Xaverian D stops SJP
DANVERS — Any time your defense can hold a team to a 25% success rate in the red zone, the odds are likely in your favor come the final whistle. And with goal-line stops on two separate drives on Saturday, as well as a forced missed field goal, that’s exactly what the No. 3 Xaverian defense did to ensure a 35-14 blowout win over Catholic Conference rival No. 12 St. John’s Prep.
Pair that defensive tenacity with two touchdown runs from Joe Kelcourse (20 carries, 164 yards) in a fourth-quarter effort that blew the game wide open, and the Hawks (4-0) left town feeling good about more than the 70 degrees they just played in. Especially considering the blowout win SJP had over Xaverian last year.
“This is still a rival, this is a championship game,” said head coach Al Fornaro. “In the Catholic Conference, we have five games. You win those five, you’ve got the conference championship. We had to take care of business, we played well.”
“This was a big game coming off of last year, we weren’t happy,” added Kelcourse. “Last year they blew us out, this year we won. So we’re happy, but now we have next week.”
In a game James Guy (25 carries, 90 rushing yards, TD) struggled to get going for the Eagles (2-3) despite ripping off 187 yards the week before, Xaverian did an excellent job preventing whatever success SJP had on offense from turning into points. That proved pivotal as the Hawks struggled to score themselves, outside of an opening-drive TD run and an 80-yard punt return from Michael Oates for a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
First, SJP quarterback Victor Harrington connected beautifully with Jesse Ofurie for one of his four completed long balls on the opening drive to eventually get to the 18 yard-line, only for a field-goal attempt to go off the back of the center’s helmet.
Harrington (8-of-25, 179 yards, TD, interception) struggled as he kept throwing deep much of the game, so the offense stagnated until Oates muffed a punt at the Xaverian 12 right after ripping off his TD return. Yet after getting to the 3-yard line for second down, the Hawks clamped down on rushes up the middle to force a turnoveron-downs.
Fast-forward to the third quarter after Michael Berluti’s 7-yard TD keeper run made it 21-7, and much of the same punishment came from Xaverian’s defense. A long completion to Jackson Delaney led to a first-andgoal, and the front seven forced an incompletion and two stops at the goal line to force another turnover-ondowns.
Between the three redzone stops and the 2-for-10 third-down conversion rate Xaverian held SJP to, the defensive effort proved back-breaking for the Eagles and invigorating for the Hawks.
“Absolutely huge (stops),” Farano said. “When you can turn somebody back when things are in doubt, and it looks like they’re going to get on the scoreboard or even get ahead, to do that — we pride the goal line . ... Having a goal-line stand, that’s a huge turnaround.”
The only red zone trip St. John’s Prep scored on was an 8-yard TD run from Guy to cut the deficit to 14-7 in the second quarter, but the importance of that drive mattered little once the fourth came. Kelcourse ran free for touchdowns of 20 and 49 yards in a 94-yard rushing frame, negating a late touchdown connection from Harrington to Delaney (six receptions, 125 yards) to put the game away.