Patiently, Jacobs jolts Grayslake Central
Sure, there was a long lightning delay before the contest started, but not even that could not stop the visiting Jacobs football team from getting on a big-time roll Friday night at Grayslake Central in a Fox Valley Conference crossover game.
The Golden Eagles remained undefeated on the season at 4-0 as they took a commanding 35-0 lead after one quarter before going into halftime with a 42-0 lead. The remainder of the contest was played with a running clock.
Grayslake Central (0-4) was unable to mount much offense at all in the game, and the scoreless second half resulted in an impressive 42-0 victory for Jacobs.
Junior quarterback Chris Katrenick and the majority of the Golden Eagles starters made the most of their limited playing time as Katrenick was 6-for-9 passing for 211 yards in just one quarter of action.
Katrenick got Jacobs' offense going right away on its first possession as he hit senior teammate Kyle Copeland with a 30-yard touchdown pass on a slant pattern before the first of 5 extra points by Jack Hichew made the score 7-0 2:13 into the first quarter.
Katrenick worked his magic again on possession No. 2 as he connected with junior teammate Trevor Loewen with a 79-yard TD pass on a bomb down the left sideline to boost the lead to 14-0 with 7:57 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Golden Eagles also mixed in a pretty effective running game as Mathew Barnes scored on a 3-yard TD run to cap a 54-yard scoring drive.
Jacobs senior Blake Tatgenhorst had his 16-yard interception return off of Grayslake Central quarterback Luke Shepherd called back due to a penalty on the Golden Eagles on the play.
But once again Jacobs was able to overcome its mistake as Sean Barnes scored on a 2-yard run moments later to boost the lead to 28-0 with 2:42 left in the first quarter.
Then Katrenick put the finishing touches on what proved to be a very short night of work for him, as Copeland came through with a 71-yard TD catch this time to give the Golden Eagles a 35-point lead.
"It was a good victory for the kids, everybody got in, we had good focus, and the kids played well," said Jacobs coach Bill Mitz, whose team had 401 total yards of offense. "Our quarterback threw some good balls, we were in synch, and we made some good plays."
Reserve quarterback Trevor Fitzsimmons also did a good job for Jacobs as he led his squad on a 40-yard scoring drive with a 7-yard TD run by teammate Nicholas Washington putting the finishing touches on the great offensive night for the Golden Eagles.
Katrenick was pretty happy with the overall offensive attack his squad displayed.
"We had a good groove," he said. "It's always hard after a long delay like that, but we knew what we had to do. The run game is great this year, and the balance is definitely helping us out this year with the run and the pass."
Davione Wheeler-Cooley led Jacobs with 49 yards rushing on 8 carries while junior Mikey Andrews was the Rams' top rusher with 31 yards on 12 attempts. Shepherd was 9-for-18 passing for 41 yards while Fitzsimmons and teammate Loren Strickland both had 31 yards rushing for the Golden Eagles.
"The defense is getting better and better every week," added Mitz. "And we're making plays on both sides of the ball, and this is what we have to do."