It’s fair to say that St. Peter’s Prep literally left everything on the field Friday night at Don Bosco Prep.

You can name the cliché: blood, sweat, tears, but you also have to mention the football.

After scoring the game-winning touchdown in overtime, St. Peter’s Prep quarterback Maasai Maynor cut through the sea of white jerseys that just stormed the field.

Emotions were high. Celebration was everywhere, but in the end zone, Maynor’s game ball was lying lifeless right where he left it in the center of Don Bosco’s end zone and the hearts of a blacked-out student section at Granatell Stadium in Ramsey.

“All I wanted to do was go to the Don Bosco fan section and say ‘thanks for coming,’” Maynor said. “That’s all I really wanted. I said ‘thanks for coming. I appreciate you.’”

Maynor made all of the plays and put together another signature performance to lead St. Peter’s Prep, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, to a 26-23 overtime victory over No. 9 Don Bosco Prep.

The Navy-bound quarterback silenced the crowd when he pounded in a 3-yard score in overtime to bring St. Peter’s all the way back in a game that Don Bosco Prep led by 13 with 12 minutes to play.

Maynor orchestrated two scoring drives in the fourth quarter to overcome the deficit. Maynor threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns without any turnovers.

“(Maynor) imposed his will,” said St. Peter’s coach Rich Hansen. “He was poised, and he carried us. Those are the things that true leaders do. He makes everybody around him better. In the end, we’re going with him. That’s our guy.”
St. Peter’s had a chance to win the game in regulation but missed the potential game-winning extra point.

Trailing 20-14 with just over three minutes to play, Maynor ran in a 2-yard score to cap a four-play drive. On the play before his touchdown, Maynor scrambled for a 40-yard gain.

In overtime, Don Bosco took its opening possession to the 5-yard line but a false start ultimately killed the touchdown opportunity as the Ironmen settled for Guy Fava’s third field goal of the game.

Don Bosco coach Mike Teel said “critical mistakes in critical situations” continue to plague his team, which led 17-7 at the half and 20-7 at the end of the third quarter.

“In the league that we play in, the teams are too good to make mistakes in critical situations,” said Teel, whose team was also crippled by penalties in a 14-13 loss to Bergen Catholic two weeks ago. “We continue to make mistakes, and it’s killing us. If we can get those fixed, we’re going to have a shot to be a good football team.”

At this point, it seems every team in the Super Football Conference’s United Red Divsion is a legitimate contender.

St. Peter’s Prep is now 2-0 in divisional play, and that’s all that matters for a team that just wants to be the toughest squad in a division of juggernauts when all is said and done.

“It’s toughness,” said senior lineman Andrew Marrero. “We say that word all the time throughout practice. Who is going to be the tougher player on the field? Who is going to go onto that line and say ‘I want it more’?”

“Hats off to them, but we came out and said we wanted it more.”

In a league that continues to prove it is one of the country’s most-talented and most-competitive, every little thing counts.

One of the hidden keys to Friday’s win came down to special teams. St. Peter’s senior Patrick Haughney delivered several booming punts throughout the game, including a 57-yarder to close out regulation.

“This game was absolutely unbelievable,” Haughney said. “We did it as a team. Words can’t even describe it. Just an absolutely great senior win.”

And a great bounce-back win for a St. Peter’s team that suffered a 16-13 loss to DePaul last week and lost its No. 1 ranking.

“Last week, we lost because we weren’t tough enough,” said senior Ayir Asante, who had an 80-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the first quarter. “This week, we were tougher than them in the end.”