DANVERS — All season long, St. John's Prep football coach Jim O'Leary has been waiting for his offense to ignite.

Saturday afternoon, the Eagles exploded.

Behind a spectacular five-touchdown performance by senior captain George Sessoms, St. John's Prep blasted visiting Malden Catholic, 42-12, at Cronin Field.

Now with 11 touchdowns on the season, Sessoms finished with 141 yards rushing on 19 carries, including scores of 14, 35, 4 and 6 yards. He also made a great diving catch on a Chris Coady pass for a 33-yard touchdown on his team's first drive.

"I was able to get some big runs because of a great effort from the offensive line and my fullback (Chris Ryan)," said Sessoms, who also picked off a pass from his spot at linebacker. "They kept opening holes for me all game.

"The highlight for me was beating Everett last year, but this is right up there. We were up to the task and had an offensive explosion. It's a good barometer of how we're doing as a team. We were clicking on all cylinders both on offense and defense."

St. John's is now 2-0 in the Catholic Conference and 4-4 overall. They have another huge conference game this Saturday against visiting B.C. High (1:30 p.m.). B.C. High is 4-4 overall but 1-1 in Catholic Conference competition; a win by St. John's would set up a winner-take-all tilt for the championship Thanksgiving morning against unbeaten Xaverian.

Tyler Coppola, who also scored for the Eagles, repeatedly gave his team excellent field position with long returns on punts and kickoffs. Coppola raced 31 yards to the MC 34, and three plays later Sessoms hauled in Coady's pass to put his team on the board — and the Eagles never relinquished the lead. Tad Beuchert was a perfect 6-for-6 in kicking extra points.

The Lancers answered right back on a 48-yard reception by Quinn McDonough from QB Tyler McVicar, but Walker O'Connor's kick was no good, making it 7-6.

The second Prep drive went 59 yards in eight plays ,with Sessoms carrying six times for 51 yards including a 14-yard scamper into the end zone. The next time St. John's had the ball Sessoms broke up the right sideline for a 35-yard TD run, then increased the lead to 28-6 on a 54-yard, 10-play drive capped by a 4-yard Sessoms run.

"We controlled the line of scrimmage and got it going early," said O'Leary, whose team rushed for 213 yards while holding MC to just 50. "We protected the ball and all our backs ran well. The offensive line is coming together; we were determined to run the ball, and were able to do it because they opened up the holes."

The Eagles added to the cushion in the third quarter when Coppola had a 54-yard return to the MC 3 and crashed in from a yard out two plays later. On the Lancers first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, McVicar was picked off by Sessoms, and nine plays later he walked into the end zone for his fifth TD of the afternoon in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.

St. John's went with freshman Austin Woolman at linebacker after Mike Connor was injured early in the game, and he made two consecutive key defensive plays when MC trailed by two scores. First Woolman stopped McDonough for no gain, and on fourth down nailed Matt Heriveaux behind the line of scrimmage. Later Dan Culkeen tackled Heriveaux for a 14-yard loss on a pitchout.