Jacobs defeats Huntley for statement win in the FVC

ALGONQUIN – Jacobs coach Brian Zimmerman did not like what he was seeing as quarterback Braylon Bower marched Huntley downfield toward a potential game-winning touchdown in the final minutes of their Fox Valley Conference game.

“We couldn’t stop it,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on. We couldn’t seal the edge on them defensively, and then on fourth and inches [to go to the end zone], I looked away. I looked to the sky and said a little prayer, and then we got a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.”

A few plays later T.O. Boddie – who ran for a game-high 244 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns – scored on a 99-yard run as Jacobs won a wild one 26-15.

“Honestly, we came out tonight after having a rough week of practice where we had some soul searching we had to do after the first couple of games,” Zimmerman said. “And we told the kids that we’re a really good football team, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.

Jacobs (2-1, 2-1) received a 45-yard scoring run from Caden DuMelle (22 carries, 156 yards, 2 TDs) to open the game. The Eagles certainly could not have asked for a much better start, but they fumbled the ball near the end zone to deny themselves an early opportunity to jump ahead.

Instead they’d have to wait until the second quarter to score, getting a 15-yard touchdown run from DuMelle with 8:52 left in the first half. They’d miss the PAT and carry a 6-0 lead into second half.

Huntley (2-1, 2-1) got a huge defensive stop on Jacobs’ first possession of the second half and took advantage of excellent field position at the Jacobs 39-yard-line to get into the end zone.

Reichen Dvorak’s 1-yard touchdown run followed by Dominic Giuseffi’s PAT gave Huntley a 7-6 advantage with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter.

DuMelle’s 6-yard touchdown with 11:19 remaining in the game allowed Jacobs to pull ahead again, 12-7.

Bower then found Owen Hoffman in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown with 8:40 left to give the lead back to the Red Raiders, 13-12. They increased it to 15-12 after Bower’s 2-point PAT try was deflected by middle linebacker Tyler Genger and into tight end Grant Tucker’s hands.

Once again, Jacobs came back. This time it got a 31-yard touchdown run up the middle form Boddie. Javi Ramirez converted the PAT to make it a 19-15 game with 5:15 left.

It remained that way until the Eagles turned the Red Raiders over on downs thanks to defensive end PJ Barnes and his teammates rising to the occasion when it mattered most.

“We just knew what they were going to do so we were ready for it and we just stopped it,” Barnes said. “The game was on the line so we couldn’t lose. We had to win that play.

“We knew what this game would’ve cost if we would’ve lost, and we couldn’t live with that. We had to do our jobs. The last two weeks that was a lesser version of us. We had to show them after losing two years in a row this is Jacobs football.”

Committing 10 penalties was a key reason why Huntley struggled, yet they still were in the game until the end.

“We put ourselves in a position to win and Jacobs did what good teams do – they answered,” Huntley coach Mike Naymola said. “They backed up a little bit into a corner and did a great job of fighting back so I credit them for showing some resiliency.”