Jacobs jumps out early in decisive win over Crystal Lake Central

The impetus for Jacobs' early fourth-down gamble against Crystal Lake Central was twofold.

First, the Golden Eagles were confident they could get the necessary 4 yards. Second, they did not want to give up the ball right away to Central's potent passing attack and quarterback Jason Penza.

So, on fourth-and-4 on their own 45, Eagles coach Brian Zimmerman went for it. And right there, Jacobs seized control of the game and never let go.

Sophomore fullback Caden DuMelle burst up the middle, ran over a Central defender and broke toward the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown.

The Eagles continued to dominate on both sides and rolled to a 41-14 Fox Valley Conference victory Friday night at Owen Metcalf Field.

DuMelle ran 31 times for 302 yards and four first-half touchdowns. He was thrilled to get his team off to the fast start.

"We just wanted to prove we could do it," he said of the fourth-down play. "We wanted to get that first and keep that ball moving. I broke a couple tackles, and our line was just doing their thing all night. It gave us all the motivation and that mentality to go out and do what we did."

Meanwhile, the defense held Central to six first downs and 103 total yards in the first half. Jacobs led 28-6 at halftime.

"Our game plan was to keep their offense off the field as much as possible," Zimmerman said. "Not that it was a surprise, but I didn't think we would stymie their offense the way we did. We had a really good week of practice."

DuMelle also had scoring runs of 2, 11 and 56 yards while rushing for his career-best. Center Jake Sindles had to leave in the second quarter with an ankle injury, so Rocco Sauer moved to center, and fullback Paulie Rudolph stepped in on the line with Matthew Shannon, Tony Fetting and Landon Carlson, along with tight ends Grant Stec and PJ Barnes.

"Caden going to the outside is what he's special at," Stec said. "Our offensive line, and me and PJ - our other tight end - were blocking well, and they couldn't stop us.

"I couldn't ask for a better line blocking with me and blocking for our running backs. It's a great team win. Let's do it again next week."

Jacobs (4-3, 4-3 FVC) is a win away from being playoff eligible and hosts McHenry next week. The Tigers (4-3, 4-3) saw their four-game winning streak stopped.

Jacobs running back T.O. Boddie ran for 107 yards and a touchdown, all in the second half. The Eagles finished with 525 total yards, 482 on the ground.

"They just flat-out out-physicaled us on both sides of the ball tonight," Tigers coach Dirk Stanger said. "They kicked our butts. Kudos to them. Their kids came out ready to play, our kids didn't.

"Offensively we weren't efficient enough at all tonight. Defensively, we gave up a score on a third-and-20 and a fourth-and-20. You just can't do that."