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WEST ROXBURY, Mass. – Jack Sharrio had never experienced anything quite like it before. Last week, the St. John’s Prep senior attackman was driving his car when he realized he couldn’t see quite as well as usual. It turned out he was suffering an allergic reaction to the eye drops he’d been taking.

Thankfully, Sharrio was fine, but it forced him to miss the Eagles’ Saturday game against Division 2 power Hingham – a game they lost, 9-5.

On Monday, he made his return to the Prep lineup and put on a show, leading the No. 9 Eagles with a four-goal, five-point performance in their 14-10 win over Catholic Conference rival No. 19 Catholic Memorial.

“His presence was missed [on Saturday],” Prep head coach John Roy said. “So tonight I think there was a little bit of wanting to step up and it showed. He was aggressive all night.”

The Eagles (8-3) halted a two-game losing steak with a renewed emphasis on ball movement, while sending the Knights (6-7) to their third straight defeat – all coming against Catholic Conference competition.

Shawn Waldon compiled a four-point game (3 G, 1 A) while Andrew Gallahue (2 G, 1 A) and Ben Anthony (1 G, 2 A) each had three points. Princeton-bound midfielder Drew O’Connell also dished out two key assists on fourth-quarter goals, providing the Eagles some insurance.

“When we started to cut, Drew O’Connell had his head up and was making the looks,” Roy said. “For us, that’s something that we’ve been looking for.”

While Prep’s streak of games not having allowed a man-up goal was broken on Monday — with CM cashing in on three man-advantages in the first half — the Eagles closed the game with authority, holding while down two men in the final two minutes of the game. Eagles goaltender Tom Casale made two of his seven saves on the game during that man-down situation, snuffing out any thought of a comeback bid.

Derek Osbahr and Anthony Merullo also were instrumental in the victory in their support on faceoffs, winning a combined 16 ground balls.

A FULL DECK
Sharrio, who quarterbacked the Eagles football team to an Eastern Mass. Super Bowl championship in the fall, has been a key cog to the lacrosse team in each of his four years.

However, this is the first year he’s shifted up to attack. And while Prep has been averaging more than 10 goals a game, they struggled offensively against Hingham.

With a full complement of players, including Sharrio, the Eagles were able to get back to what’s made them effective.

“We were dodging pretty well, trying to find the open man,” Sharrio said. “There were sometimes we could’ve caught and scored a little bit better than we did, but that’s something we can work on. I think it just shows that if we keep this up in the future we’ll be alright.”

MALDEN, Mass. – When hockey coaches talk about rolling four lines, there’s usually an assigned order that comes with such a statement. The top six forwards are called upon to score, and the third and fourth lines are supposed to bring the grit and, at times, shoulder the responsibilities of shutting down the other team’s top offensive threats.

Yet, St. John’s Prep head coach Kristian Hanson views his four lines not as ranked No. 1 through No. 4. Instead, they bear colors. The Eagles’ “Green Line” of Paul Crehan, Justin Longo and Cam Shaheen might not be viewed as Prep’s top offensive line by opposing teams, but they were the difference in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Catholic Conference rival Malden Catholic.

“The Green Line played really well for us tonight, that’s the line of [Justin] Longo, [Paul] Crehan and [Cam] Shaheen, they were possibly our best offensive line through the first couple of periods. Obviously, Paul getting that goal in the third period was really big for us.”

Crehan scored what proved to the game-winning goal, igniting a three-goal outburst in the third period.

The teams skated 2-2 after two periods, but the Eagles (10-2-0, 4-1-0) ran out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring on two of their first three shots on goal.

Despite the early deficit, MC (4-5-3, 0-4-2) controlled the possession game in the first period, outshooting Prep, 12-5. Eagles goaltender Billy Price stood tall in face of the Lancers’ first period onslaught, highlighted by a string of three straight point-blank chances on the power play.

Derek Osbahr had Prep to a 1-0 lead at 1:53 of the first, scoring on a partial breakaway. It was the Eagles’ first shot on goal. Shaheen increased the lead to two goals at the 12-minute mark of the first, breaking in off the left wing and going stickside with the wrist shot.

The Lancers rallied to draw even, scoring their first in the final minute of the first on Ara Nazarian’s power play goal and then on Matt Filipe’s equalizer at 11:12 of the second.

“It’s always a big game when we play MC,” Shaheen said. “We’ve had such a big rivalry with them the last three years we’ve played them. We know they’re a third-period team, so we said in the locker room, before we came out … We needed to be the team that stepped up and made plays in the third period. That’s what we did. We made big plays and that’s why we won the game.”

Crehan gave Prep the lead for good, knocking in a rebound while driving the net, scoring on the backhand while going tumbling into the end wall.

Tyler Bird closed out the victory two goals later in the third, his first coming on a tip attempt on the power play.

The Lancers earned two misconduct penalties in the game’s final minutes, including a game misconduct.

GOING THE DISTANCE
With Tuesday’s victory, Prep tied BC High atop the Catholic Conference standings with their eighth point. BC High is in action again Wednesday night against Xaverian and Saturday’s featured bout is the second round of Eagles vs. Eagles.

“Every point is important,” Hanson said. “Whether it’s Malden Catholic, or Xaverian, whatever team it is you have to bring your best effort.”

The Eagles know what’s ahead of them, and they’ll need to bring their best effort to erase a 2-0 loss to BC High on Jan. 9. But Prep also has the goal of winning its first Catholic Conference title since 1994 on the horizon.

“We have a lot of seniors on this team, we all have the same goals,” Shaheen said. “We want to make it far as we can in the playoffs and we’re on the road right now. We just want to make it to our best potential.”

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - No matter good a team's top performers are and no matter how much they carry a team through the regular season, it's unlikely that any squad can win a state championship - especially the prestigious Super Eight - based on the strength of just one potent line.

In Round 2, St. John's Prep got a breakthrough performance from its second line as Andrew Brandano popped in two goals, including the game-winner, to lead the third-seeded Eagles to a 4-3 victory over No. 7 Central Catholic at Lawler Arena.

It seemed as though the Raiders (1-1 Super Eight, 14-4-5 overall) had all the momentum after Mike Kelleher forced a turnover and popped in a shorthanded goal just 3:45 into the third period, but Brandano changed all that with one terrific rush down the left wing.

John Ryan picked up the puck in the Eagles (2-0, 15-5-2) end and sent Brandano flying down the left boards while catching Central in a line change. Brandano walked in on Central goalie Kyle Williams, deked once to pull him out of position, then shot the puck past his glove side for the eventual game-winner at 7:36.

"John Ryan got the puck in the defensive zone and I think the other team was going for a change so I just broke off and John backhanded it up," Brandano explained. "I picked it up, went down the left side and noticed the left side was open so I just shot it and it went in."

Added Central coach Mike Jankowski, "We had the power plays and we had some guys who were running a little bit ragged there and had some forwards at 'D' and unfortunately got caught in a change there and exposed it. You can't do that with these guys, not even a little bit. These guys finish strong and they capitalized on the mistake."

Brandano, who also assisted on a second-period tally by Sam Kurker, has been a great story for the Eagles during the postseason, notching a goal in the Prep's Super Eight opener in addition to the two last night. In just his first season with the varsity, the junior has made a positive impact on the team's fortunes.

"I think Andrew's really emerged this year as one of our go-to guys," Prep head coach Kristian Hanson said. "It's his first year on varsity, he's a junior, we brought him along with the freshman, brought him along on JV, he was one of the top players at both levels."

"He's kind of deceivingly good," Hanson continued. "People look at him, he's not really big but he's one of those guys that just has a natural ability around the net. He's very smart player, he's a very smart kid academically and he's a kid who's done a great job of giving us some balance."

In addition to Brandano's unit, the Eagles third line also contributed a goal as Derek Osbahr tied the game with a second-period tally with assists from Mark Azarian and James Brightney.

"With our third line or our fourth line, the only thing we really want them to do is play even so for them to get a goal is a bonus," Hanson admitted. "Osbahr, that's his second goal of the year. He had a goal in the last game of the year. He's not a goal scorer but that certainly was a timely goal for us."

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
While the second and third lines stepped up big against the Raiders, the other thing that pleased Hanson was a return to form by the Eagles star forward Sam Kurker. The Boston University-committ had been struggling somewhat to find his form of late, but on this night, Kurker was back to his dominant self.

Offensively, the senior had a goal and two assists. He was also a beast in the defensive zone as well as on special teams while killing penalties. In short, Kurker looked like the game changing player he regularly has been.

"I thought Sam played much better tonight, said Hanson. "We don't pull any punches. We flat out said it him - he struggled the other night. But he came out tonight completely different player - much more energy, much more physical. He had a number of great chances, had a goal and obviously Sam was a difference-maker for us.

LATE GAME STRATEGY DECISIONS
The unique format of the Super Eight tends to force coaches to make decisions they might not ordinarily make. Such was the case for Central Catholic, who had an opportunity to pull goalie Kyle Williams in the final minute of play while trailing, 3-2.

Williams looked continuously toward his bench waiting for a signal while his teammates worked to maintain possession in the Eagles zone. The Raiders even took a timeout with a faceoff in the Eagles end with 26.2 seconds left and Williams spent much of it skating behind his teammates, likely waiting for word on what his role would be.

Jankowski, ever mindful of the tiebreaker scenarios that may likely emerge heading into Round 3, elected to keep Williams in net and play it safe rather than risk giving up an empty-netter that might cause problems with goal differential, should that tiebreaker come into play. He also admitted afterward that the format of the tournament plays a major role in the thought process, saying, "It's a tough thing because your natural instinct is pull the goalie and lets get one and obviously play to win, or actually tie it up and then go from there."

A similar situation developed during the first game of the Super Eight when Hingham coach Tony Messina elected to pull his goalie and play for a win, knowing full well his team was scheduled to face top-seeded Malden Catholic in Round 3.

While the two situations are drastically different, both Jankowski and Messina made choices that they felt best suited their teams needs while keeping the overall picture in mind.

BOSTON -- Catholic Conference rivals No. 6 Catholic Memorial and No. 7 St. John’s Prep entered Monday’s holiday matinee hungry for a win. Both teams sat at 4-4-0 entering the matchup with the Eagles yet to notch a conference win on the season.

Despite controlling play for the greater part of two periods, it was CM who left Walter Brown Arena with a sub-.500 record. Prep struck for three third-period goals, including senior captain Sam Kurker’s third of game, in a 5-1 victory.

“It was a must-win game,” Kurker said of the Eagles’ mentality leading in.

CM (1-2-0 Catholic) outshot the Eagles, 21-12, through two periods, but trailed 2-1.

Prep goaltender David Letarte (25 saves) was instrumental in keeping the Knights at bay early. Not to mention, Letarte along with the Prep defense, helped limit CM to one goal despite seven power play opportunities, including two 5-on-3 situations during the third period.

“He made some big saves early in the game, to keep things close,” Eagles head coach Kristian Hanson said. “Even after they came back, 2-1, he made a big save after that. If it had gone to 2-2, the game could’ve went either way.”

Prep (1-3-0 Catholic) went to the room with a 1-0 lead after the first intermission.

With the Eagles on the forecheck, Kurker forced a turnover in the Knights’ end. His dish out front found Brian Pinho, who beat CM netminder Shane Starrett with a wristshot for a 1-0 lead at 8:28 of the first.

Starrett denied the Eagles from striking again in the period, stoning Tyler Bird on a 2-on-1 chance, in close, at the goalmouth with five minutes remaining.

The Eagles added to their lead four minuts into the second, with Kurker potting his his first of the game.

Jack O’Hear put CM on the board with a perfectly placed wristshot from the slot. The power play tally, assisted by Liam Coughlin, cut the deficit to one before the second imtermission.

“We were doing alright, we played exceptionally well for two periods,” CM head coach Bill Hanson said. “We were right there with the power play opportunities.”

However, the Knights had the wind kicked out of their sails with Kurker’s second of the game, which came 21 seconds into the third period.

From there, the Eagles dominated what once was a tight game. Prep junior Nick Gianelli netted his first goal of the season on a short-handed breakaway at 1:55. Kurker collected the hat trick with a power-play goal with 6:37 remaining.

“The last couple of games, we’ve have opportunities to score and we haven’t capitalized on them,” Kristian Hanson said. “Today, we had fewer opportunities, but we did a better job with the ones we had.”

POWER TO THE PK
As the Knights’ goal-scoring struggles continued, the Eagles bettered their percentage on the penalty kill, which has been among the state’s best in the first half of the season.

Along with top-line stalwarts Kurker and Pinho, the Eagles’ PK has been a well-rounded group, with contributions from players up and down the lines.

“Our PK’s been pretty strong all year,” Kristian Hanson said. “Sam [Kurker] and Brian [Pinho] kind of lead the way with that, but then we’ve had other guys step in there like [Nick] Gianelli and [Derek] Osbahr and [Nick] Bragole, those were guys that were on the JV last year. This year, they’ve been asked to step up and contribute on the PK and play significant minutes.”

KURKER ON ASCENT
Kurker received weighty praise last week when he was ranked 41st among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting’s Midterm draft rankings. As one of only two MIAA skaters (along with MC’s Brendan Collier) included on the list, it speaks volumes that Kurker was the second highest ranked skater with New England roots, following Kent School’s Cristoval Nieves.

The 6-foot-1, 198-pound winger was also the second highest ranked high schooler (behind Nieves) on the list.

The BU-commit credited the achievement to the hard work he’s put in the weight room, under the watchful eye of recently named Boston Red Sox strength coach Mike Boyle.

“It’s nice to get recognition, but you have to keep working hard," Kurker said. "That’s so far off [the draft] that you have to keep on working.”