BOSTON — The St. Mary’s Spartans certainly made the most of their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play inside of Fenway Park Wednesday afternoon, cruising to a 34-21 victory over rival Austin Prep.
The Spartans were featured in one of the five high school Thanksgiving games at the ballpark, and wasted no time getting the fun started.
A sack from senior Nick Sacco got the Spartans’ defense off to a good start. Following the sack, they forced a short punt that gave St. Mary’s good field position at the Austin Prep 26-yard line. From there, it took just two plays for St. Mary’s to find the endzone as senior running back David Brown scampered in off of a 15 yard catch-and-run.
On the ensuing kickoff, St. Mary’s attempted an onside kick to try and steal a possession. The gamble paid off as the Spartans recovered. It was another quick scoring drive for St. Mary’s which resulted in a Derrick Coungales rushing touchdown for the Spartans’ second score of the day – two touchdowns in just over one minute of game time.
Coungales had a solid day on the ground and a number of eye-popping plays throughout the game. He commented on his big-play ability after the game, saying that’s what Coach Sean Driscoll expects from him.
“I feel like that big play first play of the game is kind of expected out of me,” Coungales said. “A couple times this year I broke out that big play first play of the game. I feel like that changes the momentum for the rest of the game.”
Austin Prep put together a touchdown drive on its third possession. Quarterback Zachary Hayes used his legs on a number of scrambles to keep the drive going. A 23-yard run by Troy Varoudakis made it a 13-7 ballgame.
The Spartans shut down Hayes and the Austin Prep offense for the rest of the half after that touchdown. After the game, Driscoll talked about how the team kept Austin Prep from making a comeback.
“Sometimes we struggle when we get a little bit of a lead and take our foot off the gas a little bit,” said Driscoll. “They [St. Mary’s defense] revved it up afterwards and got out of it. We made some adjustments to kind of contain him.”
The Spartans immediately responded with a 67-yard drive led by Guy. He ended the drive with a 1-yard keeper to make it 20-7 with 1:07 left to play in a high-scoring first quarter.
Austin Prep got the ball back in the second after forcing a turnover on downs. The drive got off to a promising start, but a fumble after a 20-yard gain put the ball right back into the Spartans’ hands.
The Cougars defense tried everything they could to keep its team in contention after forcing another punt, only for junior linebacker Joel Maggs to intercept a pass and run it back for a 60-yard pick six. Maggs read the quarterback’s eyes perfectly and jumped the receiver’s route with no one having a chance to catch him. The score favored St. Mary’s 27-7 with 3:22 to play in the half.
The Cougars received the second half kickoff and needed to put together a scoring drive. However, an interception by senior defensive back Omri Merryman ended any hope of an Austin Prep comeback. Merryman finished the day with two of the team’s four interceptions.
Guy and Sacco put the dagger in the Cougars when the two connected on a 46-yard bomb that got the Sparans down to the 2-yard line. Eighth grade running back Maxwell Parent got into the endzone on a 2-yard carry to make the score 34-7.
Prep got on the board two more times, including a 65-yard touchdown as time expired to make the final score a more respectable outcome, but St. Mary’s dominated through and through.
Even with a championship game next week at Gillette Stadium, St. Mary’s starters played the majority of the contest, which Driscoll commented on after the game.
“We came out with the guys we always play. There’s always a debate, do you play your guys? That’s the debate across Massachusetts on Thanksgiving,” he said. “But I’m proud of my guys, they prepared well and we got ready to go.”
It was an incredible experience for the players that was made even better by a dominant win over a Thanksgiving rival. The Spartans now prepare for their Division 6 state championship game against Stoneham on Saturday, December 3 at 3 p.m in Foxborough.
