No time wasted by Prospect

Prospect (4-1) scored early and often in jumping out to a 28-point lead in the first six minutes, and the Knights didn't look back en route to a 48-7 Mid-Suburban East victory over visiting Hersey at George Gattas Stadium.

Senior Peter Bonahoom returned the opening kick 55 yards, setting up senior quarterback Steve Dazzo's 26-yard touchdown run 1:47 into the game.

Hersey fumbled (3-2), one of four first-half turnovers, on the third play of the opening drive, which led to a 9-yard scoring run by Dazzo and a 14-0 lead with 7:37 left in the first quarter.

Bonahoom then returned a fumble on the first play of the Huskies' second possession for a 21-0 lead.

Hersey quarterback Alex Vaile, who was subbing for Brad Zaucha, was intercepted on the third play of the third drive by Ryan Ward, and the Knights scored on the ensuing play when Dazzo found Grant DePalma for a 55-yard touchdown with 6:05 remaining in the first quarter.

And just like that it was 28-0.

"We thought we had a major challenge tonight," said Prospect coach Brent Pearlman, "We wanted to be sure we responded to that challenge immediately, we didn't want to wait until we were a quarter into the game. I thought our kids did a good job doing that."

Especially Dazzo, The senior quarterback rushed for 87 yards on 12 carries and completed 4-of-11 passes for 119 yards - all in the first half.

"We came right out of the gate and were hitting on all cylinders," said Dazzo of the Knights' attack. "But we're not satisfied, the goal is to get better every week."

Prospect's defense held Hersey to 111 total yards, including only 29 yards in a dominant first half. Dan Panicko led the Knights defense with a fumble recovery to set up the second touchdown and the senior also returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown.

"I read it from the get-go," said Panicko of the interception which increased Prospect's halftime advantage to 42-0. "Our line was just getting off the ball really good tonight."

Hersey had four starters miss the game for disciplinary reasons, and then lost backup quarterback Vaile to a right knee injury midway through the second quarter.

"We almost had to start from scratch, and it limits what you can do," said Hersey coach Dragan Teonic. "But that has nothing to do with how well we played on the offensive and defensive lines, and that is where it got away from us."

Devin O'Hara added a 4-yard score for Prospect in the third quarter. Senior running back Chris Polinski had to take over at quarterback and gave Hersey its only points on a 10-yard run with 9:08 remaining in the game.