BILLERICA — Ryan Farrow understood the stark reality of Saturday night’s Super 8 elimination game at Chelmsford Forum.
Lose and go home.
The senior captain from Burlington netted the clincher with 6:38 left in the third period as St. John’s Prep survived and advanced to the third round with a gritty 3-1 win over St. John’s Shrewsbury, a team the Eagles handled rather easily in mid-February.
The third-seeded Prep (15-4-4) will play Pope Francis (19-4-3) at Tsongas Center (5:30 p.m.) on Monday night, the winner moving on to the semifinals.
“You come to the realization once the Super 8 starts that it’s your last year,’’ said Farrow. “Every game from this point is desperation. If you lose you go home. I just want to savor it for the last few games and hopefully it ends at the [TD Garden].’’
The Eagles struck first, at 3:18 of the first period, when senior defenseman Tim Usalis beat Corey Splaine (22 savees) on the power play with a wrister. In the second period, sophomores Brian Carrabes and Ryan Bradley teamed up for a 2-0 lead, with the former tapping the puck into the net.
Dhillon Wilde spoiled the shutout bid of senior goalie Cam Ludwig (18 saves) with 3:41 left.
“I think we just stuck with it,’’ said Ludwig. “At some points we didn’t play our best but we stuck with it and grinded out a win.’’
Pope Francis 4, Central Catholic 1 — The Cardinals (19-4-3) dropped a pair of 3-1 decisions to Central Catholic (22-3) during the regular season. But in Saturday’s second round of elimination play, Pope Francis found a way to stay alive.
Senior forward Trevor Crawford scored with 2:17 remaining in the third period on a three-on-one rush off a pass from junior forward Makem Demers to hand Pope Francis a 3-1 lead. With 52 seconds left, Crawford added an empty-netter to seal the win.
“They defeated us the first two times and we knew it wasn’t over because of that,’’ said Crawford.
“We battled back, stuff we did defensively and we knew the chances would come today. There’s been a lot of ups and downs. We’re all brothers so that really helps us on and off the ice.’’
At 10:54 of the first period, Demers put Pope Francis on top, 1-0, with a net-front goal that beat junior goalie Matt Pasquale (17 saves) on the blocker side. With 2:34 to play in the first, Central senior center Evan DiGiovanni backhanded the puck past junior goalie Victor Larssen (19 saves) on the power-play to tie the game at 1-1.
Pope Francis took a 2-1 lead at 3:55 of the second period while shorthanded, as junior defensemen Jacob King picked the right corner with a wrist shot.
“It’s a great feeling for these guys,’’ said Pope Francis coach Brian Foley.
“We knew it would be tough, but we thought we could get one or two [goals] and we just knew it had to be a really good defensive effort.’’
Chris Bokum can be reached at chris.bokum@globe.com.
