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Well-grounded Elk Grove rushes past Prospect

Woody and Bo would have smiled had they been able to witness the ground attacks that Elk Grove and Prospect unleashed against each other in their Mid-Suburban East football game Friday.

Those are the late legendary rival coaches Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler of Ohio State and Michigan football lore, for anyone too young to remember "3 yards and a cloud of dust" Big Ten football.

The Grens and host Knights combined for 756 rushing yards and just 35 through the air, and Elk Grove came away with its second win of the season 47-31 at George Gattas Stadium.

Aziz Alabi and Chuck Fleming were too much for the Knights. Alabi rushed 14 times for 177 yards and 4 touchdowns, including an 88-yard scoring burst on the Grens' third play from scrimmage. Fleming rushed 12 times for 175 yards and 1 touchdown.

Not to be outdone, Prospect's Dante Cecala gained 182 yards on 21 carries, and quarterback Matt Drew gained 109 yards on 24 carries, scoring twice. The area's leading rusher, Bobby Jarosz, added 63 yards in 17 carries, finishing the night with 1,021 yards with one game left. He scored Prospect's first and last touchdowns.

Offensive linemen Dan Dalenberg, Sean Duffy, Louis DiPietro, Luke Radtke, and Daniel Powell, along with tight end Michael Miceli, were responsible for paving the way for the Grens' ground game.

"They're the unsung heroes of the team," said coach John Sigmund. "They're everything you'd want from an offensive line."

"Every day at practice we're working to improve," Dalenberg said. "This was by far our best game. We didn't shoot ourselves in the foot and came together to execute the game plan."

"They outplayed us and were physically dominant," Prospect coach Mike Sebestyen said. "They came out and hit and played better football. They deserved to win. You can tell they're a developing team."

It didn't take Elk Grove (2-2, 2-6) long to assert its dominance. The Grens went up 14-0 on their second play after a Prospect punt when Alex Lorenz found the MSL East's leading receiver, Joe Gatziolis, wide open for a 35-yard touchdown with 7:46 left in the first quarter.

After Jarosz scored on a 1-yard run, Alabi scored his second touchdown of the game with 1:13 left in the quarter to give Elk Grove a 21-7 lead.

Drew's 9-yard run brought the Knights as close as they would get, 21-14, with less than a minute gone in the second quarter.

A 1-yard run by Alabi at the 7:22 mark made it 28-14, and Jeremy Potratz booted a 25-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining before halftime to pull the Knights (1-3, 2-6) to 28-17.

Alabi's 3-yard run gave Elk Grove a 34-17 lead, and then Fleming broke free for a 54-yard touchdown with 11:50 left in the game for a 40-17 cushion.

"From the start, we were going to run the ball," Fleming said. "That's what we do best. The O-line did a great job, and the defense held when we needed to."

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