Wonder what's happening in the athletics departments of St. John's Prep and Danvers High? Danvers Patch reached out to coaches and parents to let us know how the teams were doing. Varsity Coach Larry O'Neill sent us a recap of the St. John's Prep Golf Team's week. Thursday, October 6 SJP topped previously undefeated Concord-Carlisle 238-250 in a match played at Concord Country Club. Nick Pandelena led the way with a 1 under par 34. Jake Danforth shot 36 and Nick McLaughlin added a 39 to help lead the Eagles .  Tuesday, October 11 The Eagles overwhelmed Malden Catholic 222-249 at Mt. Hood Golf…

As regular seasons go, it’s hard to improve upon the 14-2-2 mark compiled by Catholic Conference champion St. John’s Prep last fall. However, the season came to a premature and unfulfilling end as the Eagles were bounced in the first round of the Division 1 North Sectional by Acton-Boxboro.  That loss still nags at veteran Coach Dave Crowell as he embarks on his 11th season. “As always, we have high expectations. We look to repeat as Catholic Conference champions and qualify for the tournament. Our goal is to move deep into the tournament – we are still disappointed by last season’s early …

Volleyball rebounds after opening loss After starting off the season with a rough home loss to Catholic Conference rival Xaverian Brothers on March 31, the Prep volleyball team came back for two straight wins — still on the home court — against Millis (April 1) and Chelmsford April 6). The Eagles took both contests 3-0. The Eagles lost to Xaverian in five games: 25-18, 16-25, 25-15, 15-25 and then 18-20. The numbers for the Millis defeat were 25-18, 25-19 and 25-19 while the Chelmsford sweep was 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22. A home game scheduled against Medfield High this week was postponed to …

The St. John’s Prep Eagles visit the TD Garden tonight for a shot at a Sectional basketball title. The Eagles plowed through Billerica and Lincoln-Sudbury in the first two playoff rounds, and then knocked defending State Champion Central Catholic from the running – redemption from last year’s semi-final loss – to move on to the Division I North Final…against Lawrence High School. Lawrence is having a dream season of its own, similar in fact to the Danvers High boys’ team (they finally succumbed to a deadly Watertown squad in the Division III semi-finals). Lawrence barely made it into the …

Despite being pushed in the early going by eventual runner-up Lincoln-Sudbury, the St. John's Prep swim team captured its sixth consecutive Division One State Championship Sunday at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool. The Eagles accumulated 249 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up Lincoln-Sudbury's final total of 186.5. The Eagles' winners included Ryan Fortin in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.15 and Aaron Athanas in the 100-yard backstroke (52.12) as well as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Caleb Bower, Fortin, Jennings McCoy-Soccorso and Robert Breen (1:27.78) and …

After ruling the pool once again in last weekend's North Sectional Meet at MIT's Zesiger Fitness Center, the St. John's Prep swim team will look to extend its State Championship streak to six at tonight's All-State Competition at Harvard. The Eagles captured the Sectional title with 268 points, outdistancing second-place Lincoln-Sudbury (198 points) by a comfortable margin. St. John's set the tone in the day's first event as the 200 medley relay team of Aaron Athanas, Ryan Fortin, John Bateman and Brendan Sweeney prevailed in a time of 1:36.82.Robert Breen won both the 200 freestyle (1:44.23…

Based on its thorough domination of perennial Catholic Conference power Catholic Memorial in a 4-2 victory at Boston University Tuesday night, the St. John's Prep hockey team is peaking at precisely the right time. The Eagles have also thrust themselves squarely into the conversation when it comes time to select the 10 teams for this year's Division 1A Tournament. In winning their fourth straight game, the Eagles (9-4-1 overall) outshot CM by a wide margin (34-16), continued to excel on defense and strengthened their grip on a second-place finish behind league champion Malden Catholic. St. …

The St. John's Prep wrestling team entered this season with modest goals. After all, the Prep was taking on perhaps the toughest schedule in the state and long-time coach Manny Costa returned only six wrestlers with varsity experience. To say the Eagles have exceeded expectations would be to understate the case. Following last Saturday's quad-meet in which they defeated Pioneer Valley (21-6) and Milford (36-28) and tied Winchester (31-31), St. John's overall record stands at 25-5-1. The finished 4-0 in the Catholic Conference for their 13th straight league title, giving them 16 in the 18 …

The undefeated St. John's Prep ski team overpowered Masconomet Wednesday at Bradford Ski Area, 118-17, improving to 5-0 on the season. The Eagles claimed the top five spots, paced by sophomore Chris Simeone. Freshman Bobby Holmes, Wes Groom, captain Kyle Heffrin and David Burnett rounded out the Prep's top five for the meet and placed in the top seven in the overall race. On Monday, the Eagles subdued Andover, 83-52, and soared past Haverhill, 126-8. Groom won the overall race and was followed by Holmes (second), Simeone (fifth), Burnett (eighth) and Ryan Carlucci (ninth). Heffrin (11th) and …

With all the attention being paid to presumptive Catholic Conference favorite Malden Catholic this season, Xaverian has managed to fly under the radar despite being unbeaten through its first eight games. Following up their 3-2 victory against perennial power Catholic Memorial last weekend, the Hawks added St. John's Prep to their list of early-season victims Wednesday night with a 6-4 victory at the Foxboro Sports Center. The Prep, now 5-3-1, was unable to contain Xaverian's Ryan Hall, who erupted for four goals, including the game-winner with a little more than nine minutes to play. St. …

The St. John's Prep hockey team split its two most recent games and now stands at 3-2-1 following Tuesday night's 4-3 non-league loss to resurgent Central Catholic, winners of four straight. St. John's spotted Central a 2-0 lead after one period, clawed back to tie it at 2-all midway through the second, but surrendered a pair of goals late in the second period that made the difference. An unassisted strike by Central's Nick Leonard with 1:23 left in the second period made it 4-2 and proved to be the game-winner. St. John's Colin Blackwell scored two goals and assisted on defenseman Scott …

The No. 13 ranked Boston College High basketball team arrived in Danvers Tuesday night with a well-deserved reputation as a talented club that had already posted high-profile wins against the likes of Brockton (69-61) and Brookline (53-51). The Eagles likely headed home to Dorchester after the Catholic Conference opener for both teams with the understanding there is a significant gap between them and undefeated St. John's Prep Eagles (6-0), following a 63-45 loss to the top-ranked team in Eastern Massachusetts. St. John's opened a 27-18 halftime lead and steadily pulled away in the second …

After opening the season with consecutive convincing wins against Northeastern Conference opponents, St. John's Prep coach Sean Connolly knew his club would be severely tested during the holiday break. Now, five games into the season, the third-year coach has to feel pretty confident about the big picture for his undefeated (5-0) club. The Eagles captured the Class A championship of the BABC Holiday Classic at Chelsea High School Wednesday night with a tense 81-77 victory against New Bedford (4-1). The Eagles prevailed during a run-and-gun fourth quarter in which they outscored the Whalers, …

The undefeated St. John's Prep basketball team passed its stiffest test to date Thursday night, knocking off a talented East Boston club, 67-51, at Salem State University's Twohig Gymnasium. The Eagles (3-0) built a 27-21 halftime lead and gradually pulled away throughout the second half. St. John's continued to excel from long distance, knocking down nine 3-pointers. Junior Mike Carbone led the onslaught with 24 points, including four triples. Steve Haladyna added 16 points and Pat Connaughton contributed a dozen, including a pair of trifectas. The Eagles also excelled defensively, …

It would be hard to envision a more complete season-opening performance than the one the St. John's Prep hockey team put forth Wednesday night. Coach Kris Hanson emphasized the need for his veteran team to get off to a quick start this season and the Eagles paid heed, shooting out of the blocks at Allied Arena in Everett and overwhelming the Crimson Tide, 11-0. Colin Blackwell (2 goals, 3 assists) and Jon Farrow (2 goals, assist) powered the onslaught. St. John's scored five goals in the first period, six in the second and outshot their hosts by a staggering 41-3 margin. David Letarte and …

Paced by senior Ben Halpin, the St. John's Prep cross-country team ran away from the field to win the Catholic Conference Classic Sunday at Franklin Park in Boston. Halpin covered the 3.1-mile course in a time of 16:31 and was named the league's Most Valuable Performer. Four other Eagles' seniors cracked the top 15 as Halpin was followed by Jarrett Harrigan (third), Pat Murphy (fifth), Peter Heffrin (12th) and Zack Lehmann (14th). St. John's, which tied for the Catholic Conference title with a 3-1 dual meet record, finished with 35 points to easily outdistance second-place B.C. High with 54…

The St. John's Prep football team concluded the non-league portion of its schedule with a 24-0 whitewash of Somerville at Dilboy Field last Friday and now turns its attention toward pursuit of the Catholic Conference crown tomorrow afternoon (1 p.m.) at home against Catholic Memorial. CM is 1-0 in league play and 5-1 overall. The highly-regarded Knights opened league play with a 27-24 win against Malden Catholic last week and average a shade better than 29 points per game on offense. Included among their wins this season are a 40-21 pasting of Hartford, V.T. and a 26-14 decision of Bishop …

Fresh on the heels of its dominant performance in the Division One North Sectional qualifier this past Monday, the St. John's Prep golf team completed the regular season with convincing wins against Catholic Memorial and St. Mary's of Lynn. The Eagles finished 6-2 in the Catholic Conference and 13-3 overall and will next play a practice round at Longmeadow Country Club on Monday in preparation for Tuesday's Division One State Championship event. The Eagles prevailed against Catholic Memorial at George Wright Golf Course in Hyde Park on Oct. 21, 226-250. Senior Sean Patrikas made his final …

The long-held axiom that defense wins championships certainly applies to the St. John's Prep soccer team this fall. The Eagles' 3-0-2 league record had them in first place in the Catholic Conference as they recently began a crucial eight-day stretch. "We can capture our first league title since 2007 if we take care of business," said coach Dave Crowell, whose club stood at 7-2-2 overall following a 3-0 non-league shutout of Danvers on Columbus Day. The Eagles then won out over Malden Catholic 1-0 on Saturday. Senior captain and keeper Adam Colella recorded his sixth shutout of the season and …