DANVERS — The expectation coming into Friday night’s Division 1 quarterfinal between St. John’s Prep and Leominster was showdown between two of the state’s premier quarterbacks in Osiris Lopez and Chris Vargas.
Vargas, however, was out after being injured last week against Framingham. Fortunately, St. John’s Prep still had Maxwell Parent to hitch its wagon to.
Parent broke Derek Coppola’s school record with 355 yards and five touchdowns. He added six two-point conversions as the Eagles pulled away late to a 48-32 win over the Blue Devils.
“Tonight was Maxwell’s time. He was making the hay,” head coach Brian St. Pierre said. “And credit goes to the line. He had some huge holes to run through.”
Lopez also held up his end of the showcase as the Coastal Carolina bound senior threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 186 yards and another score for Leominster, all while eluding a boatload of defenders on nearly every play.
Afterward, St. Pierre harkened back to his days at Boston College to find a performance he’d seen that was as good.
“I’ve only seen one guy do that on a football field and his name was Michael Vick when I was at BC,” St. Pierre said. “There was times where we were playing good defense and he was just a better athlete than anyone and just made plays.”
For all the yardage and points being put up on both sides, it was a defensive stand that proved to be the key point of the night.
The Eagles led 32-26 late in the third as Leominster drove into the red zone. But a third down sack on the first play of the fourth quarter was followed by a Lopez incompletion.
From there, Parent delivered the sledgehammer.
He carried five of the next seven plays on a 72-yard drive that culminated in his fourth score of the game and a 40-26 lead with 8:06 left.
A fumble on the ensuing kick was recovered by the Eagles. Four Parent runs later, it was 48-26 with 5:25 left.
“We got the one stop we needed and then that special teams turnover was huge and kind of a nail,” St. Pierre said.
Leominster broke out to a 6-0 lead on a Lopez to Elijah Rivera toss for a 35-yard touchdown. The lead lasted all of 44 seconds as Parent ripped off a 54-yard run and followed with a nine-yard touchdown for an 8-6 lead.
The gap became 16-6 in the second on a Jordan Toribio one-yard plunge before the Blue Devils stormed back. Lopez scored on a five-yard keeper before his two-yard pass to Zack Oliver late in the half made it 20-16 Leominster at the break.
Parent’s third score of the night to begin the third kicked off a wild second half. Lopez responded with another TD run before the Eagles put together their run of 24 unanswered points.
