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Trap game: Prospect wins at Glenbrook N.

Pat Costello and Prospect trapped Glenbrook North in the opening round of the Class 7A playoffs in Northbrook.

Costello, who plays offensive tackle, helped the No. 13-seeded Knights kick out the No. 4 Spartans 35-14.

Prospect will host Wheaton North, a 41-13 winner over St. Charles East, next weekend in the second round.

“I just run my feet and run right through them, ” said Costello, who threw several key trap blocks in the second half to spring running back Jack Tuttle. “I just was staying with my technique. We say that they went to double ones, and that is when we knew we had to go right at them.”

Costello, along with Kevin Kern, Mike Houghton, Jackson Wrede and Carl Erbe helped Prospect roll up 260 yards on the ground, 171 of which came in the second half.

Tuttle had 160 of those yards on 22 carries, including a pair of second-half touchdowns.

“We knew we had to get it on the ground and pound it out with them,” Tuttle said. “It really worked well. We have two athletic guys at the tackles and they were kicking guys out tonight.”

It was those tough yards that enabled the Knights (7-3) to pull away from the Spartans (8-2) after the teams were tied 14-14 at the half.

“Our kids continued to fight,” Prospect coach Mike Sebestyen said. “We started to hit power a few times and I said ‘I am not getting out of this.’ ”

Prospect appeared to have the game in hand early.

Quarterback Devin O’Hara (8-of-10, 214 yards) moved the Knights down the field on their first possession, completing three passes. O’Hara then capped the drive with a 3-yard run to make it 7-0.

It became 14-0 late in the first quarter on another O’Hara touchdown run. This one came from 12-yards out and was set up by a 14-yard punt return by Nikko Gountanis that took the ball down to the Glenbrook North 21.

After Glenbrook North closed the gap to 14-7 on the second play of the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Grant Rushing, penalties caught up with the Knights.

Prospect got called for holding, which nullified a long touchdown run. Then after a fumble recovery by the Spartans, Prospect was called for two personal fouls, that moved the ball down the field. Rushing again scored for Glenbrook North to tie the game at 14.

But that was the last time the Glenbrook North star running back was heard from.

Rushing, who came into the game with 1,635 yards, was held to just 26 yards on 13 carries by the stout front seven of Andrew Hajek, Bradley Eckert, Danny Flumetto, Mike Houghton, Carl Erbe, Shola George and James Ford of the Knights.

“We did a great job of containing him,” Sebestyn said. “We kept the running lanes away from him.”

While Rushing was stagnated, the Prospect offense flourished in the second half.

“We love to get the passing game going, because we are a running team,” O’Hara said. “I think opening up the passing game opened up our running game even more tonight.”

The Knights were able to put together an 11-play 61 yard drive early in the second half. O’Hara had two key third down pass plays to keep the drive alive, one to Hajek and the other to Steve Isteefanos that covered 28 yards. O’Hara later then snuck over from the 1 to make it 21-14 with 5:29 left in the third quarter.

O’Hara connected on 61-yard pass Joe Gleason early in the fourth quarter to help set up the Knights next touchdown. Tuttle busted over from the 15, thanks to a block from Costello as Prospect led 28-14 with 10:25 to play.

Costello, who is a 6-foot-4, 259 pound senior, again was key on the Knights’ next possession.

Costello threw a pair of trap blocks to spring Tuttle on runs of 30 and 22 yards. Tuttle scored a few plays later on a 9-yard run to put the game away.

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