SJP ignores hype, blasts Central Catholic
DANVERS — The St. John’s Prep Eagles had heard all the chatter about how good Central Catholic was: CC’s 67-point outburst in the opener, Ayden Pereira’s 10 TDs, etc.
ST. jOhn’S prEp 49 CEnTrAl CAThOliC 14
This week Prep, ranked No. 4 in The Herald Sweet 16, is likely to garner the headlines after a 49-14 dismantling of the No. 3 Raiders.
While Pereira owned Week 1 in Massachusetts, it was St. John’s quarterback Jack Perry who seized Week 2 with an epic first-half performance.
The senior clicked on 14 of 20 passes for 223 yards and six touchdowns — all before intermission — as St. John’s overwhelmed the visitors from the Merrimack Valley Conference.
“I think the better team won. Coming in, we were told it’s probably not going to be close,” said Prep Coach Brian St. Pierre, who sent many a reminder about that presumption to his team all week long.
“I felt good about our team going in. I know last week (47-42 win over Marshfield) we didn’t play great, but I don’t think we caught them by surprise.”
St. John’s led 21-7 after one quarter, then poured on the gas for a 42-7 halftime lead.
“We were clicking, we prepared all week. We put in some new stuff that played to our strengths, played to their weaknesses. I knew they couldn’t cover our guys. We were open all day, and I was just hitting them,” said Perry, who finished the day early at 15 of 23 for 262. “I love throwing to them. It’s crazy that we’re all in one spot. We play our game. If you come in here thinking you’re going to win, it’s going to be a long day.”
Senior Jackson Delaney was uncoverable, pacing Prep with 5 catches for 133 yards and three TDs. Junior Jesse Ofurie added five receptions, two for scores, and totaled 52 yards. Explosive junior Stephon Patrick pitched in with three grabs, including a middle screen on which he just put it into overdrive, running away from the Central secondary for a 47-yard score.
“I thought our guy was pretty good,” said St. Pierre of Perry. “I liked our guy. I thought he played great.”
Pereira and the Raiders never got anything going. Central was outgained 318 to 61 in the first half with its lone score coming on an 89yard kick return from Kolten Williams.
“The expectations here are what they are. We don’t set out to beat Central every year in Week 2. We set out to go deep and win state titles around here,” said St. Pierre.
“I thought our kids played very, very physically with them. They don’t see teams like us. They see us. That’s about it. Springfield Central is a different type of team, and then they play in the Merrimack Valley, where … That’s not us.”
The Prep has now won the last five meetings between the schools.
“They kicked our ass. We didn’t get stops, we didn’t do anything offensively, my hat’s off to them,” said Raider coach Chuck Adamopoulos.
Pereira was under siege all day long, and things got worse when the Raiders lost two-way end Preston Zinter to what looked like a thigh injury early in the first quarter.
After scoring Springfield Central for 602 yards of offense, the senior QB finished 9-of-19 for 58 yards through the air and ran 13 time for 64 yards.
Perry said his team was focused despite hearing all week how great Central was.
“It meant nothing to us, it doesn’t matter what other people say,” said Perry. “I knew the papers were going to be all over them. We don’t get much love in the media. We show up to play, and that’s all we need to do.”