RallyNorth.net

St. John's Prep football regains its edge

Saturday, October, 13 By Jean DePlacido
Staff writer

The trip to Shrewsbury didn't start off auspiciously for St. John's Prep. They ran into traffic, and their buses pulled up to the field 15 minutes before game time. To compound problems the Eagles were offside on their first play, and then fumbled the ball away.

But they overcame the early difficulties to hand the Pioneers their second loss of the season, 25-14, and put an end to a three-game losing streak.

"There's no question about it, this is a much needed win," said Prep coach Jim O'Leary, whose team is now 3-3. "The kids had been playing hard, both against Brockton and Dracut, but we didn't win either game. Last week was a very frustrating loss (23-16 to Dracut)."

"I'm happy with the win. We had some penalties (10-105 yards) but we didn't have the turnovers we had a week ago (six compared to two against St. John's Shrewsbury). Everybody is going to try to take Derek Coppola away, but if we can get the fullback running hard, throw the ball to the outside, and use Derek (at tailback) we will be okay offensively."

Spreading out the offense worked well for the Eagles with fullback Patrick Higgins leading the attack with 85 yards and a touchdown while Coppola added 83 yards, and quarterback Scott Darby was 3 for 6 for 61 yards with a touchdown pass. He ran for another score.

Neither team could generate much offense until the Eagles mounted a four-play, 60-yard drive to get on the board with just 10 seconds left in the half. Darby threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Dempsey for a 6-0 lead at intermission, the score set up by a 52-yard Darby strike to Peter Neal, who raced down the left sideline to the Pioneer 8-yard line. Three plays later they were on the board.

The turning point in the game came on the Prep's second half kickoff return by sophomore speedster Brendon Felder, who took the ball on his own 4-yard line, shook off a couple of tackles near the 20, cut to the outside and raced 96 yards to give his team a 12-0 cushion.

"That return was huge, and I have to credit special teams coach Paul Uva," said O'Leary. "I told the offensive line at halftime that at some point they would have to get first downs (after only four in the first half). That gave us a huge lift, and on our next drive we were able to control the ball. Our offensive line is starting to play better. We're at the midpoint of the season, and that is important."

The Prep scored again on its next possession, going 71 yards on 13 plays. Higgins capped the drive with an 11-yard scamper up the middle. Higgins had a big part in the final touchdown drive, breaking loose for a 30-yard run to set up a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, and two plays later Darby crashed into the end zone.

Both Pioneer scores came in the fourth quarter, and after each one they tried an onside kick. Joe White recovered the first to set up the Eagles' last touchdown, and Griffin Cardew caught the other to allow the Prep to run out the clock.