Knights’ Night: Prospect pummels New Trier in Trevians first road game of 2024

New Trier football’s Week 3 matchup offered an opportunity to avenge one of its spookiest losses of 2023. But the Trevs’ Friday the 13th contest in Mount Prospect quickly evolved into an evening full of nightmares that they’ll soon hope to forget. 

Multiple early-game turnovers, an inability to move the chains and a series of defensive miscues all doomed the Trevians, who fell victim to the Prospect Knights via a lopsided 43-0 loss on Friday night.

“I’ll tip my hat to Prospect,” said Jason Dane, New Trier’s defensive coordinator. “They came out tonight and they attacked, they took the momentum early and they kept it early — and when that happens, you tend to see a lopsided score like this.” 

New Trier head coach Brian Doll opted to not conduct his weekly postgame interview with The Record on Friday. 

New Trier’s defense started the game by bringing a promising Prospect drive to a premature end when senior Johnny Morrison intercepted a pass inside the Trevians’ red zone. 

But New Trier’s frustrating offensive output began just two plays later when the Trevs gifted the ball right back to the Knights via a fumble.

Prospect took full advantage of the mishap, scoring three plays later on a 28-yard touchdown pass that pushed the Knights out to an early 7-0 lead. 

New Trier quarterback Patrick Heneghan connected with senior wide receiver Ben Zieziula for a crucial third-down conversion early in the Trevians’ next series but the drive then stalled after eight plays. 

Prospect then proceeded to put forth a methodical nine-play, 96-yard scoring drive that resulted in quarterback Jack Skoog firing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Cichy.  

Both teams’ defenses forced three-and-outs on their ensuing series. The Trevs set up shop for their next drive inside Prospect territory after a strong punt return. But New Trier was once again derailed by a turnover as the Knights stripped the ball free for a second time, recovering another fumble. 

It took only seven plays for Prospect to make the Trevs pay for the turnover.

Senior running back Noah Easter, who was a thorn in the side of New Trier’s defense on many occasions, powered home a 5-yard touchdown run. A successful two-point conversion then followed, putting the Knights ahead 22-0 midway through the second quarter. 

“Turnovers are a part of the game and they’re going to happen and I think the focus for us has to be on the sudden change and the momentum swings,” Dane said. “We’re not at a point right now, from a mental toughness standpoint, where we can overcome those turnovers. Every team has turnovers. It’s part of the game. But we’re just not at a point where we can overcome those mistakes and that’s a mental toughness thing. That’s not a schematic thing and that’s not a skill thing.”

The Trevians rallied off a couple of first downs on their next series but Prospect’s pass rushers came up big on third down, sacking Heneghan well beyond the line of scrimmage and forcing a New Trier punt. 

The Knights defensive front proved to be a problem all evening as New Trier’s offensive line struggled to contain continuous pressure from Prospect. 

“We knew that they would give a lot of different looks and that they come at you from different angles and different gaps and that they bring somewhat unconventional looks, and as much as we tried to replicate that in practice this week, they clearly had quite a few pressures tonight,” Dane said. 

Prospect extended its lead right before the half when Skoog scrambled to paydirt from 7 yards out on third down to give the Knights their fourth touchdown of the first two quarters. 

After holding Yorkville to just eight points in their Week 2 victory, the Trevians defense could not find an answer to limit Prospect’s offense.

The Knights continued their barrage in the third quarter, adding on two more touchdowns on their first drives to put the game well out of reach and begin a running clock. 

“Flat out, defensively, we did not execute tonight,” Dane said. 

It didn’t go much better for New Trier’s offense.

The Trevians mustered just 80 yards of total offense in the first half (61 yards passing, 19 rushing). New Trier found some life in the third quarter, picking up 57 yards of offense on their first two drives but the Trevs could not find the endzone. 

New Trier’s Week 3 defeat brings another disappointing performance for the Trevs against a Mid-Suburban League foe. New Trier has now lost seven of their last eight games against MSL teams. 

Road matchups against the conference have been particularly troublesome for New Trier. The team’s last road win against an MSL opponent came in the 2021 fall season when the Trevs bested Conant. 

The task of trying to upend Prospect this year came with an added challenge given that the game was played on the Knights’ homecoming weekend in front of a raucous home crowd. 

“We knew with the homecoming crowd that a lot of the electricity that Prospect and the community bring to this game would certainly be evident early, and we told our guys about that, and there were some big momentum swings early that we just couldn’t overcome,” Dane said. 

“I feel like we prepared and I feel like we knew what the atmosphere was going to be like and it would be hard to argue based on the results and what you saw on the scoreboard to say that we were ready to match that,” Dane later added. 

The Trevs will try to regroup as they prepare for a crucial Week 4 matchup against another strong MSL team. New Trier will welcome the Palatine Pirates, who bested Prospect in Week 2 and Evanston on Friday night, to Northfield on Friday, Sept. 20, for the program’s homecoming game. 

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