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Exciting finish - and victory - for Prospect

After Prospect won the most thrilling game of the season at George Gattas Stadium, 45-42 in double overtime, Knights coach Mike Sebestyen summed it in a simple four words.

"We are not boring," he said.

No, the Knights hardly were as they twice came back from 14-point deficits to win the Mid-Suburban East football game on a frigid Friday night in Mt. Prospect.

Wheeling attempted a 19-yard field goal to tie the game in the second OT.

But junior cornerback De'Angelo Roberson came flying through the line to block the kick, igniting a rush of Prospect students onto to the artificial carpet to celebrate the Knights' first win of the season.

It was sophomore Jack Pruban's 29-yard field goal - his fourth of the season - just moments earlier that proved to be the winning margin.

"The outside guy got a little bit of a hand on me but we always practice to just keep going through (toward the kicker) and get a hand on the ball," Roberson said of his first blocked kick in high school. "Actually, it was just confidence and knowing I had to come through for my team."

"He got everything on it," Sebestyen said of the block. "He'd been barely missing in practice all week and finally gets one at the most opportune time. The kids on the wings did their job so De'Angelo could have a clear release."

Prospect made it clear it wasn't going to be easy for Wheeling (3-4, 1-2) by coming back from a 14-0-first quarter deficit to tie the game with 2:14 left in the first half.

But the Wildcats showed their character, too, putting together an 80-yard drive in less than two minutes to grab a 21-14 lead.

Senior QB Amani Dennis scored a 1-yard run with 5.8 seconds left.

Dennis finished with for 4 touchdowns (59, 1, 5 and 10 yards) and 213 yards. He also completed 7-of-14 passes for 133 yards.

"Amani is a heck of a football player and fun to watch," Sebestyen said. "He played his tail off and I told Jalen (his sophomore brother) that we were so glad he could play again. He had been hurt since the first week."

Jalen was part of a trick play when he took a reverse handoff and then threw a 33 yard TD pass to Tyler Urban (5 catches, 109 yards) to give Wheeling its 14-0 lead.

Prospect (1-6, 1-2) came back to tie the game on a 3-yard TD run by junior QB Matt Drew and a 29-yard TD run by sophomore Andrew Shafis, who rushed for 144 yards.

Drew ran for 4 touchdowns and threw for one.

Who knew these teams would combine for nearly 90 points?

"You don't know what to expect in any game," said Wheeling coach Brent Pearlman. "But we had two 14-point leads and gave them up, and I thought that was the turning point. When you are up by 14, you can't let the other team back in the game."

Josh Diaz's 9-yard run with 11:34 left in regulatin gave Wheeling its 35-21 advantage.

But following a long kickoff return by Vincent Lai, the Knights quickly marched 57 yards in eight plays, capped by a 10-yard TD pass from Drew to senior Mike O'Malley (6 catches for 64 yards) to make it 35-28.

The Knight began their game-tying drive with 3:32 left and went 68 yards to get in the end zone on a 2-yard run by Drew with 1:26 left.

Wheeling missed a 37-yard field goal with 29 second left in regulation.

Amani Dennis scored on the first play in OT with a 10-yard run. Prospect took three plays to tie it at 42-42 on a 1-yard run by Drew.

Then Pruban, with a hold by Anthony Bongiorno, gave Prospect its first lead at 45-42.

"I told our defense then that it had to find a way to get a big stop," Sebestyen said. "I told them it was our four biggest plays of the season and they came through.

"And we told our offense it had to keep grinding away all night."

Which is exactly what it did behind the blocking of linemen Luke Wrede, Matt Schultz, Billy Matzek, Vinny DiFatta and James Ford.

"Our kids did a real good job battling," Sebestyen said. "Where a lot of teams may stray, these kids understand they have to stay together. They are getting better and keep finding ways to deal with adversity. It tells you a lot of about the kids and about the parents they have, because their sons just keep getting better."

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