DANVERS — St. John’s Prep finds itself in a familiar situation on Thanksgiving.
St. John’s, bound for the Division 1 Super Bowl next Saturday, has Turkey Day rival Xaverian on its docket before clashing against Catholic Memorial at Gillette Stadium.
The Eagles faced the same scenario last season. They defeated Catholic Memorial for the state championship but suffered a frustrating 14-12 loss to Xaverian at Fenway Park.
Coach Brian St. Pierre hopes his Eagles have learned from that.
“It’s going to take our best effort to beat them,” St. Pierre said. “I know, from the other side of it, that when they’re in the Super Bowl we like nothing better than to ruin it for them. They’d like to do it to us. We lost by two points to them last year. I hope our kids have learned from that because they’re definitely good enough to beat you.”
In fact, St. John’s hasn’t played its best against Xaverian as of late. The Eagles last defeated their Thanksgiving rival back in 2012.
“There aren’t many boxes for our seniors to check off and that’s one of them,” St. Pierre said. “We definitely have to do something about that. It’s been five, six years now and that’s way too long.
“We have to play our best game. This isn’t a situation where I plan on sitting a senior. I won’t tell a senior that he’s not getting his last shot at beating Xaverian.”
The Eagles are moving in the right direction. St. John’s (9-1) lone loss was a 34-32 defeat to Catholic Memorial on Oct. 12. Since then, the Eagles have won four in a row with two shutouts.
“We’ve played well all year,” St. Pierre said. “We’ve been building it. We were a young team coming in. Catholic Memorial’s an extremely talented team. We went toe-to-toe with them. We didn’t let that define our season. This team has done a good job staying in the moment, continuing to improve and grow.”
Quarterback Matt Crowley carries the offense. Crowley, a senior, took it upon himself to lead a young group of receivers and running backs.
“I’m not surprised that he’s played well,” St. Pierre said. “It’s always nerve wracking when you have an experienced quarterback but a brand new offense. He worked really hard working with them during the offseason. As far as knowledge, the younger guys have worked really hard to get to his level too.”
Sophomore James Guy Jr. drives the ground game. Guy Jr. has battled injuries throughout the season but that hasn’t slowed him down. He carried the ball 34 times for 135 yards en route to a 14-0 win over Central Catholic in the Division 1 North final two weeks ago.
“James rolled his ankle and it hasn’t been the same since mid-season,” St. Pierre said. “To produce like that in tough runs, you don’t see too many backs that can do that anymore. He’s grown up a lot this year. I think he’s playing above his years, certainly.”
Defensively, the Eagles lean on Collin Taylor.
“Collin’s a game wrecker,” St. Pierre said. “He ruins games for offenses. He’s always pressuring the pocket. He makes a lot of tackles too at defensive end. He plays the run really well.”
Tripp Clark guides the linebackers. Matt Duchemin (cornerback) and Pat Nistl (safety) anchor the secondary.
Kickoff’s scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Thursday at Glatz Field.
