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Jacobs in playoffs, and now it gets tougher

A little letdown could be expected after the big victory Jacobs had last week against Cary-Grove.

The Golden Eagles, who also have key conference games the next two weeks, trailed 7-0 early Friday night to Huntley before scoring 41 unanswered points en route to a 48-19 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory in Huntley.

“We came out a little flat, but we got it done,” said Jacobs senior Kyle Wright, who rushed for 3 touchdowns. “That is all that really matters.”

Jacobs (6-0, 3-0), which clinched its second straight playoff berth with the win, hosts Prairie Ridge (6-0, 3-0) next week and travels to Crystal Lake South (5-1, 3-1) in two weeks so looking past the Red Raiders (1-5, 1-3) was a possibility as well.

Huntley struck first after Jacobs turned the ball over on downs at its 47-yard line. The Red Raiders used a bit of trickery on their first play. A halfback option pass from Kameron Saller to John Walker gained 38 yards to the Jacobs’ 9-yard line. Three plays later, Jake Brock sneaked in from a yard out as Huntley took a 7-0 lead with 7:16 left in the first quarter.

That seemed to get the Golden Eagles going.

Jacobs answered with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that was aided by a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty. Caz Zyks, who finished with 126 yards rushing, capped the drive with a 6-yard run on a fourth down to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:17 left in the first quarter.

The Golden Eagles scored on their next three possessions. Wright had touchdown runs of 2 and 3 yards and Jason Judson hit Jake Gierlak for a 63-yard touchdown as Jacobs took a 27-7 halftime lead.

“They are a good 1-2 punch,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said of Zyks and Wright. “They both complement each other very well.”

Jacobs added touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half. Wright, who had 69 yards on 14 carries, scored on a 25-yard run and Zyks scored on a 32-yard run for a 41-7 lead.

Huntley’s Tyler Schwartz returned the ensuing kickoff after Zyks’ touchdown 86 yards for a touchdown.

Jacobs’ Hunter Williams added a 104-yard interception return for a score with 3:06 remaining.

The Red Raiders’ Joshua Fish had a 1-yard touchdown run with 18.2 seconds left to finish the scoring.

“There are opportunities in the game to make plays and we need to make more of them,” Huntley coach Matt Gehrig said.

Judson was 12 of 21 for 185 yards for Jacobs, which had 457 yards of offense.

Kyle Goettelmann finished with 86 yards on nine carries, all in the second half, for the Red Raiders.