SHREWSBURY - Even if everything wasn’t going the way St. John’s Prep had hoped, the Eagles still found themselves in the position they wanted to be in the waning moments.
Trailing unbeaten St. John’s of Shrewsbury by three points, Prep was able to complete a long pass and put itself in field-goal range with just a little more than a minute remaining yesterday at Pioneer Field. But then the unthinkable happened. Trying to execute a screen pass, Eagle quarterback Chris Coady’s pass went directly into the hands of Pioneer defensive lineman Shane McGrail who returned it untouched 71 yards to seal a 24-14 victory.
“It’s frustrating,’’ Eagles coach Jim O’Leary said. “It was a good high school football game. (St. John’s) is undefeated and we’re not. We made a run in the end and I’m not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed with the outcome. We were trying to run a little screen there in the end, get out of bounds and stop the clock. But [St. John’s] tackled our screen guy and were able to get pressure on (Coady) and he got tackled and ball flipped up and their kid picked it and went.’’
Richard Rodgers’s 25-yard field goal following a 56-yard march put the Pioneers (6-0) ahead 17-14 with 1:09 remaining. On Prep’s ensuing drive, Coady completed a 57-yard strike down the left sideline to Tyler Coppola that put the ball on the St. John’s 17 - certainly well within placekicker Ted Beuchert’s range. But pressure from linebacker Shaun Burlinson on Coady forced his pass to fall into McGrail’s hands for the interception return and in the process dash the Eagles’ hope for a come-from-behind victory.
“We turned up some pressure,’’ Pioneer coach John Andreoli said. “We didn’t get rattled in that situation and our guys knew they had to stop the big play and if they make a big play like they did it is up to us to dig in our heels and make a big play too. Overall, we played with some confidence and was able to stop their running game, especially inside. They beat us a couple of times throwing the ball but we were able to come back and defend things when we had to.’’
Prep (2-4) outgained St. John’s 274 yards to 248, with 172 coming in the second half. Much of that came from Coady as the junior completed 5 of 6 over the final 22 minutes for 143 yards. He finished 7 of 13 for 181 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Pioneers were in control for much of the first half as their passing attack rattled the Eagle secondary. Quarterback Griffin Murphy, a senior, threw a 20-yard laser to Rodgers on a post pattern to put St. John’s ahead, 7-0, with a little more than four minutes left in the opening quarter. With the Pioneers leading 14-0 and less than a minute before halftime, Prep was finally able to move the ball with some consistency, finishing with a Coady 30-yard pass to a wide open Coppola, cutting the deficit to seven.
