Prospect finishes with 3rd straight win

When do the playoffs begin?

The 2015 playoffs, that is. Prospect sure looks ready.

The Knights concluded their 2014 campaign with a third straight win, this one a convincing 31-13 Mid-Suburban East victory at Elk Grove to finish 3-6 overall and 3-2 in the division.

They can only wish it was 2015 already.

"The kids really played hard," said Prospect coach Mike Sebestyen. "The last five weeks were fun."

Now the Knights feel like they were at least a playoff-worthy team that was far better than its overall record.

"Absolutely. If we played the way we did the last three weeks," said running back Bobby Jarosz, a junior who had 140 yards on 23 carries. He's part of a backfield that returns in its entirety next year. He combined with sophomore Andrew Shafis to help the Knights pile up 262 yards rushing.

Shafis scored on runs of 7 and 30 yards in the first half and 2 yards in the second half. He had four runs over 30 yards behind the likes of junior Matt Schultz, sophomore Billy Marzek, senior James Ford, junior Luke Wrede and senior Vinny DiFatta. Yes, three more underclassmen in that group.

"It's been fun to see them grow and come together," said Sebestyen. "I can't say enough about how our offensive line has grown."

They took command right away, too, as Prospect set the tone by forcing a three-and-out and then driving 65 yards on 13 plays over nearly seven minutes. In fact, the Knights scored on their first three possessions, grinding to a 17-7 halftime lead.

And they kept on grinding.

"After halftime," said Jarosz, "those 3-yard runs become 9 yards."

It was back to thunder and lightning in the second half. The Knights scored twice in 51 seconds. Shafis scored from the 2 to finish a 65-yard drive. Five plays later, after a pick, he scored again from 36 yards.

Ballgame over. Unfortunately, season too.

But Elk Grove did make it interesting. Sean Fege threw for 176 yards, but was picked three times. Still, he found Joe Gatziolis four times for 108 yards, including two circus catches, one for a 40-yard TD and the other to set up Fege's 3-yard TD run.

Elk Grove did not look like a winless team (0-9, 0-5) on the legs and heart of tailback Azeez Alabi, whose 20 carries produced 114 tough yards.

"We bent a little defensively, but never broke," said Sebestyen, who got great defensive play from Joey Kern and Joe Siracusa, defensive backs Brady Eckert and Tito De Los Santos and pass rushers such as Dema Govalla.

"Our seniors kept the whole thing together," Sebestyen said of guys like Kern, DiFatta and Ford.

"They were always there for us," the underclassmen, said Jarosz. "They helped us through it. We kept fighting."

And, finally, winning.