Xavier Johnson leads Summit over Purcell Marian in 20-7 win

Punting to Xavier Johnson of Summit Country Day probably isn’t the best strategy to win a football game. Johnson contributed in the run game and passing game as he collected two touchdowns in Summit’s 20-7 win over the Purcell Marian Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

Johnson was on the receiving end of quarterback Jimmy Stines’s lone touchdown pass of the evening to break the scoreless tie halfway through the first quarter and returned a punt in the second quarter for a touchdown.

Purcell Marian didn’t learn their lesson from that, however, and Johnson returned a second punt down to the 18-yard line of Purcell that set up the Silver Knights’ third touchdown on the day on a short run by Rylan Woods.

“Xavier Johnson has been a great leader since his freshman year, on and off the field,” said Summit head coach Justin Isaacs. “He does a great job for us. He’s explosive and he’s probably the best receiver in the city.

"He can go up there and get it any time, he can run short routes, he can do kick returns or punt returns. Whatever we need, he does.”

Johnson capitalized on a few of the many mistakes made by Purcell Marian, which saw the Cavaliers turn the ball over on downs, throw interceptions, allow multiple sacks, and commit numerous penalties that either extended Summit’s drives or killed their own – including a personal foul that wiped out a potentially game-changing punt return.

Isaacs believes his commitment to running the football, like with Johnson on several jet sweeps, forced Purcell Marian out of their comfort zone and helped force all of the errors.

“Our game plan was to run the football,” Isaacs said. “Run it and stop them deep. Purcell Marian is explosive and they’re a good football team. We were mentally tough and we got after it. We won in the trenches and did that all night.

"Despite their mistakes, (Purcell Marian is) dangerous and they make dangerous plays and they could’ve beaten us tonight easily, but we came out on top.”

Purcell Marian was able to score their only points on an errant throw from Stines that was returned by Nylan Mosley all the way for a touchdown.

Both teams return to action on Friday, September 1, with Purcell Marian facing Shroder and Summit Country Day putting its undefeated record on the line against Cincinnati College Prep. Both games are slotted for 7p.m. kickoff times.