Methuen won its D1 first round game this week over Franklin, 35-21.

Now, the Rangers have the challenge of facing top-seeded St. John’s Prep.

We wanted to talk to Methuen coach Tom Ryan about that challenge and the rest of his team.

Here is an edited version of that conversation.

Adam Kurkjian: I first want to talk to you about Shane Eason. The guy is an unbelievable running back. What has he meant to your program, because he’s been there since he was a freshman, right? What has he meant to your program? He’s a big-play back. He catches the ball. He runs the ball. He does everything well. What’s his impact been on your program?

TR: I think probably the biggest impact is that, with a lot of other communities are losing kids like him to these phony private schools and different things. He stayed the course and understood that what we have going on here at Methuen is pretty special. Kids see that and understand it helps the buy-in with the program with kids. When an elite kid like that decides to stay home and do the right thing and be part of Methuen, others will follow. That, for me, has been the biggest thing.

AK: You’ve got St. John’s Prep coming up. Like we were talking about earlier, how much does it help your kids that you had the scrimmage with them this year, and you were right there with them, three touchdowns to three touchdowns?

TR: It helps in the fact that we are even-level talented with them. It helps that we know what they run a little bit. Of course, there are going to be some changes, but I think the kids’ psyche understands that we’ll show up to the stadium, we’re not going to be awestruck, for sure. We know what they do. We know that we match up well against them. It’s going to be whoever is going to execute the best on Friday night is going to win. I think that’s where our advantage lies in scrimmaging them earlier.

AK: You lost a great quarterback in Drew Eason to graduation. He’s at Stonehill now. What has Josh Danella’s impact been like this season? He’s run the offense extremely well.

TR: He’s had an incredible season. He had some huge shoes to fill. The best part about him is he’s never tried to come in and be Drew Eason. He’s always tried to come in and be Josh Danella. He’s literally improving every single game with his reads and different things he has. He throws the ball well. He runs the ball well. I can’t say enough about the job that he’s done this year. That’s been a huge reason why we’ve been successful.

AK: Over the last five, 10 years, you guys have established, you’re more than a good team. You’re a good program. You replace good players with other good players. You find a way to win in a tough league (the Merrimack Valley Conference). Do you feel like you guys have really established something now at Methuen?

TR: Yeah, absolutely. When we came he 12 years ago, we just tried to build a consistent winner. We did that through the weight room and different things we do. We got in pretty elite X’s and O’s, especially offensively. Our offensive coordinator, Ryan Dugan, is the best in the state in terms of scheming things up with the personnel in which we have. The kids understand that and they understand that how much work that the coaching staff has put in. That’s, to me, an elite program. You look at the numbers we have on the sideline, you look at the product we’re producing on the field, it speaks for itself.