By Rick Lytle, Online Editor-in-Chief
With just under four minutes left in the first half, Highland Park found themselves punting from deep inside their own territory once again. On the previous possession, the Giants punter was tackled after the snap landed on the turf, and the Prospect special teams unit was hungry to break through the Highland Park line again. Senior Justin Carreon was the man this time and was able to block the punt, which ended up in the hands of Prospect senior Jack Freidrichs who took the ball 26 yards to the endzone for a touchdown
Prospect took a 26-0 lead and firm control of the game. This is the second straight week that Friedrichs has returned a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Friedrichs also had four tackles on the night. 
“Coach [Tim] Beisher has done an awesome job with our special teams. He takes great ownership over that and our guys play hard on [special teams], they know that’s an important part of our program,” Head Coach Dan Deboeuf said. 
After a shutout last week, the defense followed up with another impressive outing and held Highland Park to zero points in the first half. The defense was lead by Senior Adam Mekky who had five tackles on the night.
“The way we’re going to continue [playing like this] is we’re going to keep playing fast, downhill and very aggressive. That’s been our motto this past couple of weeks and it’s been working,” Mekky said. 
A trio of Juniors, Quarterback Gary Moeller, Wide Receiver Noah Marx, and Running Back Luke Zardzin, led the Prospect offense. 
Marx and Moeller got the job done in the passing game as the two connected for a 23-yard and 24-yard touchdown pass in the first half. Marx finished the night with 90 reception yards.
Zardzin led the ground attack, and finished the night with 15 carries for 145 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a screen pass from Moeller and streaked 56-yards for the touchdown with under a minute to play in the first half. That gave the Knights a 33-0 lead and capped the scoring for the first half. Moeller was 10-14 with 185 passing yards and three touchdown passes. 
Zardzin’s stagerring 9.6 yards per carry were much appreciated by Deboeuf.
“Anytime we’re in question we know we can hand it to him and the big boys up front obviously did a good job again for him. Luke runs really hard and it’s fun to watch him go,” Deboeuf said.
After a back and forth second half, the game finished 40-12. The Knights improved to 4-0, which is their best start since 2009.
“We’re feeling really good. We’re feeling confident going into the East and we feel like we can make a good run,” Mekky said.
Prospect travels to play Elk Grove (1-3) next week as they start play in the Mid Suburban League East.