By Aungelina Dahm
Executive Sports Editor
|With the arrival of the new turf, there is now even more popularity heading towards the football team this season. Varsity coach Mike Sebestyen is more than ready to start the new school year off right.
“I feel very confident in this group of kids in terms of how they’ve responded to steppin’ up,” Sebestyen said. “Even though we’re a small team we’re a very deep team.”
This year, seniors such as varsity quarterback Devin O’Hara (11) will be replacing Sam Frasco from last year, and varsity middle linebacker and wide receiver Andrew Hajek (5) will be replacing Mike Etchingham.
Adding on to the new excitement, there are many new surprises coming this way. For one, the team is adding a third jersey to their apparel. It will be navy blue, and used for home games as well as the already-existing home jerseys. Also, a new attitude is being put into place for this season.
“There’s a whole new vibe to the team this year,” O’Hara said. “We needed a change from last year, we needed a better attitude.”
The team is looking forward to having the students, the staff, the whole school contribute their new attitude.
“We’ve got 33 really good kids in terms of their attitude, their demeanor, and how they represent their community and their school,” Sebestyen said. “ I’d like to think that the school would get behind these 33 young men. They deserve that.”
Another new aspect coming to football this school year is the twist that is going to be put on every home game. Each game is going to have a special event. There will be a celebratory-like aura around each night that the team is looking forward to.
For example, the first football game of the year will be on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 versus Glenbrook South. The celebratory event for that home game will be Senior Night, where 14 seniors on the football team will be acknowledged.
High expectations have been set for this year, just like any other. However, Sebestyen has studied the school’s priorities and has an opinion that Prospect could have lost sight on what we are all about.
“I think we have become to have a very narrow focus,” Sebestyen said. “We could be excellent at everything, not just one thing or the other. Not just football, not just soccer, not just our ACT scores. Let’s just be the best at everything. Sometimes I think we’ve lost sight of that. [The kids should be saying] ‘I got a good ACT score, great! Now let’s get out to a game.”
There will always be some minor differences to every season, but the core of the program has been the same for the past 14 years and that’s not changing.
“You don’t mess with values, and our values have never changed,” Sebestyen said.  “I worry about one thing, and one thing only. The 33 young men that put on the Prospect colors. That’s what it has always been and that’s what it always will be.”