By Wyatt Dojutrek, online sports editor
Senior Andrew Shafis is listed as the starting quarterback for the Knights. However, Shafis did most of his work with his legs, finishing with 226 yards on 24 carries with 2 touchdowns.
His first touchdown run came late in the first quarter as Shafis broke multiple tackles and once he did, there were no Bison in sight.
“It was awesome to see him get that many yards and doing really well on the ground,” said head coach Mike Sebestyen.
That was not the only head coach Shafis was praised by; Buffalo Grove head coach Jeff Vik was also very impressed with how Shafis played.
“He is a heck of a player; he does a great job and is very well coached,” Vik said. “It was really exciting to watch him play.”
Even though the Knights offensive line kept Shafis off the turf for most of the night, Sebestyen believes they still have some more work to do.
“I thought our offensive line did a good job, but we need to work a little bit more across the board because we shot ourselves in the foot a bit too much tonight,” Sebestyen said.
Senior Dante Cecala and junior Brandon Onori also received praise from Sebestyen for making some good blocks to help the Knights keep driving down the field.
Cecala also had a huge interception while Buffalo Grove was driving down the field trailing by seven at the end of the third quarter.
Even with all of the offensive, Sebestyen believes the defensive also helped the Knights win their third game of the season.
“I thought the defense did some really good things and [kept] us in the game,” Sebestyen said. “They benched, but they did not break.”
On the very next drive, Shafis and Cecala hooked up on a 17 yard touchdown pass to increase the Knights’ lead to 14.
Special teams once again played a role in finalizing the game as senior kicker Jack Pruban once again broke the Prospect school record by kicking a 54 yard field goal to seal the Knights’ victory.
The kick was also the 10th longest kick in IHSA history.
“We knew that’s a field goal that Jack has hit in practice and he has hit deeper before,” Sebestyen said. “So at that point, it was 21-7 and this could finish the game if he hits it. It was a heck of a kick.”
The Knights will play the third undefeated team on their schedule next week against Rolling Meadows.
“We have to get better this week as we are going to play a very good football team next week. If we don’t accelerate our level, we are going to be in trouble,” Sebestyen said.