Jacobs topples Hampshire for 5th win
An up and down season for Jacobs should last at least one more week. The Golden Eagles all but wrapped up a playoff berth with a 42-24 win at Hampshire Friday night.
Trevor Fitzsimmons returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, Chris Katrenick threw for a touchdown and ran for another, and sophomore tailback Stephen Kavanaugh ran for 3 more scores as the Eagles (5-4, 5-4) prevailed in Fox Valley Conference action.
Jacobs never trailed after Fitzsimmons brought the opening kick back 87 yards, but the Golden Eagles could never quite shake the Whip-Purs.
Hampshire scored twice in a 2-minute span of the fourth quarter to make it 28-18, but Jacobs answered with 2 scores of its own.
Hampshire made the score 28-12 on a 69-yard hook-and-ladder play. Jake Vincent completed a short pass to Jared Hornbeck who lateraled to Cameron Fleury, who raced up the sideline for the score. Matthew Matras recovered a Jacobs fumble on the next series and 3 plays later Vincent hit Hornbeck for the score to get Hampshire within 10.
Katrenick calmly drove the Eagles 53 yards, capping the series with a 22-yard scoring strike to Trevor Loewen. The Whips drove to the Jacobs 1-yard line on the next possession, but the Eagles' defense held. Katrenick then led a 99-yard march that included a 62-yard completion to John Farrissey. Kavanaugh finished it on a 2-yard dive up the middle.
Katrenick finished 14 of 18 for 279 yards. Loren Strickland caught 6 of those balls for 117 yards.
Vincent finished 19 of 34 for 251 yards and 4 TDs. Hornbeck finished with 10 catches for 145 yards and 2 scores.
Hampshire played ball control in the first half behind tailback Dan Tuzak but, except for one drive couldn't pull it off. They trailed 14-6 at the break. Then Jacobs' offense got rolling.
"We started passing the ball better, and ran the ball better," said Jacobs coach Bill Mitz. "In the first half, after that opening kickoff it was a weird feeling. We never had the ball. Their quarterback did a nice job moving them and getting them first downs. We just played better, but we've still got to get better with some of our runs."
"We just didn't have enough in the end," said Hampshire coach Mike Brasile. "They did a nice job in the second half of coming out and making some adjustments to what we were doing. We didn't finish."