DANVERS — When they met in the center of the field following Friday night’s game at Glatz Field, Central Catholic football head coach John Sexton was direct with his St. John’s Prep counterpart, Brian St. Pierre.
“I told Brian, ‘You guys gave us a real lesson tonight’,” said Sexton, whose Raiders fell behind early and couldn’t catch up against the high octane hosts, who went on to a 47-21 victory before a raucous crowd.
“I don’t think we played great. It’s not at all what I expected coming in tonight,” Sexton added. “We didn’t tackle, we had two big turnovers that hurt us in the first half, we had some penalties … they all hurt us, and (the end result) is what happens.”
Central Catholic was victimized by Lawrence-born Chris Vargas, St. John’s Prep’s sophomore quarterback who is already ranked second nationally in the Class of 2028 at his position and is a 5-star recruit. Now calling Salem, N.H., home, Vargas shredded the Raiders’ secondary by completing 18-of-24 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns in just three quarters of play.
“Chris was sublime tonight,” St. Pierre acknowledged. “He makes it look easy. We have a lot of really good players, but he’s probably the most prominent part of what we’re doing … he was great.”
Classmate Riley Selvais also had himself a night. The top rated wide receiver in New England among 2028’s, he caught eight of Vargas’ passes for 145 yards and a pair of scores. Together, they helped lead St. John’s Prep (now 3-0) to a 22-0 lead after one quarter and 31-7 at halftime.
The Raiders (1-2) were down 15-0 late in the first quarter when a fumble on a kickoff return gave St. John’s Prep possession at the CC 10-yard line, and they scored two plays later. A second quarter interception also hurt the visitors.
Quarterback Caden Smith (17-for-27, 174 yards) finally got his team on the scoreboard late in the first half with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Mateo Mora.
Central’s two second half scores came on an 86-yard kickoff return by Drew O’Keefe in the third quarter, and a 5-yard run by Caden Chase against the Prep backups in the fourth.
St. John’s Prep senior Ethan Stefanovich, like Selvais, caught two touchdown passes from Vargas and finished with 76 yards on six grabs.
Sexton paused for a few seconds, carefully thinking about what he wanted to say before answering how his squad would put this game behind them as they prepare for back-to-back home contests against Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) and Xaverian the next two weeks.
“We need to rally,” he finally said. “When you take a loss by this margin, the kids will be down … playing Saturday this week is probably a good thing with the extra day to practice.
“We just have to regroup and be better across the board.”
St. John’s Prep 47, Central Catholic 21
at Glatz Field, Danvers
Central Catholic (1-2) 0 7 7 7 21
St. John’s Prep (3-0) 23 8 16 0 47
Scoring summary
SJP — Ethan Stefanovich 28 pass from Chris Vargas (Liam Cullen kick)
SJP — Jordan Toribio 48 run (Maxwell Parent rush)
SJP — Parent 4 run (Parent rush)
SJP — Riley Selvais 46 pass from Vargas (Parent rush)
CC — Jeremiah Mateo Mora 9 pass from Caden Smith (Ryan Hill kick)
SJP — Selvais 17 pass from Vargas (Parent rush)
CC — Drew O’Keefe 86 kickoff return (Hill kick)
SJP — Stefanovich 12 pass from Vargas (Parent rush)
CC — Caden Chase 5 run (Hill kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Central Catholic — Caden Chase 10-40, Caden Smith 8-36, Amari Mills 3-18, Anthony Garcia 1-4; St. John’s Prep — Jordan Toribio 6-63, Jonathan Muniz 4-12, Andrew McManmon 1-2, Maxwell Parent 7-2, Chris Vargas 1-0.
PASSING: Central Catholic — Smith 17-27-174-1-1; St. John’s Prep — Vargas 18-24-284-4-0; John Budrow 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING: Central Catholic — Chase 6-53, Drew O’Keefe 5-48, Athaniel Urena 2-35, Jeremiah Mateo Mora 2-27, Cal Schoenfeld 2-11; St. John’s Prep — Riley Selvais 8-145, Ethan Stefanovich 5-76, Toribio 1-25, Parent 2-25, McManmon 1-7, Brody Gillingham 1-6.