Senior quarterback Devin O’Hara looked left three times, tossed three passes into the slot and completed all three for a whopping 57 yards on the Knights’ opening touchdown drive. Then, for some reason, O’Hara attempted just four more passes the rest of the half, allowing Glenbrook North to come back from 14 points down and knot the score with Prospect heading into halftime.
The Knights made sure the same thing didn’t happen in the second half Friday, unleashing O’Hara when they needed him most. After the Spartans went three-and-out to open the second half, O’Hara whistled a 16-yard pass over the middle to his favorite receiver all night long, Andrew Hajek.
He followed with an impossible lob across the field, after slipping out of a sack, to help Prospect escape a third-and-19. From there on out the game belonged to the Knights as they scored 21 unanswered points to best the Spartans 35-14 in the opening round of the Class 7A football playoffs at William Lutz Stadium.
Glenbrook North nearly answered with a touchdown of its own, but quarterback A.J. Spitz skipped a jump pass over the middle on fourth-and-5 from the Prospect 10-yard line.
The Knights picked up an insurance touchdown on their ensuing drive, a five-play, 90-yard drive that included a 53-yard heave downfield to wide receiver Max Driscoll and then two rushes to the left for 37 yards by running back Jack Tuttle.
The Spartans’ fate was sealed when Spitz threw interceptions on consecutive possessions.
O’Hara finished 8-of-11 for 204 yards, for an astounding 18.5 yards per attempt. He also rushed for 66 yards in the first half, and Tuttle finished with 186 rushing yards after coming out of halftime with just 24 rushing yards on five carries.
As for Glenbrook North, Spitz rebounded nicely after beginning the game with four straight incompletions, several of which missed his intended receiver by a wide margin. He finished 9-of-21 for 112 yards, but, of course, was hampered by the two late picks.
Perhaps the biggest key to the game was the way the Knights’ defensive line shut down Spartans running back Grant Rushing, who only ran it four times in the second half after entering halftime with just 29 rushing yards on nine carries. Rushing finished with 24 yards on 14 carries.
No. 13 Prospect (7-3) moves on to face Wheaton North in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs while No. 4 Glenbrook North finished the season 8-2.
