Fortune smiles on Knights
You won't normally hear a high school football coach say his team was lucky to win. The sport at this level can be unpredictable.
But on Saturday, Prospect coach Brent Pearlman sincerely felt his team was fortunate to walk off George Gattas Memorial Stadium with a season-opening 10-7 nonconference win over Downers Grove North.
"We got away with murder," Pearlman said. "To have 5 turnovers and 2 dropped touchdown passes, you should not expect to win. We got lucky."
That sentiment may have been felt on the Downers North sideline, too. The Trojans controlled the clock and field position in the scoreless second half, and only a fumble into the end zone with 1:49 left in the game kept them scoring the go-ahead points.
On fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, North quarterback David Stachura - one of three DGN quarterbacks who combined for 118 rushing yards - attempted to sneak in for the score, but he never had possession after the snap.
Prospect's Mike Maratea emerged from the pile with the ball, and the touchback allowed the Knights to run out the clock starting on their own 20.
"I'm at a loss," said Trojans coach John Wander when asked what happened in the end zone. "Our kid recovered the ball in the end zone. Number 26 (Ryan Gresko) said he came up with the ball."
"The ball was loose, and I jumped on it," Maratea said. "I saw it on the ground. The fumble was forced by (Sean) Wheeler."
That goal-line stand was the fourth time the Prospect defense stopped Downers North inside its own 10-yard line.
"We feel very fortunate," Maratea said. "We didn't deserve it."
Prospect scored on its first possession, a 3-play, 45-yard drive, capped by a 29-yard scoring run by Pat Mack (12 carries, 94 yards). Wheeler forced the fumble, recovered by Pat Ziegenfuss, to give the Knights field position for that drive.
The Trojans tied it at 7 with 44.1 seconds left in the first quarter when Gresko (5 carries, 23 yards) scored from 11 yards out one play after Kevin Stroud (2 fumble recoveries and an interception) scooped up Mack's fumble and returned 7 yards.
The final - and winning - points came on a Ziegenfuss 35-yard field goal with 10.1 seconds left in the first half.
Sophomore quarterback Miles Osei (17 carries, 71 yards) drove the Knights from their own 6 to the North 18 before the 13-play drive stalled.
In his varsity debut, Osei completed 2 passes for 59 yards to Austin Sobey, and was intercepted once. He even faked out the officials on one play, pulling back the ball from Mack on an option, and whistles blew when Mack went down while Osei was still loose in the Trojans' secondary.
"After the first play, I was fine," Osei said. "Before that I was nervous."