DANVERS — If Friday night’s Division 1 North semifinal between the No. 3 Acton Boxboro and No. 2 St. John’s Prep football teams was meant to be an offensive slugfest, junior quarterback Matt Crowley and the Eagles were certainly ready for it.
Crowley completed 20-of-31 pass attempts for 295 yards and tossed five touchdown passes, leading St. John’s to a 55-28 win over Acton-Boxboro at Glatz Field.
Receivers Max Freedman (nine catches, 170 yards, three touchdowns) and Wes Rockett (nine catches, 115 yards, two touchdowns) helped take care of the heavy lifting. Eagles running back Trent Tully did the bulk of the damage on the ground, running for 172 yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns. Kicker Sean Majeski went 5-for-6 on PAT’s.
“I knew (Acton-Boxboro) was undefeated for a reason,” St. John’s coach Brian St. Pierre said. “That’s a good team. Offensively we did a lot good things. Defensively we have to clean a lot of things up.”
The Eagles had their way on the ground and through the air in the first half. Crowley opened the scoring with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Freedman (conversion failed). Acton-Boxboro tied the game two minutes later on Finn Murray’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Bernard (PAT failed). Crowley linked up with Freedman again, this time on an 8-yard touchdown toss, giving St. John’s a 14-6 lead (Will Potdevin conversion). That’s how it stayed at the end of the first quarter.
The Colonials answered quickly, scoring on Patrick Kronenwtt’s 54-yard scamper (Murray PAT) 70 seconds into the second quarter. The Eagles scored the next three touchdowns (Rockett 22-yard catch, Freedman 70-yard catch, Tully 3-yard rush). Majeski split the uprights on all three PAT’s and the Eagles led 35-13 with 5:15 remaining in the first half. Victor Otero reeled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Murray for the last score of the half. St. John’s came one yard away from boosting their lead before the break but Acton-Boxboro stopped Crowley one yard short of the end zone on the final play before halftime. At the midway break, the Eagles carried a 35-21 lead.
The offenses slowed down in the third quarter. Rockett padded St. John’s lead to 41-21 with 4:55 on the clock when he caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Crowley-his fifth TD pass of the game (PAT failed).
“Matt keeps growing in the position,” St. Pierre said. “You see the physical skills. He’s maturing. The reads, the overall command of what we’re doing. I’m just glad we have him and we have him for another year too. He runs this team really well. He does a great job and he’s a great leader too.”
Needing a huge rally in the fourth quarter, the Colonials started on the right foot with Murray’s 18-yard touchdown strike to Otero (Murray PAT), slimming St. John’s lead to 41-28. The Eagles sealed their with touchdown carries from Tully (23 yards) and James Guy, Jr. (12 yards) for the 55-28 final (Majeski on both PAT’s).
“We wore them down in the second half,” St. Pierre said. “I think our up tempo hurt them in the first half. They were tired but we just kept making mistakes, hurting ourselves. We didn’t get stops on defense, kept letting them get back in the game. We got it to 35-13 but we couldn’t put the nail in the coffin there until the end but I’m proud of how we finished.”
The Eagles advanced to the Division 1 North final where they’ll host No. 4 Central Catholic next weekend (TBA). St. John’s defeated the Red Raiders earlier this season, a 31-12 Eagles win in Week 2.
“That has no bearing on this game,” St. Pierre said. “They’ve been playing really good football. They do a good job. It’s a huge rivalry. That game has nothing to do with what’s going to happen next Friday night. We have to have a good week of practice and try to get our guys healthy.”
