BC High defeated St. John's Prep this week in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association league, winning a rematch of the last teo state championships games.

In front of a big crowd, St. John’s Prep struck first, taking a quick tap from a penalty outside the BC High 22 meter line. A strong run and some precision passing allowed Prep to put the ball in the corner for a 5-0 lead.

BC High would answer shortly after from a strike move on a scrum at midfield. Flyhalf Diarmuid Allen moved the ball to wide channels, where fullback Jack Bracher gave a nice offload to wing Drew Topalian who scampered 35 yards to knot the game at 5-5.

After the ensuing kickoff, St. John’s Prep punished BC High for trying to run the ball out of their own end. A Prep defender collected a knock on, and a quick pick from the breakdown saw St. John’s break right through the BC High defense for a 10-5 lead.

BC High would again answer, turning St. John’s Prep over at a tackle and moving the ball quickly to space. Nice interplay between forwards and backs gave Senior Hooker Kevin McDonough a gap to charge through for a try. The conversion gave BC High a 12-10 lead.

With halftime approaching, both teams traded kicks and seemed content to defend in the other teams half. A booming kick from St. John’s 15 sailed over BC High’s back 3, who found themselves in no-man’s land. Prep winger dove on the ball for a huge score just before the half, giving St. John’s a 17-12 lead.

The second half saw both teams tighten up their defenses and play more direct rugby, not wanting to risk giving away an important score. But off a series of successive penalties against Prep, both flanker Rob Lester and scrum half George Haikal took tap quickly. Haikal would race for the corner and score the equalizer for BC High.

Again both teams would look to play tactically. After winning a lineout in Prep territory with 14 minutes to play, BC High advanced toward St. John’s try line with some nice carries from number 8 Cooper Roberts and replacement props Jerry McLarnon and John Freeman. The pick and go game proved too strong for the defense, and lock Foster Staton-Todaro scored in the corner to give BC high a five point lead with minutes to play.

Prep would fight ferociously to advance the ball deep into BC High territory forcing the Eagles to defend just meters off their line in the final 5 minutes. But eventually a savvy steal from Staton-Todaro allowed BC High to clear their lines and end the threat. Time expired not long after with BC High winning 22-17.

It was a physical and exhausting between two athletic teams. But it was also a weird game - there were nearly 30 penalties between the two teams and some issues getting going. That said, both teams were able to be explosive at different times. It’s a huge credit to the will of our boys that they fought off St. John’s last stand.