Maxwell Parent, St. John’s outlast Leominster in a shootout

DANVERS The expectation coming into Friday night s Division 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 yards and five touchdowns He added six two-point conversions as the Eagles pulled away late to a - win over the Blue Devils Tonight was Maxwell s time He was making the hay head coach Brian St Pierre stated And credit goes to the line He had various huge holes to run through Lopez also held up his end of the showcase as the Coastal Carolina bound senior threw for yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for yards and another amount 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 reported 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 - 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 -yard drive that culminated in his fourth outcome of the match and a - lead with left A fumble on the ensuing kick was recovered by the Eagles Four Parent runs later it was - with left We got the one stop we needed and then that special teams turnover was huge and kind of a nail St Pierre reported Leominster broke out to a - lead on a Lopez to Elijah Rivera toss for a -yard touchdown The lead lasted all of seconds as Parent ripped off a -yard run and followed with a nine-yard touchdown for an - lead The gap became - 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 - Leominster at the break Parent s third result 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 unanswered points