DANVERS — Late mistakes will hurt any team, and the St. John’s Prep football team learned that the hard way Saturday afternoon after giving up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to fall, 35-28, in an upset loss to St. John’s (Shrewsbury) at Cronin Memorial Stadium.
Prep quarterback Jack Perry had a solid game in the loss, completing 13-of-23 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Jesse Ofurie caught two touchdowns for the Eagles, while wide receiver Stephon Patrick had one touchdown reception and running back Carson Browne had one rushing touchdown.
And while the Eagles were able to force a turnover on defense and block a punt on special teams, it wasn’t enough to counteract the massive performance from Pioneers running back Sebastien Romain — who carried the ball 25 times for 246 yards and two touchdowns while also notching a touchdown reception.
Things got off to an ominous start for the Prep, as Romain broke free for an 82-yard touchdown run on the very first play of the game.
But the Eagles responded nicely, coming right back and tying the score when Perry connected with Patrick on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Perry later found Ofurie for the first of his two touchdown receptions to make it 14-7, but St. John’s (Shrewsbury) quickly came back and tied the score at 14-14 when Ryan Conan scored on a wildcat run from five yards out.
The Eagles started to gain some momentum after Mason McSweeney blocked a punt to set the Prep up with good field position. A few plays later, Perry found Ofurie on a 27-yard touchdown pass to give the Eagles a 21-14 lead.
But that momentum was short-lived, as Romain came back on the next drive with another 82-yard run and then capped the drive with a five-yard touchdown to knot things up, 21-21, at the halftime break.
The third quarter was largely uneventful until the final minutes, when Prep linebacker Dylan Wodarski came up with a huge interception in the end zone to stop a Pioneers scoring drive. The Eagles went on to take advantage on the other end, as Browne punched in a one-yard touchdown run to put the Prep up 28-21.
But then came the fourth quarter.
St. John’s (Shrewsbury) quarterback Ryan Miller threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Keith Sarkodieh to make it 28-27; then St. John’s Prep fumbled the ensuing kickoff to give the ball right back. It took seven plays for the Pioneers to find the end zone again — this time on an 11-yard connection from Miller to Mike Bonsu — and take a 33-28 lead.
The Eagles had one more possession from there, but Perry was sacked to force a punt with five minutes to play and St. John’s Prep was never able to get the ball back.
St. John’s Prep finishes the regular season at 6-2 and now looks ahead to the Division 1 state tournament.
