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ALGONQUIN - Jacobs’ football team had practiced this two-minute drill so many times in the last few weeks that trailing in the final few minutes of Saturday’s game against Barrington didn’t faze the Golden Eagles.
But as frequently happens in season openers, mistakes foiled best-laid plans. Two missed marks and solid Barrington defense felled Jacobs in a 22-15 loss to the Broncos in Saturday’s matinee, rescheduled from Friday night because of inclement weather.
While the 2-minute drill alone didn’t cost Jacobs the game, the Eagles felt fairly confident in their ability to move the chains and keep their chances alive. It just shouldn’t have come down to those final few moments, quarterback Bret Mooney said.
“We definitely could have beat that team,” Mooney said. “We knew as a team we could have come back, got two touchdowns and finished it. It was on all of us. Throughout the whole game we made some bad plays so we have to clean that up for next week against St. Charles East.”
Tied at 15, Barrington used a 3-yard run from junior tailback Dylan Abel to go ahead 22-15 with 1:45 left in the fourth. Mooney launched a pass downfield to junior receiver Ryan Sargent on the first play of Jacobs’ ensuing possession, and Barrington was called for pass interference to set up first-and-10 on Jacobs’ 35.
Offsetting penalities on the next play - a Barrington facemask call and an intentional grounding call on Mooney - ebbed the energy. Mooney completed a 3-yard pass to Sargent before missing on second-and-seven, then Mooney hit receiver Camden McLain for a 5-yard gain.
But Mooney’s pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-two, and the Broncos took over on the Eagles’ 43 yard line with less than 1 minute to play.
“We battled back and it’s just a shame,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. We felt we could have gotten it there at the end but just couldn’t make that big play.”
Jacobs (0-1 overall) had just minutes earlier. Down 15-7 with 7:39 left to play, Mooney (16-for-27, 149 yards) found junior Josh Walker for a 38-yard touchdown and connected with senior receiver Hunter Williams for a two-point conversion to knot the score at 15.
The Eagles led 7-6 at halftime thanks to Mooney’s 55-yard touchdown run. Barrington (1-0) jumped ahead 12-7 on a 76-yard bomb from quarterback Dan Kubiak to receiver Dylan Bingham less than 1 minute into the third quarter, and Broncos’ kicker Chase Lesniak lined a 31-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the third to take the one-score advantage at the start of the fourth.
“We felt really good when we came back,” Sargent said. “We knew our offense could put up points. But it’s the first game of the season, so we knew there would be some mistakes made. We just have to clean them up.”