DANVERS — St. John’s Prep did what a top seed is supposed to do on Friday night at Cronin Memorial Stadium and with it punched yet another ticket to the Division 1 Final Four.

The Eagles held prolific Methuen running back Shane Eason to 62 yards and without a touchdown for the first time this season while the Prep defense picked off five Josh Danella passes.

Throw in a dominant ground attack and excellent special teams and it all added up to a 44-7 win and a date with Needham in the semifinals.

“Our line of scrimmage play was just dominant,” Eagles coach Brian St. Pierre said. “This is a very focused group and they’re buying into what we do.”

The Eagles (9-1) held Methuen to only eight first downs in the game and got two interceptions each from Aaron Radke and Jackson Tucker.

St. John’s got all the points it needed early in the first when Chris Vargas hit Merrick Barlow for a 42-yard gain. Jeff Quigley scored from 7 yards on the next play before the first of Jordan Toribio’s four conversion rushes made it 8-0.

That lead doubled on the next series as fullback Gael Garcia bulled in from a yard out. A third Methuen (8-2) punt of the first quarter was turned into a 23-yard L.J. Laws field goal and a 19-0 lead through 12 minutes.

Radke’s first interception set up another Laws field goal that made it 22-0 midway through the second.

Methuen got a much-needed boost on the next drive as it marched 74 yards with the big play coming on a 23 yard Danella to Adrian Blake pass. Danella’s two-yard run cut the lead to 22-7 at halftime.

Any thoughts the Raiders ascertained of a comeback died in the first 75 seconds of the second half.

Dayvian Sullivan took the second half kick 75 yards for a touchdown. Then Logan Pelletier picked off Danella on the next play and returned it to the Methuen 5 before Deacon Robillard scored the first of two second half touchdowns to make it 38-7.

“Dayvian kind of popped the top off of it there and that took any kind of momentum they might have had,” St. Pierre said.

After Methuen turned it over on downs near midfield, the Eagles capped an efficient night with a 320yard touchdown march capped by another Robillard keeper.

Two more interceptions snuffed out Methuen’s final two drives as the fourth quarter was played in running time.