BURLINGTON — There was an even five minutes remaining in the first half of Friday’s Division 1 state semifinals when some St. John’s Prep assistant football coaches reminded their players along the sidelines, ‘This one’s not over yet.’
Yeah, it was.
In arguably the greatest first half of high school football a North Shore team has ever had — particularly with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line — the Eagles laid waste to their rivals from Central Catholic in every way imaginable. How else can you describe what happened on the turf at Burlington High, a complete and utter obliteration by St. John’s Prep in a 48-7 victory?
Head coach Brian St. Pierre’s squad put up a mind-boggling 453 yards of offense on just 23 first half plays, scoring on their first six possessions before taking a knee near midfield — in a state semifinal, mind you — just before halftime.
They found the end zone on half of their 10 first downs over the first two quarters, had a 100-yard passer in senior quarterback John Budrow, a 100-yard receiver in sophomore Riley Selvais, a 100-yard rusher in Jordan Toribio, and nearly had another in Maxwell Parent, who came up two yards shy.
Minus the aforementioned kneeldown, the Eagles ran six plays in the second quarter and it went like this:
An 84-yard touchdown run by Jordan Toribio; a 1-yard run followed by an 83-yard touchdown pass from John Budrow to Ethan Stefanovich; a 3-yard run followed by a Toribio 67-yard touchdown run; and 55-yard touchdown pass from Budrow to Riley Selvais.
All four of those scores, which like the first two were followed by successful 2-point conversions, took a grand total of 2 minutes and 46 seconds.
There was — let me repeat, in a state semifinal — mandatory running time for the entirely of the second half.
“We did our thing,” said senior captain Joe Irzyk, the right guard from Danvers and leader of the offensive line. “Everything was locked in, both sides of the ball.”
Now 11-0, the state’s top ranked team is back in the Super Bowl for the fifth time in the last seven full seasons dating back to 2018. St. John’s Prep will face either Springfield Central (whom they defeated, 36-35, on opening night) or their Thanksgiving rivals from Xaverian at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on either Dec. 4, 5 or 6.
“We had a look in our eye all week, and I felt really really good coming over on the bus today,” St. Pierre, who has guided his teams to 22 playoff wins in their last 25 such contests, said. “Going to bed (Thursday) night, I actually got some sleep. It doesn’t look like it, but I did.
“I’m just really happy for those guys.”
Like an onion, there’s a lot of layers to unpeel to tell the story of what happened in this contest, which tied the Prep playoff record for biggest margin of victory.
Start with Budrow, the senior quarterback. A three-year varsity member who was making just his second career start after replacing sophomore/injured future NFLer (yeah, I said it) Chris Vargas under center, the Middleton native shook off the nerves he had a week prior in a quarterfinal victory over Leominster. Instead, he took the advice he heard all season from St. Pierre (“always be ready, you’re one play away from going in”), got encouragement from his good friend Vargas (not to mention all his teammates, including twin brother/tight end Andrew), and played like a season veteran against the Raiders.
He completed 6-of-7 passes for 185 yards, all in the first half, and went over the top twice to find Stefanovich and Selvais well behind the Central Catholic defense for hammer-dropping touchdowns.
“I had to conceal my smile. You don’t want to give it away,” he said when asked about pass plays that were called. “You’re looking at a Cover 3 and Cover 4 team and their safeties are coming down, you know what kind of shot (is there); you can read it. It’s very fun to be able to run to the huddle, have that in your mind, and say we’re throwing it here … we’re throwing it deep.”
“He’s a perfect embodiment of what our program is all about: it’s developmental,” added St. Pierre. “I told him and he knows it, and Chris told him too, ‘If you get through practice with me breathing down your neck at quarterback, the game’s easy.’ And I thought he made it look pretty easy tonight. That’s a testament to his work ethic; I’m so happy for him. It’s a great moment for him.”
Selvais, like Vargas a highly touted 10th grader, caught four passes for 78 yards. The last of those, his TD grab, pushed him over 1,000 yards on the season (1,053, to be exact) and gave him a dozen scores on 62 receptions.
Toribio ran for 170 yards on just seven carries, pushing his season totals up to 1,183 yards on the ground and 14 trips to the end zone. His two scoring plays showed both his breakaway speed and ability to sense defenders closing in but making them miss but cutting away from danger.
Parent, fresh off a school record 354-yard rushing performance, had ‘only’ 98 yards on nine totes; he scored a pair of first quarter touchdowns on runs of 19 and 3 yards while also adding three 2-pointers and throwing another to tight end Brody Gillingham. He has seven fewer yards rushing that Toribio on the season to go with 20 spikes and 25 conversion runs.
The Prep defense, which had just two starters back to begin the year, played arguably its best game of 2025. While not exactly maligned, they were looking for a game like this after allowing 32 points a week beforehand. Defensive coordinator Chris Tolios’ charges smothered the Raiders, holding them to just 32 yards in the first half and shutting down their two-pronged rushing attack of Caden Chase and shifty QB Caden Smith.
“I thought we flying around pretty good,” admitted St. Pierre. “We haven’t been bad on D, but it wasn’t to the standard we were used to.”
Full disclosure: this is my 36th season covering high school football for The Salem News; I’ve seen somewhere between 600-650 games in person. Never have I ever watched one team dismantle another with the ferocity, dexterity and all-around mastery that the Eagles executed on this night.
“I just know our guys were prepared,” said St. Pierre. “They’re hungry. It’s a hungry group.”
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Phil Stacey is the Executive Sports Editor of The Salem News. Contact him at pstacey@salemnews.com and follow him on X @PhilStacey_SN
St. John’s Prep 48, Central Catholic 7
Division 1 state semifinals
at Burlington High Turf Field
Central Catholic (7-4);0;0;0;7;7
St. John’s Prep (11-0);16;32;0;0;48
Scoring summary
SJP — Maxwell Parent 19 run (Jordan Toribio rush)
SJP — Parent 3 run (Toribio rush)
SJP — Toribio 84 run (Parent rush)
SJP — Ethan Stefanovich 83 pass from John Budrow (Brody Gillingham pass from Parent)
SJP — Toribio 67 run (Parent rush)
SJP — Riley Selvais 55 pass from Budrow (Parent rush)
CC — Armari Wills 1 run (Ryan Hill kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Central Catholic — Armari Mills 12-60, Caden Chase 9-41, Caden Smith 9-(-6); St. John’s Prep — Jordan Toribio 7-170, Maxwell Parent 9-98, Jayden Toppin 3-2.
PASSING: Central Catholic — Smith 3-12-17-0-0; St. John’s Prep — John Budrow 6-7-185-2-0.
RECEIVING: Central Catholic — Drew O’Keefe 1-14, Case 2-3; St. John’s Prep — Ethan Stefanovich 2-107, Riley Selvais 4-78.