Prospect makes rematch look easy against Hersey

MT. PROSPECT – Prospect made sure that the sequel ended quickly.

The Knights jumped all over Hersey from the onset to surge to a 56-14 win Friday in the Class 7A playoff opening round.

Prospect (8-2), which is seeded 11th, has now won eight straight. The Knights will play at sixth-seeded Normal (9-1) next weekend. Normal beat West Chicago 41-16.

The Prospect-Hersey game couldn’t match the drama from the team’s first meeting. In that game, Prospect pulled off a 30-27 victory in the final two minutes on a touchdown run by Noah Easter that decided the MSL East title.

Prospect made sure that Friday’s game was never that close. The Knights jumped all over Hersey in the first quarter, taking a commanding 21-0 lead.

“There is always a lot of extra stuff when you go to the crosstown rival thing,” Prospect coach Dan DeBoeuf said. “We just focused on what we can control. And our kids did that. I am so proud of the way they played in all three phases of the game.”

While the Prospect offense has received most of the accolades this season, the defense has been solid as well. Led by J.T. Zei, Connor Curran, Joseph Lobue, William Fidler, Declan Lawlor, Jacob Bednarski and Jackson Parrish, the Knights had five interceptions and fumble recovery.

“All week it was about playing fast,” Zei said. “We were able to come out with a win in Week 7, but we felt we left a lot on the table. We fixed some alignment things and from there it was playing as fast as we can.”

Easter picked up where he left off in the last meeting. Easter, who scored three touchdowns and rushed for 114 yards on 16 carries, busted off a 38-yard touchdown run in the Knights’ first possession to make it 7-0.

“We wanted this one badly,” said Easter who would also have touchdown runs of 20 and 5 yards. “We had a great week of practice and just stuck together. We didn’t care about who we played, we just wanted to stick together.”

Prospect came right back on its next possession to score again. This time it was Jack Skoog connecting with Lucas Deines, who has been the forgotten man in the Knights receiving corps. Deines slipped past the Hersey defense and hauled in a 64-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.

Prospect then took advantage of a Hersey bad snap on a punt for a short field at the Hersey 11 for another score. Two plays later, Skoog, who was 12-of-15 for 191 yards, connected with Nick Carlucci on a 10-yard fade pass for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

It was 28-0 on a touchdown run by Easter before Hersey (6-4) was able to get anything going. Brandon Jenkins (14 carries, 75 yards) scored the first of his two touchdowns to make it 28-21.

Prospect then tallied another score before the end of the half as Skoog ran five yards for a touchdown.

The Knights put the game away in the second half, returning two interceptions for touchdowns. Lawlor scored when he picked off a screen pass and returned it 45 yards. Later, Bednasrki would return an interception 45 yards for another pick-six.

“It wasn’t the best,” Hersey coach Tom Nelson said. “In high school football there is a lot of momentum. We caught a bad wave for sure. We got a resilient group. We got a lot of different kids playing this year. It is a good experience for us and the kids showed a lot of resiliency, especially this senior class. I am proud of them.”

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