High school football: Jacobs falls to Lincoln-Way East

FRANKFORT – Things couldn’t have started much better for Jacobs football team as it made its return to the playoffs following a one-year absence.

The Golden Eagles struck just 4:30 into Friday’s Class 7A opener at Lincoln-Way East to grab an early lead in the clash of 7-2 squads.

But the Griffins' defense took over after that and forced four turnovers while holding the Golden Eagles to no rushing yards as East went on to capture a 40-6 victory.

"They're a great football team," Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. "Their quarterback (Brandon Bauer) is the guy. He runs around and makes some great plays, is a competitor and has that moxie to him. He's not going to let that team lose. It was a tough team to draw in the first round. It's unfortunate, but we told them the sun is going to come up tomorrow.

"It was great to get back to the playoffs. That was the first time in a long time that we weren't in it as a staff. But the main thing is for the kids and the excitement of being in the playoffs. I liked the way that the guys fought hard all the until the end, and they did that tonight, too. They're battlers."

Jacobs (7-3) covered 65 yards on its second possession to grab the early lead. The drive was capped when Chris Katrenick (20 of 32 passing, 142 yards) tossed a 39-yard strike down the left side to Kyle Copeland (five catches, 67 yards) to make it 6-0 with 7:30 left in the first quarter. The extra point kick was blocked.

But East (8-2) responded with a 13-play, 87-yard drive to move in front for good. Brandon Bauer (18 of 29 passing, 190 yards) tossed a 19-yard scoring pass to Brody Bolsoni to give the hosts a 7-6 lead with 3:29 left in the opening quarter.

In the second quarter, the Griffins scored three times to take a 26-6 lead into halftime. Nigel Muhammad ran in from 10 yards out, Bolsoni scored on a 12-yard run and Liam Morrissey added a 6-yard touchdown run as the hosts capitalized on an interception and a bad snap on a punt which gave them the ball near the end zone.

East, which plays at Libertyville next week, completed the scoring in the third quarter with a 5-yard run by Bauer and a 45-yard interception return for a score by Jayison McCorckle. Katrenick finished with four interceptions while Jacobs had no rushing yards on 22 carries.

“It was great going up against a team coached by hall-of-famer Bill Mitz, who has love and passion for the game and his kids,” Griffins coach Rob Zvonar said. “Instead of going fishing like I’m going to do when I’m done, he’s out here coaching a program to a high level. So we knew that we were going to get a tough, gritty effort from them.”