BY Tyler Amaral
NEFJ Correspondent
WEST ROXBURY – No. 3 Catholic Memorial had revenge on its mind and delivered on the field with a 34-0 rout over top-ranked St. John’s Prep.
The Knights were led by a pair of Boston College commits; Jackson Tucker on defense and Mekhi Dodd on offense.
The game was highly competitive throughout the first half, with Catholic Memorial holding a 7-0 lead until the final play of the half.
As time expired in the first half, Catholic Memorial – with no timeouts – rushed to the line of scrimmage, got the snap off and Dodd plunged in for his second touchdown of the afternoon. Dodd was stood up on first contact but kept his legs churning and extended his arms to break the plane to make the score 14-0.
Dodd opened the scoring in the game earlier in the half on a 3-yard touchdown run. Two plays prior to the touchdown, Dodd found some open space and gashed the Eagle defense for 64 yards.
“It was hard watching my team lose [to St. John’s Prep] last year” said Dodd who missed the majority of his junior season with a knee injury. “I just used that as motivation and I was able to run all over them on the field.”
Sandwiched between the Catholic Memorial touchdowns was St. John’s Prep’s best chance to score. After an errant long snap, the Eagles had the ball inside the Knights 20. Facing a fourth down and two yards to go, Chris Vargas’s pass to Merrick Barlow fell incomplete.
Dodd alone out-gained the St. John’s Prep offense 145 yards to 62.
“I’ve gotta thank my offensive line first” said Dodd. “They push hard. They work hard in practice everyday. And they tell me before games that they’ve got me, so I trust them.”
St. John’s Prep (6-1) received the opening kickoff hoping to cut into the Knights lead. Instead, the star freshman Vargas was intercepted by fellow freshman Liam Conlon. Conlon returned the interception 25 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 21-0 in favor of the hosts. The pick-six proved to be the knockout punch.
On the next possession, Tucker picked off a Vargas pass.
“We knew they had a good team” said Tucker. “We just slowed down, executed and played to the best of our abilities.”
Three plays later it was Dodd scoring again, on a 61-yard scamper around the left side.
“[Mekhi] is the best running back in the state. And we’re the best team in the state” added Tucker.
On the next series, St. John’s Prep went three and out.
Catholic Memorial (6-1) then put together a methodical drive which was capped off with a 4-yard pass from Kise Flannery to Michael Hegarty to make the score 34-0.
Tucker came up with a fumble recovery later in the third quarter after an Eagle ball carrier had the ball pop loose.
The fourth quarter was played with a running clock. Sophomore linebacker Luke Salter added a fourth takeaway for the Knights in the final frame.
“We challenged the kids all week” said legendary Catholic Memorial head coach John DiBiaso. “They came out and made a statement, not only stopping the run, but [Vargas] is one hell of a quarterback and we got a couple picks off him.”
Each team has one game remaining in the regular season. The Knights will visit Malden Catholic. The Eagles will host BC High.