DANVERS — When you think of high school football teams in Massachusetts, one of the first names that might come to mind is St. John’s Prep and its historic program.
The Eagles are atop the standings at 4-0 around the halfway mark of the regular season with wins over Marshfield, Londonderry, Central Catholic, and La Salle.
“I am pleased with where we are at as a team in terms of our record and our work ethic,” said coach Brian St. Pierre, former Boston College and NFL quarterback. “And, kind of, where we are at 4-0, which you can’t be better than that. I think there are some areas to grow and I think the kids understand that, so I think as a staff, we are energized by that piece.”
When asked which groups have impressed him, St. Pierre said all three phases have delivered “really good moments.
“I think all three phases can get better as well. We have some youth, we are starting a freshman quarterback, a freshman receiver, and a sophomore tailback, so that is pretty young at key positions and they have all played really well,” he said. “The seniors around them have played really well, but I think we can get better in all three phases.”
Lynn’s Edwin Castro has been a key player as well.
“Edwin has been really solid. He’s a veteran presence for us in the defensive backfield. He starts at corner for us. He also runs some of our beast packages as our beast back, direct-snap running back,” St. Pierre said. “He’s got a lot of skins on the wall. He’s just a steady presence for our guys and a very solid contributor.”
The Eagles are starting a freshman quarterback, but he isn’t your normal rookie. Christopher Vargas is an emerging superstar who already has Division 1 offers from Syracuse, Boston College, and Penn State, among others.
“He has handled the pressure great… He has a group support system around him between his family, teammates, and his staff,” St. Pierre said. “And then, also, our senior returning quarterback Deacon Robillard who has had a ton of success as a starting quarterback here has been very supportive of him and very helpful, so I think he has a great support staff around him, but the kid is special. He’s got a great demeanor and he’s very, very talented, but as good a player he is, he’s a better person and I mean that sincerely. He’s just a great kid, very fun to be around, he works extremely hard, does not expect any treatment different from anyone else on the team, and he’s very humble.”
As a team that’s undefeated and averaging nearly 40 points per game, there is only so much to improve upon, but St. Pierre wants to find it.
“We can be more efficient on offense. There are plays here and there in which we kind of do it to ourselves and the defense does it to us… Defensively, we can tackle better and we can be a little bit more sound in terms of reading our keys and getting our reads on the field, but we have been getting better. Special teams, our kicking game has been very, very good and our coverage team on kickoff has been excellent. I would like to see our punt game get a little bit better. We have not had to punt a lot, which is a good thing.”
The goal is always to win a state championship, but St. Pierre is taking it one week at a time.
“We try to take it incrementally each week, so we are just trying to go 1-0 this week. But we are in the conference now, what’s done is done, and now, it’s a new season. We are getting into the conference and we have to win this week,” he said. “We know the outsider expectations of our program and that’s great. The kids have aspirations – as they should. We put more pressure on ourselves than anyone on the outside is going to and that’s how we play the game.”
The Prep looks for 5-0 this Saturday in a road game against St. John’s Shrewsbury (noon).
Owen Finn is student at Endicott College studying journalism
