DANVERS ― Things started out badly for St. John’s Prep Friday night against Catholic Memorial, and they only got worse from there.
The Eagles lost their first game of the season as the Knights routed them, 38-9, in a game between two of the state’s elite powerhouses that ended up being finished in running time.
“They’re good,” said Prep coach Brian St. Pierre. “I tip my cap to them. They have a lot of talent.”
This rivalry has taken on a pattern. The Knights would win the regular-season game, which they did in 2018 and 2019, and the Eagles would come back to beat them in the Division 1 Super Bowl in December.
That won’t happen this year. The Knights have moved down to Division 2.
“Good luck to Division 2,” St. Pierre said. “They don’t belong in Division 2. They belong in the (Atlantic Coast Conference).”
St. John’s opening kick went out of bounds, and the rekick gave Memorial, 6-0, the ball on its own 35. After a short completion, Datrell Jones took off on a sweep down the far side of the field for a 32-yard gain. Carson Harwood completed the job on the next play, running for 13 yards for the score and a 7-0 CM lead.
St. John’s went right to work, taking the ball on its 22 and moving all the way to the CM 12 before Memorial’s Devon Marshall picked Jack Perry off at the 5-yard line, and ran it all the way back to the Prep 8.
It took CM’s Kyle King three plays before he ran it in from the 1-yard line with 6:24 to go in the first quarter to make it 14-0.
“I thought we moved the ball well,” said St. Pierre. “We did exactly what I wanted us to do. We just didn’t finish our drives.”
St. Pierre lamented both turnovers and bad tackling for the one-sided score.
“We really have to address our tackling,” he said. “We did not tackle well.”
St. John’s got a 22-yard field goal from Lucas Verrier to make it 14-3 in the second quarter, but missed a chance to make more inroads into the CM lead when it fumbled on the Knights’ 34.
It was still a game at the half (14-3) but when the Eagles fumbled on their first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, CM scooped it up and scored three plays later on Jones’ 26-yard run. The Knights scored twice more before the quarter ended, one on a 16-yard pass from JC Petrongelo to Jaeden Skeete and then on a field goal by Jack Sokol to make it 31-3 heading into the fourth quarter. Jones scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run to usher in running time.
The Eagles’ Stephon Patrick ran it in from the 5-yard line game’s last play to account for their only touchdown.
The Eagles (5-1) are at home Friday (6) against BC High.
