Calvin Johnson ran for three touchdowns in Friday night’s win. Item file photo.
By Steve Krause
READING — Thirteen plays, 32 points at the half, 18 plays, 40 points total.
That’s all you really have to know about St. Mary’s 40-0 win over Austin Prep Friday night at brand-spanking-new Father Seymour Field. The Spartans got on, got it done, and got off in a most business-like performance. And considering lightning was forecast in the area — and indeed made an appearance and halted games in other parts of the region — the thrifty and economical 90 minutes it took to complete the game was all right with just about everyone.
“We were all business,” said St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin, whose Spartans now await the outcome of today’s Shawsheen-Greater Lawrence game to find out whether they will be the top seed in Division 3A when the playoff pairings are announced Sunday afternoon.
“I liked that we were all business,” he said. “But I want to also say that I have to take my hat off to Austin Prep. That was a physical game, and they’re pretty beat up. Yet they gave it all they had, and that’s a reflection on their program and their coach (Bill Maradei). He’s a class guy.”
As far as Maradei goes, it was right back at you.
“They are a great team,” said Maradei. “They’re going to go to the Super Bowl, and I really can’t wait until they do, because I want to go watch them.
“Now that this game is over,” he said, “I can root for them.”
The Spartans moved to 7-0 basically on the shoulders of senior running back Calvin Johnson, who ran for 188 yards and scored three touchdowns on only four carries as he and the Spartans carved up the Cougar defense with surgical precision.
The Cougars (2-5) won the toss and elected to receive. They got as far as the 50 before stalling, pinning St. Mary’s back to its own 13 on the ensuing punt. Two runs and a penalty later, it was third-and-six from the 17. Then, Johnson got the ball and next thing anyone knew, he was streaking down the far sideline for an 83-yard touchdown, with Abraham Toe’s conversion making the score 8-0 five minutes into the game.
Austin Prep punted again on its next possession, and St. Mary’s ran two plays before fumbling. But the Spartans got the ball back when James Brumfield intercepted Matt Rubino’s pass. This was the only possession that bore any resemblance to a sustained drive, as it took St. Mary’s six plays to go 69 yards, with a Johnson counter accounting for the final 25. This time Joey Silvestri ran in the conversion.
Silvestri seemed to be doing it all Friday night. After running in the two points, he picked off a pass and ran it back to the Austin Prep three. A procedure penalty knocked the Spartans back five years, but Silvestri shrugged that off, running it in from the six, and with Toe’s 2-point conversion it was 24-0.
Once again, Austin Prep tried to mount an attack, and once again, the Cougars stalled, giving St. Mary’s one more shot before the half to score again. St. Mary’s took it, with Johnson running 74 yards all alone for the score.
On St. Mary’s first series of the third quarter, Nino Echevarria took it to the house from 26 yards out and that’s when Durgin and the Spartans closed up shop for the night.