LYNN – Austin Prep coach Bill Maradei is pretty happy that he had the services of senior quarterback Steve Boghos this season after the graduation of record-setting tailback Nathan Sherr.Well, with one game left in his stellar career, Boghos is now on the brink of joining a very elite group thanks to his performance on a frigid Saturday night at Manning Field.The senior captain pretty much did in St. Mary’s on Saturday as he threw three touchdown passes to Steve DeLuca, ran for a fourth and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a fifth as the Cougars breezed to a 44-18 win over the Spartans. The win wasn’t without a scare for Austin as senior linebacker John Smyth was taken off the field on a stretcher early in the second quarter. Fortunately, there was no injury and he returned to the Cougar sideline in the third quarter.”He’s a heck of a kid and is what a leader is supposed to be,” Maradei said about Boghos. “And we’ve relied on him this year and he played great (Saturday).”With his three touchdown passes against the Spartans, Boghos now has 49 for his career, one away from the magic number of 50 that players like Bellingham and current UNH star Ricky Santos and Swampscott’s Kyle Beatrice have eclipsed.”They put 10 in the box to stop the run, so we had to throw a little bit, even late in the game,” Maradei said.The Spartans (1-9) played admirably despite struggling to move the ball until the game was well out of hand, and that never-quit attitude was something that coach Jeff Smith was happy to see.”Emotionally, the guys are learning lessons about life, not only football,” Smith said. “I just wish they could be rewarded with something for their hard work.”The Cougars (5-5) took the opening kick and drove inside the St. Mary’s 10, but Dan Ellis fumbled on the way to the end zone and the Spartans recovered.An illegal block penalty on the next series nullified a 49-yard run by Richie Barrows and eventually led to a St. Mary’s punt. Boghos then began his dissection of the Spartan secondary.Softened up by hard running from Ray Acciavatti, Pat Delaney and Ellis, the Spartans began to cheat more men near the line of scrimmage. Seeing that, Boghos simply threw over the top to DeLuca (4 catches, 119 yards, 3 TD) for a 21-yard touchdown and an 8-0 lead after an Acciavatti rush.The Spartans had a chance to get even on the next possession but Shaun Kehoe’s pass on third down from the AP 27 was intercepted by Jonathan Richard, keeping it 8-0 after one quarter.Following an exchange of punts, the Cougars took over with 5:03 left in the half and needed only three plays to go 46 yards, the big play coming when Boghos scrambled 29 yards to the 21. A personal foul penalty on the play moved the ball to the six, where Boghos was on the ball when Delaney fumbled at the goal line to make the recovery and up the lead to 16-0 after another Acciavatti rush.St. Mary’s had a response in the form of fleet-footed Kwesi Foster, who dashed 69 yards down the right sideline on the next snap to cut the lead to 16-6.It was still a 10-point game with 31 seconds left in the half and the Cougars sitting 54 yards from paydirt. But two runs from Delaney and Acciavatti ate up 41 yards before Boghos threw a strike to DeLuca in the back of the end zone to make it 24-6, Austin, at the half.”We had a lot of mental mistakes and they capitalized on them,” Smith said.Things didn’t improve for St. Mary’s in the third quarter as the Cougars’ Clancy Main picked off Shaun Kehoe’s first pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown and a 30-6 lead.The Spartans went three-and-out on their next drive and Austin proceeded to drive 68 yards in 11 plays, capped by a Boghos one-yard sneak with 1:48 left to make it 37-6.Kehoe had a two-yard sneak early in the fourth to make it 37-12 before Boghos capped his stellar day with a 72-yard bomb to DeLuca. David Hicks’ one-yard plunge accounted for the game’s final points.