Jacobs handles Crystal Lake South to secure playoff berth

Jacobs played powerball Friday night to hit the jackpot it missed out on a year ago.

The Golden Eagles relied heavily on their ground game as Sean Barnes rushed for a career-high 167 yards and 2 touchdowns and quarterback Chris Katrenick had three 1-yard scores. That sealed a playoff berth with a 35-14 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory over Crystal Lake South in Algonquin.

"It's insane," said senior two-way lineman Jack Golnick after Jacobs qualified for the postseason for the fifth time in six years under coach Bill Mitz. "We came back with a whole new energy this year.

"We had two tough losses (Huntley and Cary-Grove the last two weeks), but I'm proud of how everybody came back today and played hard to get us back in the playoffs."

Jacobs (6-2, 2-2) finished with 5 wins last year but didn't have enough playoff points to make the 256-team field. A loss to CL South (5-3, 2-2) also helped end a 25-year run of postseason trips for Mitz that started at Stevenson.

"It's huge," Mitz said of wrapping up a berth with a week left in the regular season.

"It's a nice feeling," Barnes said after scoring on runs of 52 and 12 yards. "I feel all of our hard work in the offseason and summer really prepared us for these moments."

And the Golden Eagles were able to handle a couple of strange moments that put CL South ahead early and down just 21-14 with the ball to start the second half.

Jacobs' Conrad Beech came off the left edge to block a 23-yard field goal attempt by Kory Olsen. But the ball bounced back to holder Scott Coughlin and he flipped a pass to Kyle Leva for a 7-yard touchdown.

"I've never seen anything like that," Mitz said.

Golnick, Kyle Vega, Dylan DeMuth, Bryant Finkler, Jimmy Wormsley and tight ends Bryce Pahl and Casey Dennison helped lead the way to 66- and 54-yard drives finished by Katrenick and Barnes' long run after his twin brother Matt forced and recovered a fumble at the Jacobs' 48.

But on the next play from scrimmage, CL South senior Corey Sheehan lost the ball after a 4-yard run and teammate Frank Woods picked it up and raced 65 yards to the end zone to make it a 7-point game 5:42 before halftime.

"We felt like we were playing good," Sean Barnes said. "Stuff like that happens in a football game."

Golnick recovered a fumble on the fifth play of the second half to set up Barnes' second touchdown run. Katrenick (9-for-20, 121 yards) converted his third fourth-down pass of the game in a 12-play, 72-yard drive to set the final score with 40.8 seconds left in the third.

"We wanted to establish the run tonight - there was no doubt about what we were trying to do," Mitz said after Jacobs rushed for 225 of its 346 total yards.

"We came into the game and knew we were going to run the ball," Golnick said. "I thought we really executed that."

Kyle Copeland also had an interception as the Gators committed 3 turnovers and finished with 198 total yards. Matt Barnes and Mark Comstock had sacks and Blake Tatgenhorst had 2 tackles for losses.

"It doesn't matter what kind of skill guys you have, if you don't win the line of scrimmage you are going to lose the game," said CL South coach Chuck Ahsmann. "We had a couple of big plays that kept us in the game but you can't live and die on lucky plays."

Sheehan, who missed two full games and most of last week with an injured ankle, rushed for 15 yards on 7 carries.

"He's getting closer and he didn't tweak it again," said Ahsmann, whose team should have enough playoff points and finishes the regular season next week at Cary-Grove.