A season later, the Panthers are up a notch in the tougher Santa Teresa Division, but Atlaw is making a strong bid for another MVP award.

The talented Prospect senior is among the top scorers in the division after pounding home four goals in a 5-1 win over Willow Glen and three in a 6-1 victory over Westmont.

"He's kind of dominating right now," said second-year Prospect coach Robert Almasin.

The two lopsided wins helped the Panthers finish the first round of division play a notch out of first place with a 4-1-1 record. Prospect also defeated Gunderson 3-0 and Lincoln 5-1, but lost 3-1 to Yerba Buena and tied Andrew Hill 1-1.

"We had a letdown against Hill," said Almasin.

Still, the Panthers are right in the middle of the race for the division title, and that championship could be decided this week when Prospect hosts first-place Yerba Buena on Jan. 20, 3 p.m.

The Panthers put themselves into position to play for first place with the 5-1 win over Willow Glen last week. Atlaw led the Panthers with the four goals, and senior Hector Rivera added a goal and two assists. Rivera won all-league second team honors last winter for the Panthers.

Emir Gonzales, another one of the senior leaders for Prospect, also had an assist, but he injured his shoulder in the game and could be out for the season.

Junior defenders Phillip Hoog and Kyle Wiens joined senior goalkeeper Carlos Carrillo as defensive leaders in the win, and the coach also praised the efforts of midfielders Julio Perez, a freshman, and Alex Esquivel, a senior.

"We marked their main guy [senior forward Victor Zarate] and kind of shut them down," said Almasin. It was the freshman, Perez, who marked Zarate in the game.

The Panthers are 7-3-2 for the year, including a 1-0 win over Santa Teresa of the Mt. Hamilton Division.

"Our losses came early," said the Prospect coach. "We're starting to pick up some momentum."

The Panthers will try to maintain that momentum with two games this week. They were to visit Gunderson on Tuesday before hosting the Warriors in the big game on Thursday.

"That will be the biggest match-up of the year," said Almasin, who led the Panthers to a 9-0-3 record and a West Valley title last year when he was named the division's Coach of the Year.

Regardless of the outcome against the Warriors, though, the Panthers have to maintain their focus since the second place team from the Santa Teresa Division also wins a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Prospect will head to Lincoln for a 3 p.m. game on Jan. 25, then finish off the league season against Westmont (Feb. 1) and Willow Glen (Feb. 3).