LYNN — David Brown Jr. left no doubts about who the most electric player on the field was Wednesday night at Manning Field, almost single handedly leading St. Mary’s to a blowout win over Austin Prep in the annual Thanksgiving Eve game.
The junior running back rushed for 90 yards, had 48 receiving yards and notched 145 yards of kick and punt returns, totaling 283 all-purpose yards on the night. He also picked up four touchdowns, with all of those coming in the first half.
“We just didn’t want to send the seniors out with anything except a win,” said Brown. “It was tough losing last week, so we wanted to go out with a big win.”
“We ask David to do so many things each week and he always comes through,” said St. Mary’s coach Sean Driscoll. “He’s a hard worker, an extremely talented player and most importantly a great kid.”
But it wasn’t just Wednesday night where Brown dominated. Over the past four games, Brown has rushed for 576 yards — not even counting his production in the passing and return games. For the season, Brown has totaled more than 1,000 yards on the ground and more than 2,000 all-purpose yards.
“I think the offensive line doesn’t get as much credit as they should because on a lot of my runs, I’m barely touched out there,” said Brown. “Running behind those guys all year has been great and I owe a lot of my season to them.”
“The guy brings it every single week,” said Driscoll. “He was banged up at times this season, but that never slowed him down. He’s such a great competitor, you have to pull him off the field.”
And if you can believe it, football isn’t even Brown’s No. 1 sport. He and the rest of the Spartans begin practice for the basketball season Monday.
“I’m excited to get going,” said Brown, who averaged more than 13 points per game as a sophomore last season. “It’ll be a little tough in terms of conditioning because we have to wear the masks again this year, but we got used to that last year too. It should be a great season.”