St. John’s Prep 43, St. John’s Shrewsbury 14: The unbeaten battle between the top two teams in the Division 1 power rankings turned out to be no contest as the visiting Eagles scored on their first two possessions and rolled from there.
Captain Maxwell Parent led the ground attack for St. John’s Prep (now 6-0), scoring three times and running for 151 yards on 20 carries while sophomore back Michael Salemi (118 rushing yards) added one rushing score. Another 10 grader, Will Codreanu, caught a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Chris Vargas from 28 and 54 yards out. Codreanu finished with career highs in receptions (6) and yardage (135) while Vargas was 11-for-17 for 212 yards passing. Riley Selvais added four grabs for another 68 yards.
Salem 35, Saugus 6: Quarterback George Reyes, a sophomore, and junior wideout Jeremiah Barahona hooked up for three touchdown passes as the Witches (now 2-4) won their first Northeastern Conference game of the season in a road runaway. Barahona, who caught four passes for 142 yards, now has 10 receiving touchdowns on the season, the same number that Reyes (149 yards passing) has thrown.
Victor Dias punched in a 4-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter for Salem, which also got a special teams score when Maximus DiFronzo blocked a punt and found his way into the end zone from 25 yards out in the third quarter. Kendal Murga ran for a team-best 50 yards as well.
Marblehead 28, Beverly 14: With all the scoring taking place in the first half, the Panthers (now 2-4) saw Stephan Sullivan break free on a 77-yard TD jaunt in the opening quarter and quarterback Tommy Collins hit Jordan Downey with an 18-yard scoring toss in the second quarter, tying the game. But turnovers ultimately hurt the Orange-and-Black as Marblehead rallied with two more scores, then held off the visitors the rest of the way.
Old Rochester 53, Bishop Fenwick 18: Senior wideout Jamie Dube (13 receptions, 153 yards, TD) and junior quarterback Andrew Kiricoples (315 yards passing, 3 TDs) did what they could to keep Fenwick (3-3) close, but it wasn’t enough as the hosts powered their way to their fifth victory in seven contests.
Ethan Boleski (88 receiving yards) and Dean Cocchiola also snared touchdown passes from Kiricoples, who is up to 1,525 yards passing and 19 touchdowns on the season.