LAWRENCE — St. John’s Prep showed Friday that when its offense is firing on all cylinders, it simply has too many weapons.
Jordan Toribio rushed for 64 yards and two touchdowns and freshman quarterback Chris Vargas threw for a pair of scores as No. 2 St. John’s Prep held off Central Catholic 31-24 under the bright lights at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Central Catholic sophomore quarterback Caden Smith turned in a strong performance with 286 total yards. The Eagles’ high-powered offense, meanwhile, has now scored 115 points through the first three games.
“Our offensive line played very well tonight,as did our freshman Chris Vargas and Riley Selvais,” St. John’s Prep coach Brian St. Pierre said. “You come up here in a rivalry game against a really good program and you take the win.”
Ahead 24-7 at the half, the Eagles looked to be in firm control. A 20-yard field goal by Drew O’Keefe got the Raiders back within 24-10.
Then, facing a fourth and three at the Raiders 17-yard line, the Eagles elected to go for it. The move backfired as the Prep fumbled the handoff giving possession back to Central Catholic.
The Raiders took advantage. Smith corralled a batted down pass and maneuvered his way 34 yards and into Prep territory. Later in the drive Smith found Jack Steen for 29 yards before Jefferson Morales tumbled into the end zone from three yards out to make it a 24-17 game with 3:09 left.
The Eagles, however, immediately quelled any hopes of a Central Catholic comeback. After returning the ensuing kickoff passed midfield, Vargas hit Merrick Barlow with a 40-yard strike over the middle to extend the Prep lead back to 14.
Smith scampered in from five yards out with less than 30 seconds to go, but Deacon Robillard recovered the onside kick attempt to preserve the win for the Eagles.
“We have faith in our guys to make big plays,” St. Pierre said. “Our offensive line has been great with protection. (Central Catholic) was having a hard time stopping the pass and we needed a play. We put a premium on responses and handling adversity and I liked the way we responded tonight.”
Central Catholic grabbed a 7-0 lead on its opening drive when Caden Chase rushed up the gut for a 44-yard score. From that point in the first half it was all Eagles.
Vargas got the Prep attack started as he connected with Selvais for 27 yards before hitting Josh Haarmann for an eight-yard touchdown that tied the game, 7-7. After LJ Laws gave the Prep a 10-7 lead with a 35-yard field, the visitors’ ground game took control. First it was Toribio who ran into the end zone from 36 yards out to put the Prep on top 17-7.
A strip sack recovered by Haarmann returned possession to the Eagles and Toribio struck again this time from three yards out to put the Eagles up 24-7 at the break.
