Barnes brothers power Jacobs past St. Charles East
The Barnes brothers made the road trip to St. Charles a successful one Friday night.
Senior twin brothers Mathew and Sean Barnes combined for 204 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns during Jacobs' 35-10 nonconference triumph over St. Charles East at Norris Stadium.
Mathew Barnes, a 5-foot-9, 200-pounder, scored on runs covering 2 and 7 yards, respectively, while Sean, a 5-9, 195-pounder, added a pair of third-quarter TD runs as the Golden Eagles improved their record to 2-0.
"We're basically the same person," said Mathew, who gained a game-high 120 yards on 16 carries and credited his offensive line for its hard work.
"The holes were great. I couldn't have run without them. They were amazing."
St. Charles East, off to an 0-2 start for the fifth time in 7 years, began the night on a positive note when junior defensive back Nick Sherman intercepted a pass from Jacobs quarterback Chris Katrenick near midfield on the Golden Eagles' opening possession.
However, the Golden Eagles forced a 3-and-out series and put together an impressive 8-play, 66-yard drive to break the scoreless tie.
Katrenick, who completed 13 of 17 passes for 165 yards, lofted a 32-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Kyle Copeland (3 catches, 56 yards) in the corner of the end zone as the Golden Eagles grabbed a 7-0 lead with 1:30 left in the opening quarter.
Linebacker Casey Dennison forced a fumble on the Saints' next offensive series that 2-way player Sean Barnes recovered to help set up Jacobs' second touchdown.
After Katrenick hooked up with Nathan Meland (6 catches, 70 yards) for a 33-yard pass play, Mathew Barnes pounded the ball into the end zone from the 2 on the very next play to extend the Golden Eagles' lead to 14-0.
"We had positioning on both the touchdown and deep-ball passes," said Saints coach Bryce Farquhar. "We had people in position but just didn't make the plays. Football is a game of momentum and they stole it early."
A 26-yard run by Cam Canales (17 carries, 95 yards) helped set up the Saints' lone first-half score, an impressive 46-yard field goal by Nick Candre that had plenty of room to spare.
"Candre is one of the best kickers around," said Farquhar. "He has shown some Division 1 interest. I don't see many people around able to do what he does. He's pretty good."
Sean Barnes (13 carries, 84 yards) scored a 5-yard TD on Jacobs' first possession of the second half to extend the margin to 21-3.
While the Saints closed the cap to 21-10 on a 41-yard TD sideline scamper from Dante Macaluso off a pitch from backup quarterback Aiden Wright 2 minutes later, the Golden Eagles responded with an 8-play, 68-yard drive capped by Sean Barnes' 4-yard TD run.
"In the second half, I thought we wore them down," said Mathew Barnes, who added a 7-yard TD run with 5:32 remaining. "We just beat them down. It was a good win."
"I give Jacobs a lot of credit for being physical on the front line," said Farquhar, whose banged-up team will host Elgin next weekend. "I don't typically go over the injury report but we've got a lot of kids out. At the end of the day, we're 0-2 and that's not acceptable for this program. Our kids understand that."