Jacobs’ 1st flag football season comes to an end against Guilford in sectional semifinals

HARVARD – Over the course of the season, Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts often would get asked the same question from other teams and referees.

This is your first year playing?

The Golden Eagles were unsure of how things would play out in the IHSA’s first season of flag football, not even knowing initially who would throw the ball for them at quarterback, but then things started to fall into place.

Jacobs’ play sheet grew, and the wins stacked up.

The Eagles became the first team in McHenry County to win a regional title last week with a last-second touchdown against Freeport.

On Tuesday, No. 5-seeded Jacobs’ magical first season came to an end with a 32-6 loss to top-seeded Guilford in the Harvard Sectional semifinals.

“Initially I just wanted to do it as a fun little sport,” freshman quarterback Olivia Fillipp said. “I never thought we’d get a plaque for regionals or anything. I just wanted to have fun and get a break from everything. But I love it now.

“It’s one of my favorite things I look forward to.”

Jacobs was one of four teams in the Fox Valley Conference to field a team in the inaugural year of flag football, along with Dundee-Crown, Hampshire and McHenry.

The Eagles (14-3) won their first five games, then added a four-game winning streak before a loss to McHenry.

Jacobs went into Tuesday’s sectional semifinal on a five-game winning streak but fell behind right away against the Vikings, who had two interception returns for touchdowns by Zariah Burnett on the first two possessions for the Eagles.

Senior Sophia Acot had the Eagles’ only TD of the game with 54 seconds left in the first half, scoring on a 22-yard pass from Fillipp. Acot went up to make the catch at Guilford’s 14, beat two defenders and made another miss at the 7 on her way to the end zone.

In last week’s regional final win over Freeport, it was Acot who caught the game-winning TD with 10 seconds left to keep the Eagles’ season alive.

“We’ve improved insanely,” said Acot, who had 67 yards on six catches against Guilford. “At first we couldn’t even find our quarterback until we got Liv. It was tough at first but we started to develop so many plays. Our wristband is stacked. I’m just so proud of how much we’ve improved.”

Fillipp finished 14-of-26 passing for 137 yards, a touchdown and four interceptions – with all four going to Burnett.

Sophomore Brie VerBurg led Jacobs with 25 yards on six carries, and Acot had 22 yards on seven rushes. Senior Dusia Panek had six catches for 37 yards, sophomore Jasmine Lenth had a catch for 22 yards and junior Olivia Wood had one catch for 11 yards.

Roberts, who coaches Jacobs’ boys basketball team and whose father, Rich Roberts, is an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer, said players on the team decided early that they wanted to take a serious approach.

It wasn’t all fun and games.

“Myself, coach [Tim] Moran, coach [Jack] Denny, we’ve been coaching basketball forever, but never with girls in a competitive environment,” Roberts said. “What’s been awesome the whole time is how they’ve approached it. They’ve approached it as serious as we have. Is this going to be a recreational club and just have fun? Or are we going to really compete and go at this thing?

“As the days started to pile on, you saw they really wanted to go at it.”

Guilford will play Lakes on Wednesday for the sectional championship, with the winner moving on to the state tournament this weekend at Willowbrook High School.

The Eagles were hoping they’d be the ones still playing, but the year still provided lots of big moments and thrills.

“I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to meet new people at a place I love,” VerBurg said. “We had such a great bond. I’m going to miss all the funny bus rides, all the tears, all the games. It was a great time.”