Prospect rolls in 57-7 win over Elk Grove
It has been a great season so far for the Prospect football team, but the Knights were still hoping to put all three phases of their game together heading into their Mid-Suburban League East contest Friday night at Elk Grove.
And the Knights did just that as they built a commanding 29-0 lead over the Grenadiers at halftime before rolling to a 57-7 win over Elk Grove on its homecoming night.
Prospect (6-1, 3-0) actually did have two early turnovers on lost fumbles, but the Knights got on the scoreboard on a 12-yard touchdown run by Jacob Parisi before the extra point by Benjamin Sahakian made the score 7-0.
Elk Grove quarterback Mitch Janczak (12-for-32, 196 yards passing) had a good night throwing the ball, but an interception by Prospect's Giovani Paredes gave the Knights the ball in good field position early in the second quarter.
Four plays later, Prospect quarterback Frank Covey (13-for-17, 216 yards passing) hit Brad Vierneisel going over the middle for a 51-yard touchdown play before a 2-point run by Gavin Flanagan (59 yards on 8 carries) made the score 15-0.
The Knights' offense continued to roll as Covey's 2-yard touchdown run boosted the lead to 22-0 before a 2-yard touchdown catch by Parisi with 29.7 seconds left in the first half made the score 29-0.
"I was really happy because we were yet to play a full game with offense, defense and special teams, and that is the best we've played all year," said Prospect coach Dan DeBouef, whose team has an MSL East showdown at Hersey next week. "He (Covey) really stuck in the pocket and did some really good things with the passing game."
Prospect struck 1:38 into the third quarter as a 9-yard touchdown run by Flanagan made the score 36-0. But Janczak answered that score with an 80-yard bomb to Sebastian Halilovic to cut the lead to 36-7 only 22 seconds later. Garrett Ewen hit the extra point.
The Knights put the game away for good as an 11-yard TD run by Covey, and a 57-yard interception return by Paredes made the score 50-7 with 8:02 left in the third quarter as the rest of the game was played with a running clock.
"I thought we played really well, that was our best game all-around, and we played a full game," said Covey, who ran for 59 yards on 14 rushes. "I thought it was pretty good balance, we kept attacking and we made some good plays with run after catch."
Besides Vierneisel, Sean Koniezcka had 3 receptions for the Knights while Elk Grove teammates Brady Tosterud and Lucas Rogers had 4 receptions each.