PHOTO BY MARK LORENZ
St. Mary’s Calvin Johnson leaps into the end zone during the Spartans 23-13 win over Bishop Fenwick on Thanksgiving Day.
By GORDON VINCENT
PEABODY – Calvin Johnson wasn’t sure he was going to play in St. Mary’s–Bishop Fenwick Thanksgiving football game until Monday. It’s a good thing he suited up, because the Spartans needed him.
Johnson scored all three of his team’s touchdowns and added a two-point conversion to lead St. Mary’s to a 22-13 win over the Crusaders, Thursday, at Donaldson Stadium.
Johnson left the Div. 3A North sectional final game against Stoneham on Nov. 11 with an Achilles injury. With Abraham Toe out of action due to an injured ankle, the Spartans were facing the prospect of playing without their top two running backs.
“When I was able to practice on Monday, I knew I was going to be able to play today,” said Johnson, who gained 74 yards on 18 carries, with two touchdowns, and caught three passes for 49 yards, with another TD. “I wanted to play in this game.”
While other teams which have already clinched Super Bowl berths rested some of their starters on Thanksgiving, the Spartans played all their available players. The stakes for St. Mary’s were an undisputed Catholic Central League championship and the continuation of their undefeated season. Had the Crusaders beaten the Spartans, there would have been a 3-way tie for the league title with Fenwick, St. Mary’s and Archbishop Williams.
Photo gallery: Bishop Fenwick vs. St. Mary’s 2016 Thanksgiving football game
The two teams split their two games last year, with St. Mary’s winning in the playoffs, and Fenwick prevailing on Thanksgiving Eve in an epic 36-30 thriller. The two teams did not meet in the playoffs this year, as realignment moved Fenwick to Div, 3, in which they lost to Triton in the semifinals.
“This was a big game for us,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin said. “And Calvin is a big part of what we do.”
Johnson’s capped off St. Mary’s first scoring drive in the first quarter by hauling in an 11-yard throw from Marcus Atkins. His most crucial play occurred in the second quarter. On second-and-10 from the Crusaders’ 38, Atkins threw a pass intended for Johnson that Fenwick’s Cam Eon intercepted at about the 20-yard line. Johnson ripped the ball out of Eon’s hands and made it to the Crusaders’ 7-yard line before he was tackled.
“I was just looking to make a play,” Johnson said. “The kid (Eon) intercepted the ball and I just grabbed it from him.”
“That’s the kind of play Calvin is capable of making,” Fenwick coach David Woods said. “You can’t blame anything on (Eon). He makes a great play to intercept the ball and it looks like we’re going go into halftime only down by one score, and they end up scoring a touchdown.”
One play later, Johnson scored on a sweep, and then added a crucial two-point conversion on a reverse to give the Spartans a 14-0 lead with 25 seconds left in the half.
The Crusaders eventually got to within three points (16-13) when Fenwick quarterback Cory Bright scored on a 59-yard run with 7:20 left in the game. On their ensuing drive, the Spartans put the ball in Johnson’s hands on eight of nine plays as they ran the clock under three minutes.
When St. Mary’s got the ball back for its final drive, Johnson scored on a 14-yard run that restored the Spartans’ two-score lead and essentially put the game away with 1:29 left.
Game notes — Durgin was effusive in his praise after the game for the Spartans’ defense and in particular Liam Reddy, a lineman who was around the ball all game long. Reddy also plays on the offensive line … As he did during the Stoneham game, Toe watched from the sidelines in street clothes, but he appeared to be moving much better on his injured ankle … Dan Mastromatteo was a ballhawk for the Crusaders, recovering a fumbled snap and intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter … Fenwick unveiled a new power-I formation with Jon Gjorga at fullback, Luke Hufnagle in the middle and Isaiah Cashwell-Doe as the deep back. With the exception of Bright’s 59-yard run, which was a quarterback draw out of a shotgun set, the Crusaders gained 59 yards on 23 carries, an average of just 2.5 yards per carry.