Knights put time on their side

Conant had the right idea.

Hang on to the football as long as possible and basically sideline Miles Osei and the supercharged Prospect "500" offense Friday night.

For nearly 36 minutes the the Cougars milked the clock. They pounded away with Kyle Klosowicz and recent sophomore callup Cordell Clark behind their big offensive line anchored by 300-pounders Kenny Kalish and Nathan Benedetti.

That gave Osei and the Knights little time to waste in their Mid-Suburban League crossover on Feutz Field's beautiful new turf in Hoffman Estates.

So much for the importance of time of possession.

Prospect used their dozen minutes with the ball about as wisely as possible en route to an electrifying 41-21 victory.

"It's amazing," Prospect senior Victor Rhee said after he and his offensive linemates of Mike Geweniger, Matt Huene, Kyle Kapka and Matt Boll led the way to 12 minutes of serious damage.

"That's unbelievable," Prospect coach Brent Pearlman said after his team needed no more than 2:57 to speed to one of its six scores.

"Really - that's ridiculous," Prospect junior Peter Bonahoom said with a shocked smile of how long he was on the field defensively compared to offensively. "We practice sustaining long drives and do 100-yard drives. In games we seem to click and once we get two or three big plays, it seems like we go 90 yards in two minutes."

It didn't just seem that way Friday for Prospect.

It was that way as Grant DePalma started a career night on the game's second play with a 39-yard run for the first of his 4 touchdowns on the ground.

The problem for Conant was it already could have been playing its game which led to a whopping 71-33 advantage in total plays. But Prospect recovered the opening kickoff at midfield.

"That set the tone," said Conant coach Bill Modelski of the disappointment in his team's play. "We knew every possession in this game would be crucial from our end of it. We needed to march the ball and score."

Lengthy possessions of 6:48 and 8:05 inside Prospect's 20 resulted in nothing.

"We knew they were going to come in and pound it and pound it," Bonahoom said. "I thought we did a pretty good job defensively getting big stops. That's been our 'm.o.' all year."

So has scoring quickly as the Knights used just 5:15 for 89- and 82-yard drives and a 21-0 lead. Then Osei provided one for the highlight reel as he scrambled around and launched a 54-yarder over two defenders to John Coen in the end zone.

"He is scary," Modelski said. "He is frightening. It's the things he does with his feet more than his arm.

"He's so calm and nothing seems to faze him. He certainly is a special player."

And the scary part is the Knights don't believe they've hit their full offensive potential yet.

"Of course, there's a lot of room for improvement," Rhee said.

They could be really frightening with time on their side.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com