Lynnfield Weekly News 12-8-22

10 DECEMBER 8, 2022
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 781-593-7700
Make it six for St. John's Prep
By Steve Krause
For The Weekly News
FOXBOROUGH — Call this
victory "Operation Boa Constrictor."
That was the strategy Saturday
when St. John’s Prep slowly
and methodically strangled 3x
defending Super Bowl champions
in Springfield Central, 13-0, to win
its third Division 1 Super Bowl title
under coach Brian St. Pierre, and
sixth in program history.
The Eagles didn’t let Nebraskacommit
William Watson, who
terrorized opponents all fall, do
anything. They held him to six
completions in 19 attempts for 49
yards, and shut him out in the first
half.
If the Golden Eagles were
looking for some balance on the
ground, forget about it. Running
backs not named Watson gained 67
yards (Watson managed to scramble
for 51).
"Holding that team to a goose
egg … I don’t see how you can
do much better than that," said St.
Pierre. "This is by far the best Super
Bowl win of the three I’ve had here.
That team is very, very good."
Springfield coach William
Watson Sr. had nothing but praise
for St. John’s, and wouldn’t use
Saturday’s rainy and windy weather
as an excuse for slowing down his
high-powered passing attack.
"You start complaining about the
elements and that’s an excuse," he
said, "and it detracts from the great
job St. John’s did. They made the
plays that we didn’t make."
The entire game was a struggle
to find consistency and rhythm
on offense. But The Prep cobbled
together one good drive in the first
half, and quarterback Aiden Driscoll
— one of three who took snaps
Saturday — found Lynn’s Jonnel
St. John's Prep's Jessie Ofurie extends for the ball in Super Bowl action.
Aguero with a 13-yard bubble
screen pass for the touchdown that
put St. John’s ahead to stay, 7-0,
with 5:34 to go in the half.
"That was huge," said Aguero,
who caught three passes for 30
yards. "That was our first score and
it put us ahead."
Aguero, a Georgia commit, left
IMG Academy in Florida to play his
senior year with the Eagles.
"I’m glad I did," he said. "We
won a Super Bowl as a freshman
and now I go out a winner. I’m very
happy."
Also, Lynn’s Jesse Ofurie caught
two passes for 30 yards and was
active in the defensive backfield all
St. John’s Prep’s Carson Browne sheds a tackle from Springfield Central’s Jack Casey as he carries the ball down field.
STAFF PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
day.
"It feels great," said Ofurie,
who will attend Rutgers next year.
"People didn’t give us much of a
chance, but the guys in this locker
room believed."
A third Lynner, Marquese Avery,
a junior linebacker who transferred
in from Classical, played a role,
recovering a fumble and nearly
picking off a pass.
"I’m ecstatic," Avery said. "I feel
that sense of accomplishment. And
now I have a ring."
But it was Carson Browne, the
Player of the Game, who ran for 131
yards on 38 carries, who gave St.
John’s Prep the chance to employ its
strategy to slow the game down and
keep the ball out of Watson’s hands.
"If he’s not the player of the
game, I don’t know who is," said St.
Pierre.
"Once we got up, and especially
in this weather, we wanted to choke
the game. Like a boa constrictor.
Choke the clock. That’s what we had
to do to win."
Browne was rewarded for his
hard running when he eked his way
over from two yards out in the third
quarter to extend St. John’s lead to
13-0.
After that, Williams switched
strategy and put the ball directly in
his son’s hands and he, by himself,
moved the ball. But the Eagles
weren’t about to let Springfield back
in the game, and stopped the Golden
Eagles twice in the fourth quarter on
fourth-down plays.
After the second stuff, St. John’s,
led mostly by Browne’s running,
killed off seven minutes of time to
keep Springfield off the field.
St. John’s won back-to-back
titles in 2018 and 2019, both over
Catholic Memorial. In all, The Prep
also won championships in 1982
under coach Fred Glatz; and in 1997
and 2012 under coach Jim O’Leary.