Jacobs to play in title match
Jacobs played hard for 80 minutes, not just 60 minutes, but Mike Wallace was still the star.
The senior striker scored 3 times as the Golden Eagles upended Huntley, 3-1, in the opener of the Class 3A Huntley regional.
Huntley's Nico Carbonera scored early in the second half to make it 2-1 and give the Red Raiders some momentum. But Jacobs snatched it right back when Wallace scored his third goal 8 minutes later.
The Golden Eagles (12-7-2) take on Crystal Lake South Saturday at 11 a.m. for the regional title, while Huntley finishes the season at 9-7-2.
Jacobs came out aggressively while Huntley started out in a defensive posture. The Eagles peppered Huntley goalkeeper Kevin Montelongo with shots but had few solid opportunities.
Then, in the 34th minute, Wallace took a short feed from Luis Cabral and fired a shot from the deep left corner into the net.
"We needed to be more of a defensive team today, and that's the way we set up in the first half," said Huntley coach Kris Grabner. "I thought their first goal was a nice goal. We probably should have defended it, but we didn't, and the kid buried it."
Cabral also assisted on the second Jacobs goal. Wallace got the ball right in front of the net, but needed a couple of stabs at it to get it past the diving Montelongo.
"I give most of the credit to the services I get," said Wallace. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
Jacobs didn't do anything special to gain the early advantage.
"I thought we played our game," said Eagles' coach Jim Dzialo. "We possessed the ball very well, as we've done all season. We're a good passing team. We pass the ball, work the ball a little bit. We control the ball. I thought we did that pretty well."
Meanwhile, Jacobs' defense, led by Matt Bliznik and Gret Witt, kept the Red Raiders off the scoreboard for the first 40 minutes.
The complexion of the game changed quickly, however, when Carbonera got a pass from Jesus Alejos and fired a shot from the left corner into the far side of the net.
"Getting that goal at the start of the second half, that was something we talked about at halftime that we had to do," said Grabner. "Once you get that, now that next 5 minutes is crucial."
Just 8 minutes later, though, Wallace got behind the goalkeeper, got a ball high and directed it into the net with his head, giving Jacobs a crucial insurance goal. Jonathan Ward provided the assist.
Danny Trevor had 3 saves in goal for Jacobs.
Barrington 4, Cary-Grove 3: Last season Barrington needed 4 overtime victories in 8 of its postseason wins en route to its first state title.
The Broncos were at it again Tuesday in their Class 3A regional opener.
Barrington jumped out to a 3-0 margin two minutes into the second half on senior forward Ata Ozbay's third goal.
But with 15 minutes remaining in regulations Cary-Grove hit the Broncos with a flourish, scoring 3 goals capped by Nick McDonald's score with 10:46 remaining tying the contest at 3-3.
But Ozbay's header off a free kick by Ryan Mangone with 6 seconds remaining in the second overtime lifted the Broncos (18-5) to a 4-3 victory at Barrington Community Stadium.
No. 2 seed Barrington advances to play top-seeded Lake Zurich (18-1-3) on Saturday at 11 a.m. for the regional title.
"It's hard to imagine there are too many guys better than him," said Barrington coach Scott Stieb of Ozbay, who has 25 goals for the season. "He's special kid and he really carried us tonight."
Ozbay ran behind a Barrington wall and headed the free kick between the near post and Cary-Grove's John Oberlies to give the Broncos the game-winner.
"We pretty much said it was a race to three and kind of had a let down after that," said Ozbay of the Broncos' quick start. "It could have gone either way after that. It was a good ball, I saw that it was going to get over the defender-I knew I had to put it on goal."
Ozbay scored his first goal off an assist by Tim Rudnicki with a little ove 24 minutes remaining in the first half. The senior forward then added an unassisted goal 7 minutes later giving the Broncos a 2-0 margin.
Ozbay's goal off a free kick with 38:02 remaining in the second half gave Barrington a 3-0 lead which at the time seemed to be a safe lead.
But Cary-Grove (14-2-1) showed its resiliency starting with a Phil Hanson goal off a penalty kick with 15:17 remaining in the match. Oberlies then scored off an assist from C.J. Arnberg with 13:34 remaining narrowing the Trojan deficit to 3-2.
McDonald then outbattled two Barrington defender to notch the game-tying goal.
"We were just trying to get back in the game any way we could," said Oberlies of the Trojans' attack. "We just wanted to give ourselves a shot."
And from that point forward the Trojans and Broncos were locked in an intense battle until Ozbay's game-winner.
"It's something they have done all year, they played hard and stayed together," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson of the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division champions. "I couldn't be more proud of the season that they had. But Barrington made the most of one more opportunity than we did."
-Michael Eaken
Hampshire 3, Belvidere 1: Behind goals from Johnny Cabral, Ryan Ponomar and Austin Buck and a pair of assists from Andrew Obmalay, Hampshire (9-9-1) opened postseason play with this 3-1 win over Belvidere at the Class 2A Hampshire regional. Marcus Quick had 5 saves in the win, and the Whips will now face Belvidere North in the championship Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Lake Zurich 4, Dundee-Crown 0: Falling behind early, Dundee-Crown (9-13) couldn't battle back, closing the 2008 campaign with this 4-0 loss at the Class 3A Barrington regional. Eddie Fuentes collected 15 saves in goal for the Chargers.
Wheaton North 6, South Elgin 1: South Elgin (6-11-1) concluded the season with this 6-1 loss in the Class 3A Streamwood regional, but not before setting a program record for wins in a season. Onyx Gonzalez scored the lone Storm goal assisted by Alex Walter, while Ryan Hicks (9 saves) defended the net.
Streamwood 3, Leyden 0: Streamwood (17-4-4) picked up this Class 3A regional semifinal win at home via the shutout with Alex Perez recording 7 saves in goal. Roma Patino led the way with a goal and an assist. Alex Lopez scored and Ulises Marjarez added an insurance knock in the win, while Ivan Arce and Alex Aranda tallied assists. The Sabres take on Wheaton North at 6 p.m. Saturday at Millennium Field for the regional title.
Jen LaPorte contributed to this report.