DANVERS — A flock of angry Eagles swarmed Fred Glatz Field Thursday morning, and it wasn’t to celebrate coach Brian St. Pierre’s 40th birthday.
It was to determine who was the best team among the two in this year’s rivalry — the 52nd game since the teams began playing in 1968. And when St. John’s Prep finished doing a total Alfred Hitchcock on Xaverian, those Eagles left no doubt about who the best team is this year. They thumped Xaverian, 35-0.
“We didn’t like how last year’s game (a 14-12 loss at Fenway Park) ended,” said St. Pierre. “We felt we’d outplayed them. We felt that we were the better team that night. We should have won that game.”
And even though St. John’s went onto win a Division 1 Super Bowl in 2018 over Catholic Memorial, and even though the two teams will renew their rivalry Saturday, Dec. 7 (8 p.m.) at Gillette Stadium, there was the matter of Xaverian to settle.
“We were mad,” admitted Lynn’s James Guy Jr, the sophomore running back who lit up the Hawks for 151 yards on 23 carries, and scored three touchdowns. “We saw how the seniors last year reacted to that game, and we didn’t want it to happen again.”
Or, to put it another way, “anyone who doesn’t think Thanksgiving is important ought to come to our game,” St. Pierre said. “It’s important to us.”
Though Xaverian won its three previous games before Thursday’s, they were all non-playoff games. During the championship part of the season, Xaverian was 1-6 and missed the playoffs for the first time since the current system came into being in 2013.
“They’ve struggled,” St. Pierre said. “But they’re still our rivals, and we want to beat them.”
St. Pierre makes no secret of his desire to ambush opponents, especially if the Eagles are home, before they know what hit them. That was certainly the case Thursday. Twenty-eight of those 35 points came in the first half, and 14 of them came on the first two possessions.
Xaverian tried to do the same thing, really, but a potentially fruitful drive ended abruptly when Matt Mitchell picked off a Michael Berluti pass, setting The Prep (10-1) up on its own 21. Three plays later, quarterback Matt Crowley, who didn’t have to throw the ball too much, hit Matt Duchemin with a 22-yarder (Duchemin would later make the day’s most spectacular play on a punt return), and the Eagles had a first down on the 50. Next thing anybody knew, Guy was scooting down the near sideline en route to a 50-yard touchdown run and, with the first of Liam Fabbri’s five PATs, it was 7-0.
After a Xaverian three-and-out, St. John’s was back for more, with Crowley hitting Anthony Fagan in the far corner of the end zone with a 9-yarder to make the score 14-0.
“James,” said St. Pierre,” runs hard, and he runs well, but that line. Those guys were phenomenal. And James knows how to follow those blocks.
“This was a weight-room game,” said St. Pierre, referring to the amount of strength training his players have done. “Just like our last one (a Division 1 North final win over Central Catholic) was.”
There was more to come in the second quarter, even though Xaverian spent more time on the field than The Prep did. That was because St. John’s incurred penalties on three straight Hawk possessions that kept drives going, but Xaverian couldn’t capitalize.
“All I’m interested in is keeping them out of the end zone and getting us in the end zone,” said St. Pierre.
With all that, The Prep extended its lead to 21-0 on another spectacular Guy run, this one from 24 yards out.
Once again, Xaverian went three-and-out, and Duchemin had to back-pedal to the Prep 10 to catch a punt that was launched from midfield. He caught it like a good center fielder would, and started upfield. Twice, it looked as if he would be tripped up, and both times he managed to escape. After righting himself the second time, Duchemin hit stride and took it to the house.
That made the score 28-0 at the half. In the third quarter, St. John’s kept the ball for nine minutes, putting together a 12-play, 80-yard drive before Guy took it the final three yards for his third touchdown. In all, Xaverian ran only eight plays in the second half.
Did St. Pierre feel as if this was a message game to Catholic Memorial and coach John DiBiaso?
“Not really,” he said. “Every game’s unique. It could be snowing next Saturday, or it could be 65. I’d be good with 65.”
