Prospect makes Hoffman pay

Prospect made host Hoffman Estates pay by turning five turnovers into 3 touchdowns Friday in their 52-0 Mid-Suburban League football crossover win.

From the first play of the game, Prospect's opportunistic defense asserted itself.

Hoping perhaps to catch Prospect not expecting a pass, the run-oriented Hawks (0-3) put the ball in the air on their first play, and Peter Bonahoom collected his first of two turnovers, intercepting David Gutierrez and returning the ball from Hoffman's 48 to the 19.

Three plays later Steve Dazzo (158 yards on 16 carries) scored from 3 yards.

Later in the first half, Prospect scored on consecutive fumble recoveries and returns for touchdown, the first a 51-yarder by Bonahoom and the next a 17-yarder by Patrick Inserra.

Prospect recovered a third consecutive fumble but Hoffman's Jason Sumling intercepted Dazzo on his own 5.

"We made too many mistakes," Hoffman coach Bill Helzer said. "We tried to do something we're not known for on the first play and got derailed."

"(The turnovers) made the game look more lopsided that it really was," Prospect coach Brent Pearlman said.

"We have lots of stuff to work on," Dazzo said. "We have a long way to go."

Dazzo completed 4-of-6 passes for 65 yards and 2 touchdowns, 10 yards to Sam Frasco late in the first quarter and 37 yards to Grant DePalma with 9:14 left in the second quarter, putting the Knights (2-1) ahead 27-0.

Bonahoom did his share on offense, too. He gained 115 yards on 10 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns from 47 and 13 yards. His second TD came with 6:59 left in the third quarter and gave Prospect a 46-0 lead, activating a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Bonahoom and Dazzo gave credit to offensive linemen Dan Panicko, Peyton Eckert, Anthony Babicz, Matt Boll and Zach Lewis for opening holes that let the Knights roll up 366 rushing yards and allow no sacks.

Gutierrez was Hoffman's leading rusher with 55 yards on 15 carries.

Despite the shutout, Pearlman says the defense has some work to do.

"We've got to reverse a mindset," Pearlman said. "The last two years haven't been too good on defense. We're not even at 75 percent of where we can be, and we have to work to get there."