On the night Prospect recognized former Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade (Prospect High School, Class of 1975) as one of several Distinguished Alumni, Prospect junior Jackson Cacini flashed some serious leather — on a football field.

The Knights quarterback threw the pigskin 15 times, completing 13 of them — including five for TDs in the first half — for 213 yards in Prospect’s 56-8 homecoming defeat of Maine West.

“I don’t follow baseball, sorry,” admitted a smiling Cacini after the nonconference win in warm conditions at George Gattas Memorial Stadium.

Prospect senior wide receiver/punt returner/kick returner and Harvard-bound Nathan Cichy played outfield but only for a couple of years as a grade-schooler.

Cichy snared six passes for 106 yards Friday night, with half of them resulting in first-half TDs. His scores covered 18, 30 and 23 yards, with the last two separated by about three minutes.

“Our QB … he’s great, and he does things like he did tonight every game,” Cichy said a week after Prospect (3-1) defeated Niles West 60-7. “We made mistakes tonight, but that’s not going to stop us from chasing perfection every week.”

Cacini was flawless the first nine times the football left his right hand against the Warriors (1-3). Those connections totaled 148 yards. After his first incompletion, he found Cichy on a 9-yard swing pass for his fourth TD, putting the hosts up 34-0 at 9:03 of the second quarter.

“Special player,” Knights coach Dan DeBoeuf said of his signal caller. “He hasn’t been getting a whole lot of attention, but more and more people are going to find out soon just how good he is.”

Prospect junior running back Matthew Donnelly: He’s good, very good. The junior running back rushed 11 times for 127 yards and a pair of TDs. His shot-out-of-a-cannon, 52-yard TD dash broke up, briefly, Cacini’s passing show at 2:13 of the first quarter.

Cichy revealed that he, Donnelly and junior wideout Gordon Kemp (18-yard TD reception Friday night) lifted weights for 90 minutes at the school — after returning from last weekend’s night game in Skokie.

“We’ve got big goals this season,” said the future Crimson Tide gridder.

Senior Jacob Sutton caught the first TD pass of the night, a 9-yarder early in the first quarter.

Prospect led 49-0 at intermission.

The Knights went up 55-0 in thrilling fashion, right when it appeared the visitors would score with a running clock at the outset of the second half. Prospect senior defensive back Maxwell Hargadon picked off a pass and returned it 97 yards for a TD.

Among the Knights’ other highlights: Quintin Lokun (sack); Caden Moran (INT); Emmanuel Sylvestre (bat down); Joseph Lobue (pass breakup on a fourth down); Jacob Pepsnick (tackles for loss); Will Fidler (massive hit for no gain); and Ryland Contreras (tackles for loss).

Maine West got on the board at 8:30 of the fourth quarter. Senior running back Louis Avalos (18 rushes, 73 yards) ran for a 4-yard TD, and junior wide receiver Davion Tate used his legs for the 2-pointer.

“We need to stick together, and we will,” said Maine West coach George Klupchak, adding he was impressed with Prospect’s tempo, execution and physicality. “This was a tough one; we hadn’t lost three games in a row for a while. But the beauty of sports is getting to see how kids respond to adversity.

“This is a resilient group,” he continued. “It’s going to learn about bouncing back, about looking at this as a life lesson.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250919/prep-football/cacinis-near-perfect-night-leads-prospect-past-maine-west/