 (Peabody and Waltham).