In battle of unbeatens, Hersey takes step forward against Prospect
It didn’t matter if Hersey threw the ball or ran the ball Friday night in Mt. Prospect.
The ball always seemed to go forward for the Huskies.
Kentucky commit Jake Nawrot threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns. To top things off, Jackson Travis rushed for 310 yards and three touchdowns as Hersey knocked off Prospect 48-35 before a crowd of 5,000.
“It just shows that our offense has balance,” Hersey coach Tom Nelson said. “They want to play the pass because we have Jake Nawrot. We have dudes here that can run the ball as well.”
The Huskies leaned more on Nawrot in the first half as he threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores were bombs, with Nawrot throwing 54 yards to Josh Riggs and 49 yards to Dom Wentink as Hersey (9-0, 5-0) scored the first three times it had the ball.
“It just shows it doesn’t matter where we get the ball,” said Nawrot, who was 21-of-25 passing. “It is a testament to work our guys put in.”
The first drive for the Huskies showed some foreshadowing with Travis. The junior accounted for 30 of the 80 yards on the drive, with Travis scoring from the one-yard line to make the score 6-0.
Prospect tallied one score in a the first half when Jackson Cacini lined up at wide receiver and then took a pitch and then threw a pass to Matthew Donnelly to cut the deficit to 13-7.
With Hersey leading 20-7 at the half, Prospect tried to climb back into the game. The Knights went 80 yards in four plays with Cacini throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to Henry Koziol to cut the deficit to 20-14.
Hersey then scored 21 consecutive points in just 15 plays to appear to blow the game open with a 41-14 lead. After Travis busted off a 59-yard touchdown run, Nawrot threw a pair of touchdown passes to Riggs (6 receptions, 107 yards) on throws on 13 and five yards.
Prospect (8-1, 4-1) didn’t allow the Huskies to just roll on home without a fight.
Donnelly scored on a three-yard run and Cacini (25-of-39 passing, 272 yards) threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Gordon Kemo early in the fourth quarter and suddenly it was 41-28.
Travis scored his third touchdown on an 11-yard run. But Prospect came back on Cacini’s fourth touchdown pass with 3:20 left, a 33-yarder to Donnelly .
Hersey recovered the onside kick and Travis ran out the clock for the Huskies.
“I’m not tired at all,” Travis said. “I really give credit to my offensive line. I was able to find holes all night. I can’t believe I ran for so many yards.”
Prospect coach Dan DeBeouf said his team just couldn’t quite score enough.
“We missed some opportunities early,” DeBeouf said. “We just needed to make more out of our possessions. But we will learn from it and be ready for the playoffs.”
Both teams probably will be among the top seven seeds in Class 7A when the IHSA playoffs pairings are announced Saturday evening. They both are expected to receive byes next week for the opening round.