Late pick lifts Barrington over Jacobs
The final momentum swing went Barrington’s way.
After Jacobs got a touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie the game with 7:39 left, then forced Barrington into a 3-and-out on the next series, all the momentum seemed to reside with the Golden Eagles. But an interception by JP Brooks on the next possession turned the tide a final time.
The Broncos then drove 50 yards in 7 plays, with Dylan Abel scoring from 3 yards out with 1:45 left. Barrington held on for a 22-15 victory in nonconference action in Algonquin Saturday afternoon.
Quarterback Bret Mooney got Jacobs’ offense untracked on the tying drive. After not having a completion longer than 13 yards all day, he hit Ryan Sargent for 21 yards. On the next play, he found Josh Walker, who outran the defense for a 38-yard touchdown. Mooney then found Hunter Williams all alone in the end zone for the 2-point conversion.
The Golden Eagles quickly got the ball back, but Brooks picked off Mooney’s pass and returned it to midfield. Daniel Kubiuk and the Broncos’ offense did the rest.
The first 3 quarters belonged to the Barrington defense, led by linebacker Colin Castagna. Castagna seemed to be everywhere, recovering a fumble, sacking Mooney once and stopping him for no gain on two other scrambles. David Danhauer also had 2 tackles for loss.
“The kids were resilient,” said Barrington coach Joe Sanchez. “Number 5 (Mooney) is a heck of a football player. We thought we had him contained, and he made something out of nothing.
“But the defensive coaching staff did a great job of game-planning and getting the kids prepared.”
On the day, Mooney was 16 of 28 for 155 yards. He was also the game’s leading rusher with 101 yards on 11 carries. His 54-yard scamper on a broken play gave the Eagles an early 7-0 lead.
Kubiuk had similar numbers for the Broncos, completing 13 of 23 for 162 yards. He completed mostly short passes until finding Dylan Bingham over the middle on the first possession of the second half. Bingham slipped between two defenders and turned the short pass into a 77-yard touchdown to give the Broncos their first lead.
Earlier, Mike Carbonara scored on a reverse to get the Broncos within 7-6.
Chase Lesniak’s 30-yard field goal extended Barrington’s lead to 15-7.
JT Henderson added 91 rushing yards for Barrington.
“We want to be balanced,” said Sanchez. “We don’t want to let anybody predict or try to sit on one person.”
The Broncos were not always crisp, getting penalized 9 times for 100 yards.