Banner night for Prospect, Osei as they derail Carmel
The correct pronunciation of Prospect quarterback Miles Osei's last name is "Oh-say," as in "Oh say, can you see..."
But on Friday night in Mundelein, it was more like, "Osei...did you see that?" "And that?" "And that?"
Over and over again, Osei dazzled a robust playoff crowd at Carmel with his blazing speed, nifty moves and unbelievable elusiveness.
He gave seventh-seeded Carmel far more than it could handle in leading No. 10 Prospect to a breezy 33-13 victory in a first round battle of the Class 7A IHSA playoffs.
Prospect, which also sparkled defensively in improving to 8-2, advances to a second-round matchup against the winner of today's first-round game between No. 15 Wheaton North (5-4) and undefeated No. 2 Rockford Boylan (9-0).
Carmel, which was coming off of last week's high of clinching a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference league title with Joliet Catholic, closes out the season at 7-3.
"It feels great. I'm really happy about tonight," said Osei, who rolled up 210 rushing yards on 36 carries and scored 4 touchdowns.
Despite being one of only two players who carried the ball for Prospect (running back Peter Bonahoom was the other with 19 carries for 169 yards), Osei still couldn't be stopped, even though Carmel knew darn well what was coming.
When asked about his individual effort and what keys that kind of rare success, Osei didn't say much. At least not about himself.
"I think it's the coaches and the players around me," said Osei, who is getting serious looks from Division I schools such as Northern Illinois, Illinois, Indiana and many others. "To be honest, I've never thought of myself as anything special. I still really don't. I'm serious. It's the receivers, the offensive line. They make me who I am."
Well, then, the receivers and the offensive line made Osei look really good against Carmel.
Osei directed the Knights to a furious start that pushed Carmel way back on its heels. Prospect scored just two minutes into the game on a 29-yard run by Bonahoom that was set up by an impressive 34-yard run by Osei.
After the stingy Prospect defense held on fourth down on Carmel's first possession, Osei marched the Knights into the end zone again. This time, they got a huge 46-yard gain by Bonahoom, which paved the way for Osei's first touchdowns, a 9-yard jaunt.
After stuffing the Carmel offense again - a Carmel offense that had been averaging 29.7 points per game, Prospect scored its third touchdown in as many possessions, this time on a 3-yard run by Osei that was set up by a sweet 26-yard pass from Osei to Steve Dazzo.
Before the Corsairs knew it, they were down 19-0 with 10:59 remaining in the second quarter.
"From the beginning, their pace was much quicker than ours," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "We didn't catch up (with the pace) until the second half and then it was too late."
Prospect scored only once after halftime - on an amazing 40-yard run by Osei in which he crossed the field while eluding multiple defenders. But by then, the Knights had already established a seemingly insurmountable 26-7 halftime lead that took a mental toll on the Corsairs, who had finally gotten on the board when Jordan Kos (13 carries, 90 yards) scored on a 44-yard touchdown run with 4:29 left in the second quarter.