St. John’s Prep 36, Springfield Central 35: In a wild season opener between two of the state’s top five ranked squads, junior running back Jordan Toribio (189 yards) scored his second touchdown of the evening with seven seconds to play on a 2-yard fourth down run out of the Wildcat formation. He then did the same thing on the ensuing two-point attempt, allowing the Eagles to rally from 14 points down in the final quarter to prevail.
Fellow backfield mate Maxwell Parent, in his Prep debut, added 141 yards on the ground and a pair of scores of his own. Quarterback Chris Vargas threw for 74 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to fellow sophomore Riley Selvais in the fourth quarter. Bo Minogue had a strong game at linebacker for the Eagles, which saw sophomore placekicker successful tack on four extra points.
Masconomet 41, Newburyport 7: Senior quarterback Drew Gustafson was on fire at World War Memorial Stadium, throwing for 272 yards to lead the Chieftains (1-0) to a dominant showing. Cal Weidman caught six passes for 154 yards and both scored while Liam Ginley was also over 100 yards receiving. Running back Jack Fabiano scored three times and Alex Cantalupo also found paydirt for Masconomet, which also controlled the line of scrimmage defensively.
Marblehead 21, Lynn English 6: Owen Coyne hauled in touchdown passes of 27 and 68-yards from Finn Gallup in the second half to help the Magicians (1-0) pull away the Bulldogs at Manning Field. Gallup finished the game with 177 passing yards and three scores, hooking up with Breydan Callahan from 37 yards away for a 6-0 halftime lead. Coyne racked up 111 receiving yards on three total grabs, and Callahan rushed for 114 yards on the ground.
Danvers 13, Concord-Carlisle 12: After the hosts scored to take a five-point lead (12-7) with a little over five minutes to go, the Falcons responded by scoring with just over a minute to play to win their season opener on the road.
Gloucester 15, Beverly 7: The Panthers gave up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, which spelled doom in a hostile environment at Newell Stadium. Sean Costa’s 20 yard touchdown run was the only score of the contest’s first three quarters and the Panthers could never extend the lead. It was a defensive struggle with Beverly getting several stops on its side of the field before the Fisherman finally cashed in late. Beverly was held to 72 yards rushing and 121 total.
Ipswich 28, Chelsea 6: Senior quarterback Vin Winter had a 1-yard rushing touchdown and also threw a 41-yard scoring strike to Max Longo to help the Tigers (1-0) win their home opener at Jack Welch Stadium. Cullen Courville (8 yards) and James Dick (18 yards) also had rushing touchdowns for the winners, who led 20-0 at halftime, and Zach Isaac helped out defensively with an interception.
St. Mary’s Lynn 28, Swampscott 0: The game turned when the Spartans scored two touchdowns in the final minute of the first half, with Hagen Parent’s 43-yard interception return making it 21-0 at the half.
Senior Will Bush ran for 95 yards on 19 totes but the Big Blue (0-1) couldn’t get much going through the air. Sophomore Will Rowe gave Swampscott a lift defensively by snagging an interception.
Triton 36, Hamilton-Wenham 18: Senior Caden Schrock lit up the night in Hamilton’s first ever home night game by rushing for 198 yards and a touchdown, but the young Generals were overpowered by the Vikings. Anthony Folger’s 10-yard touchdown run in the first gave the Generals an early lead and he also threw for 92 yards in the air.
Amesbury 38, Essex Tech 14: Jacoby Casinelli Tarasuik tossed a pair of touchdown passes, but the visiting Red Hawks extended their 16-0 halftime lead by adding three more scores in the third quarter to spoil the Hawks head coaching debut of Tim Freiermuth.