Opening up the season against rival Hersey, girls head flag football coach Michael Bosco knew it wouldn’t be an easy game; however, he also knew that his team was ready for the challenge of facing a team that went 16-3 last season.
“[Hersey has] a great team [and] they’re very well coached,” said Bosco, whose team finished 13-5 in its inaugural season. “We didn’t have a non-conference game to get ready [to play this one] so for [Prospect] to come out like this, I really think the sky’s the limit for this group.”
Wanting to make a statement in their season-opener, Prospect posted a convincing 19-6 victory over their crosstown rivals.
“We knew it was gonna be a tough game,” WR/LB, Junior Maeve Johl said. “I think that we stayed positive and carried the energy throughout the entire game and we didn’t get down on ourselves at all.”
This energy was obvious when the Knights scored two touchdowns in 51 seconds to take a commanding 19-10 lead into halftime, breaking what was a close game in the first half.
Senior QB Libby McDonough (26-of 37 passing, 138 yards, plus 34 yards on the ground) connected with Johl (3 catches, 65 yards, 2 TDs) for a 19 yard touchdown at the 1:01 mark of the second quarter, and then following an interception by senior RB/LB Gianna Catanzano four plays later, McDonough found senior WR Liz Aicher from 2 yards out to really turn the tide.
“I think across other sports [there] has [been] a bit of a hersey hurdle at times,” Bosco said. “Honestly we felt really good and we knew we put a lot of work in over the summer. We knew we had really good weeks of practice here since we’ve been back at school, but ultimately you don’t really know who you are because you’re playing with each other for six weeks in the summer.”
Offense wasn’t Prospect’s only strength this game. The girls held Hersey to 195 total yards in the game, setting the tone right out of the gate with back-to-back sacks of Hersey quarterback #23 near the end of the first quarter. The Huskies didn’t take their first snap from Prospect territory until the 9:45 mark of the third quarter.
“The teamwork overall [was great],” Johl said. “It wasn’t just our offense or just our defense, we both had some really big highlights, so we just looked really good as a team.”
Since their season opener, Prospect beat Buffalo Grove 24-13 on 8/27, but lost 19-6 to Maine South on 8/19. This week, the girls have a jam-packed schedule, going against Schaumburg on Tuesday, Sandberg on Wednesday, Fremd on Thursday and Crane Medical on Friday.
“We are one of the top teams in the state and we have a great season ahead of us,” Johl said.
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