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Evangelista, Central surge past powerhouse St. John's Prep

Tuesday, January, 11 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — During Central Catholic’s three-game losing skid early in the season, Raiders star Tommy Evangelista was stuck watching helplessly from the scoring table.

“In my second shift against Austin Prep I injured the joint in my shoulder,” said the 2010 Eagle-Tribune All-Star. “I had to miss three games, and it killed me having to do the scoring clock and watching my team. But I think we are back in the swing of things now.”

After St. John’s Prep surged back form a two-goal deficit to tie the game, it was Evangelista’s goal that set the Raiders back on track, propelling Central Catholic to a 4-3 victory over the Eagles, the No. 6 team in Eastern Mass., last night in a battle between two teams fighting for a Super 8 berth.

“This is a huge win,” said Evangelista. “This will help us in the rankings, and now we feel confident we can beat anyone in the state.”

This was Central Catholic’s fourth straight win, and second straight over St. John’s Prep (3-2-1), which entered the game red hot following a victory over Boston College High School.

The Eagles seemed to have taken control of the game, rallying back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game with 6:18 left in the second period.

But then Evangelista struck.

With the Raiders on a rush, Nick Pelrine dropped a pass back to Evangelista, who blasted the puck top right corner over the blocker of Prep goalie David Letarte. It was Evangelista’s fifth goal during the Raiders’ winning streak.

“That was a huge goal,” said senior Nick Leonard. “Tommy is one of our leaders, and it is huge to have him on the ice.”

The diminutive Evangelista was also more than up to the task of facing one of the top players in the state, in Harvard-bound St. John’s Prep center Colin Blackwell of North Andover. The central junior won a number of faceoffs against the star and even used his body to push him off the puck.

“Blackwell is an amazing player,” said Evangelista. “A Division 1 player. I’ve been playing against him my whole life. He’s quick, but I figured him out and it was a pretty even match.”

Just 2:24 after Evangelista’s goal, Leonard added an impressive score of his own. Leonard blasted a shot that was stopped by Letarte, but he got his stick on the rebound and flicked it into the net to give the Raiders a 4-2 advantage.

The Prep managed one last surge, with Blackwell scoring his second goal of the day with 9:17 left in the game

But Central held from there. Kyle Williams made 16 of his 35 saves in the final period, and when we was caught far to his left trying to play the puck, defenseman Josh Gallagher went into a baseball-type slide to kick a puck away from the right corner early in the third.

“You can’t say enough about the job Kyle did,” said Central coach Mike Jankowski. “And our defense held tonight when it counted.”

Sophomore Mike Kelleher gave the Raiders the lead. He opened the scoring when he took a pass from Evangelista and tipped the puck into the net with 5:11 left in the first. He added a second goal with 0:46 left in the period, sending in a soft shot that eluded Letarte.

Blackwell sparked the Prep rally with his first goal of the night, then set up the second Eagles goal, by Scott Derrickson. But Central quickly responded.

Despite the Prep holding a clear size advantage, the Raiders set a physical tone early thanks to bone-crushing hits dealt by Kelleher, Leonard and Jake Donahue.

“We started the season pretty shaky,” said Leonard. “But we have found the team now. We are outworking teams, and this is exactly the kind of win we needed. It gives us confidence and keeps out winning streak going. We keep rolling.”