Knights dominate Rams in playoffs round one

An 18th birthday is special for a lot of reasons, but for senior running back Ivan Liu, it was spectacular. He got to spend his 18th birthday under the lights at George Gattas stadium, running into the endzone in the first round of the IHSA playoffs.

“It just feels nice because I know this was probably one of my last chances to get to play, and I wanted to enjoy it in the moment,” Liu said.

The No. 5-seeded Prospect Knights hosted the No. 28-seeded Reavis Rams on Friday, Oct. 28. The Knights played a clean and dominant game to win the first round of the playoffs 62-13. Prospect will now move on to round two on Friday, Nov. 4, where they will get the chance to take on St. Rita, who knocked them out of last year’s playoff run in the state semi-finals. 

Prospect scored seven touchdowns in the first half alone; with the help of five touchdown passes from senior quarterback Brad Vierneisel, the Knights went into halftime up 49-7. 

With a running clock in the second half, many players got a chance to get some big-time experience on the field. 

“It’s always nice when everybody on the team gets to play, and that was the case tonight,” head coach Dan DeBoeuf said.

Liu and senior Christian Phillipas contributed a touchdown each in the second half to give the Knights an even bigger lead. Liu had a 10-yard touchdown run and rushed for 73 yards in the second half.

“[Liu] had a great game coming in and getting some carries and got in the endzone, so I was happy to see that,” DeBoeuf said.

The team’s goal during playoffs is to try and gain just one more week together and build off of that extra time together.

“Every week what the coaches say is always, ‘Buy seven more, buy seven more,’ and I’m glad we did this week,” Liu said.