Mack, Knights get defensive

The Prospect 'D' earned an A on Friday night, rising to the challenge in 42-21 Mid-Suburban East football victory over visiting Buffalo Grove.

The Knights, who allowed 54 points last week in a loss to Schaumburg, used a swarming, gang-tackling defensve effort to stonewall the Bison.

Prospect's first-team defense allowed a lone touchdown while the Knights' potent offense ran and passed for more than 500 yards.

"This was a new start," said Prospect junior linebacker Joe Mack. "This was exactly the way we wanted to start off in the MSL East.

"We were having some problems, but we came out tonight with a change in attitude. We came to play."

It was Mack who made perhaps the biggest of several Prospect fourth-down stops in the second half.

In the first half, Knights senior Mike Przespolewski (83 yards rushing, 126 yards receiving) ran for 2 touchdowns and caught a Miles Osei 4-yard pass for another, and Osei (279 yards passing) ran for 2 TDs to stake Prospect (3-2, 1-0) to a 35-14 lead.

Then BG, which got an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Josh Hampton and a 3-yard TD catch by Andrew Hemmer in the first half, took the second-half kickoff and marched to the Prospect 1.

The Bison tried to pass on fourth down but Mack got to quarterback J.P. Kulick, forcing an incomplete pass and turning over the ball to Prospect on downs.

"I was just thinking that I had to make a play like this for my teammates," said Mack, who had been shaken up just a couple of plays earlier before returning to the contest just in time to make the big play.

Przespolweski had another touchdown run in the second half from 3 yards, while BG (2-3, 0-1) scored a late TD on a pass from backup quarterback Kyle Browne.

Osei added 117 yards rushing for the Knights while Kulick finished 18-of-28 through the air for 128 yards for BG.

"We got down early," said Kulick, "and when you get down by 14 points to a good team like Prospect it's hard to come back. We fought and battled through adversity, but the ball didn't fall into our hands when we needed it to."