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Prep looks to build momentum vs. Billerica

Thursday, October, 18 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

At this point in the season the St. John's Prep football team must be starting to feel like the characters in the movie "National Lampoon's Vacation."

Like the movie's Griswold family, which spends an inordinate amount of time reaching the theme park Wally World, only to find out that it's closed for maintenance, the 3-3 Eagles have endured what seems like an interminable wait to play a Catholic Conference game.

The Prep still isn't there yet | the Eagles open conference play at Catholic Memorial next week | but Billerica will serve as an extremely valuable substitute tomorrow night on the road (7 p.m., Calabrese Field).

Billerica is 5-1 and is ranked No. 9 in Eastern Mass. Senior quarterback Tim Morrison has 13 touchdown passes and has thrown for more than 1,000 yards. Senior running back Ken Mangie has collected 12 touchdowns, split evenly between the run and the pass. Coach Peter Flynn, who is in his 19th season, has a lot of weapons, period.

"They have a lot of big-play threats," Prep senior guard/defensive end Nate Brakeley of Marblehead said of Billerica, which made a big fourth quarter comeback to down the Eagles, 29-28, last season.

For the Prep, this is steppingstone game. Facing a quality opponent, the Eagles don't want to slide backwards now that the Catholic Conference games are imminent. The reverse is also true. Win this game and the Prep is going to feel mighty good about its chances in its final four games.

"I'm looking at this as our first conference game," said Prep senior quarterback Scott Darby of Tewksbury, stressing the importance of the upcoming task. "Actually, it started last week with a win (25-14 over St. John's of Shrewsbury, another non-conference foe). That was a good one for us because we started sloppy, turning it over on our first two drives, but we came back strong.

"We want to win every game we play, whether it's a conference game or not. We play a lot of good (non-conference) teams: Everett, Brockton...a lot of good teams. Billerica has been up there (in the rankings) all year. We can get ourselves going by beating a team like that."

Billerica's lone loss came last week against Dracut, a team that also defeated the Eagles (23-16) this season. The Indians may carry some residual anger from the Dracut game, but the Prep can't worry about it. After dropping three straight games earlier in the season, the Eagles must keep building off their win over St. John's of Shrewsbury.

"We need this one for momentum," said Peter Neal, the Prep's senior cornerback/wide receiver from Lynnfield. "No doubt about it, this is a big game for us. We both lost to Dracut and now we're both trying to get back on track.

"We know Billerica is really good in the passing game, so we're going to have to watch for that. But we're playing better than we were. Pat Dempsey got his first touchdown last week (on a five-yard pass from Darby) and Patrick Higgins scored (his second TD of the season). We're getting more kids involved."

Statistically, the Prep doesn't match up to Billerica. In addition to Morrison and Mangie, who've put up huge numbers, the Indians have Kyle Higgins, who has four touchdown receptions, and Jimmy Sorenson, who has two touchdown catches and two rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Eagles top runner has been Derek Coppola (78 carries, 366 yards) and no one else has 200 yards. Darby has thrown for 394 yards and five touchdowns.

But the Eagles have never been about numbers. They've condensed this game into the basics, asking themselves what they need to do to win. As Prep coach Jimmy O'Leary pointed out, this non-conference game is even more important than his players might think.

"It has postseason implications," said O'Leary. "If we end up tied for first in the Catholic Conference, one of the tiebreakers has to do with the schedule you play. It's a rating system. Billerica is good, so beating them would mean a lot in the ratings. Believe me, these kids will be hearing about that before (tomorrow's) kickoff.

"But we have to play well. We try to approach each game the same way. You just can't flip a switch to play well. No team is good enough to do it that way. Not even the New England Patriots can flip a switch."

Who: St. John's Prep (3-3) vs. Billerica (5-1)

When: Tomorrow night, 7 p.m.

Where: Calabrese Field at the Marshall Middle School, Billerica

Last year's game: Billerica, 29-28

Key to the game: Prep defense must slow down Billerica's top skill players, Ken Mangie (12 touchdowns, 479 yards rushing) and quarterback Tim Morrison (13 touchdown passes), who threw for five touchdowns in a 34-27 win over Andover.