DANVERS — Xaverian took home the First Annual Brother William Drinan Trophy in memory of the beloved administrator at both schools, who passed away recently. The big trophy with a large gold football on top, is inscribed in honor of his enduring loyalty and appreciation for St. John's Prep and Xaverian. It will be displayed at Xaverian until next Thanksgiving when Prep coach Jim O'Leary hopes to bring it home. O'Leary and his friend Stevenson met at midfield after the game for the presentation, and Prep assistant athletic director Ann Edgerton recalled how Brother Drinan always loved to watch the two schools play on Thanksgiving.
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Before the game St. John's honored its 1999 and 2000 state champion baseball teams. Members of both squads went out for the coin toss. Prep captains George Sessoms and Andrew Dieselman were accompanied by game captains Peter Musumeci, Colin LeDuc, and Mike Connor, who missed the last couple of weeks because of injury and returned at linebacker to made several big tackles.
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One of the big stars for the Eagles was junior wide receiver-defensive end Ryan Delisle. The 6-foot-4, 230 pounder is one player to keep an eye on next season, and will be highly recruited. He caught a short pass for the first touchdown and later made two outstanding defensive plays. First, he sacked Hawks quarterback Alex Phelan on third down, forcing a punting situation. He then blocked the punt, setting his team up at the Xaverian 40-yard line, trailing by five points with 1:43 remaining in the game.
"I knew we needed three-and-out to get the ball back, and I wanted to give it one last shot," said Delisle. "I was able to get to the quarterback, and was lucky to get a hand on the punt. This is such a tough loss, but they beat us fair and square. I can't wait until next year."
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Junior quarterback Chris Coady had one of his finest passing days, completing 8-of-13 passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns. He threw to five receivers, but his favorite was Kevin Davis, who had three catches for 53 yards and a score. Coady fired a 28-yard strike to Davis, who made a great one-handed grab in the right corner of the end zone with just over two minutes left in the game.
"I had to reach out with one hand and then hang on because I had a kid all over me," said Davis. "I really thought we'd score and win the game after Ryan blocked that punt ... but give Xaverian credit. That's a very good team."
O'Leary said the game plan was to spread the field out and throw to a lot of different people, but they missed a golden opportunity early for a quick scoring strike when Coady overthrew a wide open Tyler Coppola down the sideline.
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O'Leary summed up the day perfectly: "It's Thanksgiving, we have a great crowd, and they got their money's worth — but I'd like to have that kickoff return back (referring to Joe Colton's 83-yard TD run right after the Eagles had gone ahead late in the third period)."
