By Paul Evers
3 plays, 124 yards. The Prospect Knights were already trailing by 13 points.
The Elk Grove Grenadiers struck lightning quick on Friday night with an 88 yard breakaway touchdown by Azeez Alabi and a 35 yard touchdown pass from AJ Lorenz to Joe Gatziolis in just under 2 minutes of possession time, leading the Grens (2-6, 2-2 in the East) to a 47-31 win at George Gattis Memorial Stadium.
The Knights (2-6, 1-3 in the East) fought back early with a goal line punch in from Bobby Jarosz, who had two touchdowns for the night, and a Matt Drew 9 yard touchdown run, who finished with 20 carries for 121 yards and two touchdowns, closed the gap to 21-14 early in the second quarter. The Knights however continued to struggle against the powerful Grenadiers rushing attack, which totaled 386 yards on the ground, by allowing another touchdown by Alabi midway through the second quarter.
The Knights had the opportunity to make it a one possession game before halftime, but after a 21 play drive that spanned seven minutes, Prospect only walked away with a field goal to go into halftime trailing 28-17. After receiving the second half kickoff the Knights picked up a costly penalty that drove them back, forcing a punt on a long fourth down.
The Grenadiers took over from there, getting another touchdown from Alabi. Alabi totalled 168 yards on 13 carries and scored 4 touchdowns.
Chuck Fleming, who gained 184 yards on 12 carries and scored twice, followed with a 55 yard dash to the end zone to begin the 4th quarter. Peter Green sealed the game late with a 26 yard rush for another touchdown.
The Knights fought to stay in the game, receiving a fantastic effort from running back Dante Cecala. The junior gained 181 yards on 21 carries, setting up touchdowns for Drew and Jarosz later in the fourth quarter.
Cecala praised the consistent rushing attack for allowing him to have such a successful night.
“Same plan of attack every week, plan to control the ball, shove it down their throats, pound away,” Cecala said.
Coach Mike Sebestyen shared his thoughts on the game, and he was quick to point out the great game played by Elk Grove.
“We got outplayed, Elk Grove did a really nice job of playing downhill all night,” Sebestyen said. “At points, I thought we played well, but we didn’t play constantly for 48 minutes. Offensively and defensively, I thought they did a really nice job of continuing to play hard on both sides of the ball. They beat us, they deserved to win that football game, that simple.”
Prospect once again controlled the flow of the game, running 83 plays from scrimmage compared to the 38 plays ran by the Grenadiers. The Knights also held the ball for over twice as long, totalling almost 33 minutes of possession while the Grenadiers held the ball for just over 15 minutes of game time.
Some would question Sebestyen’s dedication to running the ball as much as he did late, but he reaffirmed his decision to rely on the ground attack.
“No, we were trying to control some clock and everything,” Sebestyen said. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well, made one or two key stops … That is what it is and I think we did a decent job there.”
Jarosz with his efforts on Friday made his area leading rushing totals rise over 1,000 yards, but he was overall kept quiet with only a total of 57 yards on 16 carries. Coach Sebestyen was quick to credit Elk Grove’s defense, but also praised his multi-faced rushing attack.
“I just think they just took away some of the things that we do to get Bobby the ball,” Sebestyen said. “When someone tries to take something away, you got to go to something else. Tonight that was Dante, and later it was [Matt] obviously.”
While the Knights completed their last game at home for the year in somewhat disappointing fashion, Cecala had a great game individually. He didn’t allow it to change his focus for the end of this year and next year, he just wanted to get back out there with the teammates he’s had and will have next year.
“I’m just looking forward to being a part of the team, playing with my brothers,” Cecala said.