Prospect seniors Jackson Cacini and Matthew Donnelly form one of the better backfield duos in the state.
But there was a time, during freshman year, when they were rivals vying for the same job.
Cacini had attended South Middle School with a bunch of kids headed to Rolling Meadows and suited up for the Arlington Cowboys. Donnelly went to Lincoln Middle School and played for the Mount Prospect Lions. Those teams met on the field a few times.
“We always had a little bit of a rivalry,” Donnelly said. “We really started to get to know each other freshman year. I tried out for quarterback. I thought I was going to be the quarterback instead of him.”
Donnelly had a bit of a home-field advantage because Cacini didn’t go to school with most of the future Prospect students. So there weren’t many teammates in Cacini’s corner during that competition for freshman quarterback.
“There were three guys from my middle school football team that came here, and it was like 60 of his friends,” Cacini said with a laugh. “I felt like there was no support for me in that time. I felt kind of alone.”
But it all worked out for the best. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Cacini, an Eastern Illinois recruit, is Prospect’s starting quarterback after all, and the 5-10, 190-pound Donnelly is one of the area’s best running backs.
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Both stood out during the Knights’ 35-21 victory over Fremd last week in a game that may have sent a message to the powers in Class 7A. Mid-Suburban East play starts this week, and there’s a good chance the regular season ends with a showdown between unbeaten teams when Prospect, which is ranked No. 12 in the baiduhai’s high school football Top 25, plays No. 7 Hersey in Week 9.
“Those two together in the backfield have allowed us to be really balanced,” Prospect coach Dan DeBoeuf said. “We’re about 50-50 run-pass right now, and that’s really hard to prepare for. We need that balance.”
The history of Prospect football can be difficult to explain. The Knights averaged a dismal 1.5 wins per season in the 1990s and hadn’t won a playoff game in school history before 2001, when they suddenly won the first of three 7A state titles in five years under coach Brent Pearlman.
There was a bit of a lull before DeBoeuf arrived in 2018, but he has led the Knights to seven straight playoff appearances. So it’s not far-fetched at all to consider this team a state title contender.
“Our freshman team, we went 9-0,” Donnelly said. “Honestly, looking around, I knew we had the guys freshman year.”
Even though Cacini lived in Arlington Heights, he felt the call of Prospect football.
“I remember coming to all the Prospect games as a kid and wanting to play high school football — under the lights, hear my name being called, all that,” he said.
After that undefeated freshman season, Cacini and Donnelly were called up to varsity for the playoffs, mostly to run the scout team. They didn’t get into any games, and Donnelly couldn’t have played in the second round at Mount Carmel anyway because of a uniform mishap that wasn’t his fault.
One of the older players forgot to bring his game pants on the trip. As a freshman unlikely to play, Donnelly knew what that meant.
“I started hearing rumors, so I was trying to just hide in the locker room,” Donnelly said. “He eventually comes up, taps me on the shoulder, and he’s like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to give up your pants.’ So I had to wear (Cacini’s) sweatpants on the field. It was funny.”
Both Cacini and Donnelly think the years this team spent together — arriving before school for strength and conditioning, making the younger players feel included — have helped build a winning attitude.
“Everybody’s very scrappy,” Cacini said. “Everybody’s working every morning. We’re all about hyping each other up and celebrating each other.”
Cacini committed to EIU this summer. He got an offer shortly after he attended the Panthers’ camp.
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Donnelly has just one college offer, but it’s a good one — from Yale. He fits the mold of a small, quick running back, but DeBoeuf doesn’t think that tells the whole story.
“He’s a 1,000-pound club member, so he cleans 300, squats almost 500, benches 300 and he’s a 4.4 speed guy,” DeBoeuf said. “That combination of strength and speed is pretty impressive.
“Then Jackson, he has a poise and an edge to him that he plays with that’s unmatched, unlike any kid that I’ve coached at that position.”