By Mukala Kabongo
NEFJ Staff

DANVERS — St. John’s Prep bounced back from last week’s Catholic Memorial ugliness with a 28-0 victory over Boston College High on Friday night.

You could say this game was a gut check one for the host Eagles after the disastrous performance against CM this past Saturday. Was it time to hit the panic button? No, but it was time to see how this team responds from such a lopsided loss after not being tested much this season.

Well, Prep responded in a big way. SJP (7-1, 4-1) went back to the identity Brian St. Pierre instilled when he took over at his alma mater, which has always been a strong running game and physical defense.

“We needed to get back to winning the line of scrimmage, last week we lost the line of scrimmage on both sides,” said St. Pierre.

Jordan Toribio and Jeff Quigley took the challenge of establishing the running game as the duo combined to rush for 177 yards. Toribio made the biggest play in the second quarter.

After Chris Vargas connected with Merrick Barlow – who made a circus catch for 38-yards to get the Eagles to BC High territory – Toribio broke loose for a 46-yard touchdown run to give Prep the 14-0 lead.

“I saw the opening, I saw the whole, I saw the linebacker fill, made a move, cut outside, he tried to push me out of bounds. I stayed inside and kept running,” Toribio said.

The Prep defense – after giving up 34 points last week – bounced in a very big way, allowing 134 yards of total offense. The SJP D also had one sack and added an interception late in the game.

“We shut down the run and made them one dimensional,” said St. Pierre. “I thought our defense really stepped up.”

While the defense was making life difficult for BC High’s offense, St. John’s Prep’s offense started finding its groove. Early on, Vargas overthrew a few deep balls, but that changed in the third quarter when he connected with a wide open Pierson Scala down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown that put his squad up 21-0.

“We didn’t let last week’s game affect us,” said Toribio. “We put that game behind us.”

Vargas – who did not play his best last week – looked like his normal self as he threw for 117 yards and two touchdowns after throwing two interceptions last week.

“The response from last week was huge” said St. Pierre. “When you get knocked down it’s important to see guys get back up.”

Now, the Eagles await who they will face in the postseason when the pairings come out this Sunday. St. John’s Prep may have a chance to be ranked No. 1 in the Division 1 rankings by knocking off BC High, who was the No. 1 team in Division 1 coming into this matchup according to the MIAA ratings.

The Prep team we saw on Friday is the team that we normally see this time of the year. You always want to go into the postseason feeling good, leading up to this game the sting from the loss to Catholic Memorial was still lingering, but the Eagles regained a lot of confidence and their identity by getting back in the win column.

Now, the Eagles should still be viewed as the favorites in D1 just a few wins away from returning to Gillette Stadium.