No panic for St. John’s Prep
Tops Marshfield on last-second heroics
MARSHFIELD — When Marshfield’s Owen Masterson hit Jason O’Keefe with a 34-yard touchdown pass with 40.8 seconds remaining and followed with a twopoint conversion rush to put his team ahead for the first time all game, it was tough to imagine that it would only take runner-up in the category of clutch performances by a senior quarterback in the final minute on Friday night.
Jack Perry connected with Jesse Ofurie on a 26-yard strike in the back of the end zone with five seconds to play, lifting St. John’s Prep to a wild 47-42 victory over the Rams to open the season.
Perry took over from his own 27 with 34.3 seconds left and went 73 yards in four plays, completing a pair of passes for 27 yards, then scrambling to 20 to set up the game-winning toss, an incredible throw while running for his life toward the right sideline.
“The right side of the line collapsed. I was looking left first and came back to the right and my guys came back to the ball,” said Perry, who finished 19-of-31 for 280 yards and three TDs passing and ran for a 39-yard score as well. “They were running posts and they came open, both of them. It was never in doubt. You can’t guard No. 5 (Ofurie).”
It was a thrilling conclusion to a contest that saw Marshfield rally after falling behind 28-7 in the first half and 41-27 early in the fourth quarter after the third touchdown of the game from Prep star running back James Guy, who ran for 185 yards on the night.
A 60-yard catch and run by O’Keefe set up the third score on the ground from Jack Marini, cutting the Prep lead to 41-34.
Marshfield managed to get consecutive stops on defense, a rarity on the night, the second one giving them the ball at the Prep 45 with 1:46 to play, plenty of time for the Rams high-tempo offense, which cashed in on another great O’Keefe snag with 40.8 ticks left.
Marshfield called timeout to discuss the conversion call and elected to go for two instead of the tie. Masterson pulled the ball out of Marini’s stomach on the read play and kept it for the 42-41 edge.
“With 40 seconds to go the length of the field, that’s special,” said Prep coach Brian St. Pierre. “I don’t like that we were in that position though. Marshfield is a really good team. It was a great scene, a great atmosphere to be back to normal football, but we have to play better.”