By Peter Fusilero
Executive Sports Editor
As head football coach Mike Sebestyen stood at the microphone before Friday night’s game against Wheeling, everyone’s attention was on the framed #77 jersey that was to be retired.
That jersey belonged to Curtis Thomas who lost the fight with brain cancer and passed away this past August.
“He was a great young man and he deserved to be recognized,” Sebestyen said. “Retiring his jersey number will always keep him with us.”
Not only was the night commemorated to him, but the final home game of the season honored the 2002 state championship team because of the 10 year anniversary.
As for the game itself, it was really slow until the second half when the Knights were able to regroup to win the game 21-7.
“We got back to our regular defense,” senior Shola George said. “We played how we were supposed to be coached and that pressured us to do better.”
In the first half, quarterback Devin O’Hara ran in one of his two touchdowns (18 carries, 103 yards rushed) while the Wildcats evened the score at 7-7 before the half ended,
[The game] was really slow because we didn’t come out energized from the start,” George said.
Sebestyen mentioned that the team lacked some mental toughness which could have hurt them.
“Wheeling fights their tails off hard and when you show up with fight, you got a chance,” Sebestyen said. “We didn’t do it consistently enough and we almost got ourselves in trouble for it.”
Sebestyen believes what kept them in the game was the will to not lose full focus.
“We kept continuing to pound at them and it wore them down,” Sebestyen said.
Aside from the game itself, the night really wanted to focus and highlight the alumni along with the return of former Prospect head coach Brent Pearlman who led the 2002 team to that state title.
“[The game] was really a chance to have family here, coach Pearlman’s family here,” Sebestyen said. “[This school] will always be his family, I don’t care where he is.”