Jacobs handles McHenry
An opportunistic defense along with a solid offense.
Those ingredients produced a 27-3 win for Jacobs over McHenry in Fox Valley Conference action in Algonquin Friday.
The Golden Eagle defense received an interception from Jakauri Bland and fumble recoveries from Reese Wiggins and Gino Petrone as the Jacobs defense forced 3 McHenry turnovers.
"McHenry has a very good offense that can put points on the board," said Jacobs coach Bill Mitz. "Our defense was very good and opportunistic tonight. It was a good bounce back effort for the defense."
While the stingy Jacobs (3-2, 3-2) defense held McHenry's (2-3, 1-3) high-powered offense without a touchdown, the Golden Eagle offense compiled 21 first downs and 375 yards of total offense.
Rushing for 244 yards, hard-running senior halfback Loren Strickland toted the ball 14 times for 126 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 3 and 2 yards.
"It was a tough loss last week," said Strickland. "We had a good week of practice and we needed this win after the loss to (Cary-Grove). The offensive line has been awesome all season. They were opening huge holes."
Junior Stephen Kavanaugh carried the ball 20 times for 104 yards which included a TD run of 2 yards.
"I like the way we ran the ball and controlled the ball," said Mitz. "Loren and Stephen really ran well and our offensive line was really moving people."
Junior quarterback Anthony Wilson completed 9-of-18 passes for 131 yards, which included a touchdown pass and an interception by McHenry defensive back Kennedy Kosmalski.
Wilson tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Pachniak for the Golden Eagles' first score of the game with 5:47 left in the first quarter to make the score 7-0 with an extra point from Patrick Castellano.
Senior receiver John Farrissey led the Eagles with 4 receptions for 45 yards while Jermaine Maegdlin-Ferguson snared 2 passes for 35 yards.
McHenry's only points of the contest came with 11:58 left in the first half on a 23-yard field goal by Alec Gasmann.
The Jacobs defense held the McHenry offense without a point for the last 35 minutes and 58 seconds while ripping off the final 20 points of the game.
McHenry, which was hampered by 3 turnovers, managed 275 yards of total offense and 14 first downs.
With 82 yards rushing, Mike McManus paced the Warriors with 52 yards on 16 carries. McHenry senior quarterback Patrick Breisch, who was harassed by the Jacobs defense all night long, completed 10-of-21 passes for 160 yards and an interception by Bland.
Braden Crowley, who completed a halfback pass for 33 yards, grabbed 4 passes for 44 yards while Kosmalski caught 4 passes for 62 yards.