DANVERS – Where do we begin?

St. John’s Prep vs. Springfield Central to open the season was the marquee matchup in Massachusetts on Friday night. It lived up to the billing and then became a true instant classic that will be remembered for a long, long time.

Trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, Prep stormed back and eventually got a go-ahead two-yard touchdown run from Jordan Toribio on 4th-and-goal with just seven seconds remaining. St. John’s head coach Brian St. Pierre decided to go for two and put the ball in Toribio’s hands again. The junior back narrowly avoided being tackled short of the goal line before lunging in to take a stunning lead.

One final heave from Springfield Central QB Jareth Staine was picked off by Toribio as the Eagles stormed the field to celebrate a stunning 36-35 win.

This one was particularly sweet for St. Pierre, considering the Eagles have an entirely new offensive line and a very inexperienced group compared to years past.

“I’m just really proud of my group,” said St. Pierre. “I have so much respect for Springfield Central, Coach (Bill) Watson’s group. We’ve had shred history now. Two great games and…just proud of my group. We’re young. We’re new. We’re inexperienced everywhere and there’s a lot of questions.

“I don’t know if we answered them all tonight, but we answered a few of them. I’m especially proud of my offensive line. What they did to (Springfield’s) front…there’s some big boys up there. They just believed in themselves, believed in the program. We said all week, ‘well how are we going to do it?’ It’s the people. We’re going to rely on the people in the program and our makeup.”

“Definitely heavy adrenaline,” Toribio said when asked what he was thinking when he heard the final two play calls on offense. “I knew what I could do, so definitely played hard, came out on top. Had faith in my boys and I knew we could get the job done…amazing feeling (to get the game winning interception too), amazing to come out on top, get the ball, celebrate with my boys…it’s a great feeling.”

Before we get to the wild final few minutes, let’s start with the craziest play of the night and work from there.

With two seconds remaining in the first half and the game tied at 21-21, St. John’s Prep appeared to get a blocked field goal from Davian Sullivan. The hosts headed off the field celebrating and started making their way into the locker room, but a whistle was never blown on the short chip shot and the ball just sort of rolled in place on the ground.

After what seemed like a minute (but in reality was probably like 10-15 seconds), junior wide receiver Austin Blackwell picked up the ball and trotted into the end zone, questionably putting his hands up as if to say ‘touchdown?’ The referees almost immediately put their hands up to signal confirm. A bewildered Prep sideline questioned the call while the Golden Eagles celebrated and more importantly, took an eight-point lead into the break after a two-point run by Isaiah Rogers.

“Federation rules are different. So, the PAT, it’s a dead ball. I think our kids just reacted thinking that. I gotta see…it’s just a tough way to end a half,” said St. Pierre. “To go down like that and they get the ball coming out in the second half…that was a really tough blow to us. But, again, the grit and resilience they showed was huge.”

SC opened the third quarter with the ball and seemingly converted a 4th-&-15 deep in Prep territory, but a holding call negated it and soon forced a punt. Things looked dire for the Eagles after a 16-play drive that started at its own 17 ended with a turnover on downs at the Golden Eagles’ 12 on a turnover on downs with 3:05 left in the third.

Springfield Central needed just nine plays – including a big catch and run by Lucas Robert – to move 88-yards and make it a 35-21 game seven seconds into the fourth on a nine-yard TD run by Staine. The Golden Eagles missed a two-point conversion hough, keeping it at 14.

SJP’s next drive started at its own 27. One of the biggest plays of the night came in the form of a 4th-&-8 conversion down to the SC 36 with the clock ticking under 10 minutes. Moments later, a would-be interception for Nathan Pok somehow went through his hands and Riley Selvais kept great concentration in the end zone, hauling it in. Liam Cullen’s PAT made it 35-28 with 9:12 remaining.

On the ensuing SC drive, the Eagles made a huge mistake, jumping offside on a 4th-&-2, but it didn’t end up costing them as the Golden Eagles soon had to punt. That set up Chris Vargas and the Eagles at the Prep 30 with 5:09 to go.

Two big runs and a face mask penalty quickly had Prep out to the Springfield Central 39. A huge 3rd-&-5 conversion in the form of a screen pass to Jack Shrayer moved the ball down to the 23.

As the clock ticked under a minute, then under 40 seconds, then 30, St. Pierre eventually called a timeout with 14 seconds left facing 4th-&-goal from the two. Going with a ‘Wildcat’ formation, he put the ball in Toribio’s hands and let him do the rest.

“Yeah, there’s no secrets there,” St. Pierre said with a grin. “We saw that they couldn’t stop the run.”

Springfield Central led 13-7 after one on a 24-yard touchdown catch by Rogers on 4th-&-6 (PAT was blocked). Prep responded six plays later with a five-yard TD run by Toribio. Just three plays after that, Rogers had a 57-yard touchdown catch and run after breaking open on 3rd-&-8 with Staine scrambling to his right.

St. John’s Prep’s next drive started at its own 10 with 2:09 left in the first and didn’t end until the 6:09 mark of the second. The 18-play, 90-yard march was a showcase for Toribio and his fellow talented running back Maxwell Parent (140 yards rushing). Parent eventually rumbled in from eight-yards out to make it 14-13.

Big 3rd-&-7 and 4th-&-8 conversions on the next 12-play drive for SC led to a three-yard touchdown run for Rogers to put the Golden Eagles back in front. Prep responded just four plays later and a 16-yard touchdown run for Parent made it 21-21 before the strange field goal play to end the half.

There’s a long way to go in this 2025 high school season, but it will be hard for any teams to top the show that Springfield Central and St. John’s Prep put on Friday night.

“It’s up there,” St. Pierre added when asked where this one ranks for him in terms of classic games he’s been a part of. “It’s hard to categorize it right now, but it’s up there. Again, so much respect for that program, the athletes they have, the size and everything. Coach Watson does a great job.

“We just made one more play. We had some fortunate things go our way, we had some things not go our way and overcame them. But, yeah, this one’s up there as a really good win.”