DANVERS — In last week’s loss to Everett, St. John’s Prep lost starting quarterback Mike Yarin to injury at the end of the first half. When Yarin took himself out after one play of the second half, St. John’s had to throw sophomore Matt Crowley ino the game cold.
Crowley did well, leading the Eagles to three second-half scoring drive. His reward was a start against Malden Catholic at homecoming day Saturday night, and the Crowley made the most out of it. He threw two touchdown passes, and completed six of 11 passes for 64 yards. Yarin, meanwhile, switched to wide receiver.
It wasn’t just him, of course, Aise Pream scored three downs and ran for 68 yards on 12 carries. Both played just about three quarters of football as the Eagles evened their record to 2-2 with a 35-0 win over the Lancers at Glatz Field on the grounds of Cronin Stadium.
This was St. John’s first game under the lights in its new digs and the Eagles had a tough time getting untracked, as did the Lancers. At the end of a quarter, it was 0-0 and The Prep, having lost two straight coming into the game, was hoping for a better start.
No matter. St. John’s poured 28 points on Malden Catholic in the second quarter. The onslaught started five plays into the period after an 8-play drive that started on the Eagles’ 24. The Prep mainly ran the ball, although Crowley did hit John Walsh for a 13-yarder. Pream ran the last two in for the score and it was 7-0 with 9:46 to go in the half.
St. John’s made the score 14-0 after a 7-play drive the started on its own 26. The key plays in the drive were passes to Max Freedman for 25 yards and the scoring pass to Freedman for 37.
After The Prep recovered a fumble on MC’s next possession, it took the Eagles just three plays to score. This time, Pream took off on a 29-yard jaunt up the middle and The Prep had a 21-0 lead with only 2:12 to go in the half.
After a quick three-and-out by MC, Crowley was back on the first play of the Prep’s drive with a 27-yard pass to Pream and it was 28-0 with just a few ticks left on the clock.
St. John’s scored its final touchdown with 7:50 to go in the third quarter on Travis Tully’s 16-yard run.
St. John’s is on the road the next two weeks, at Catholic Memorial Friday and BC High a week after that. The Eagles close the regular portion of their season out at home against Bridgewater-Raynham.
