Lincoln-Way East too much for Jacobs
The Jacobs football team was dynamite for the first four-plus minutes of Friday's Class 7A playoff opener at Lincoln-Way East, but it all blew up in a 40-6 loss.
The defense for No. 19 Jacobs stopped No. 14 Lincoln-Way East's first possession on downs at the 35. In turn, the Golden Eagles marched 65 yards in 5 plays, taking a 6-0 lead on Chris Katrenick's in-stride, 40-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Loewen with 7:30 left in the first quarter. The extra point was blocked.
The next 43-plus minutes were dominated by the Griffins (8-2), who won the turnover battle 4-1 via 4 interceptions and scored 40 unanswered points to advance to a second-round meeting against No. 3 Libertyville (10-0).
"When you get a (Bill) Mitz-coached team, they're going to come ready, and they were a gritty, tough team tonight," L-W East coach Rob Zvonar said. "We just had to kind of persevere and be a little methodical. Fortunately, it came out at the end."
Lincoln-Way East gained 283 yards compared to 171 for Jacobs (7-3), which was limited to 65 yards rushing. Griffins senior quarterback Brandon Bauer distributed 17 completions in 28 attempts among eight different receivers, including multiple passes to running backs.
"They were hitting the back out of the flat a lot," Mitz said. "It's a tough route to cover, so it was good calls by them."
The Griffins took a 7-6 lead with a 9-play, 87-yard drive, capped by Bauer's 19-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Brody Bolsoni.
After a Jacobs punt, the Golden Eagles were reinvigorated by a Mathew Barnes interception at his own 41-yard line, but the drive went nowhere. Jacobs punted again and Lincoln-Way East embarked on another successful drive, advancing 58 yards in 7 plays and taking the lead on Nigel Muhammad's 10-yard scamper.
Two possessions later, the Griffins marched through the Jacobs defense with disturbing ease. Bolsoni was the key playmaker on the 58-yard, 9-play scoring drive, responsible for 36 yards via 4 rushes and 2 receptions, including a 12-yard touchdown run that staked his team to a 20-6 lead with 2:41 left in the second quarter.
"They had a good offense the way they set it up," Barnes said. "Maybe we just didn't practice right or something. They switched it up a couple of times and they had good plays."
Jacobs moved the ball to midfield on its next possession, but penalties for holding and intentional grounding pushed them back to their own 14. Then disaster struck. Punter Jacob Hichew did well to catch a bounced snap, but the play's timing was thrown off and he was tackled at his own 6-yard line.
The Griffins cashed in one play later on a touchdown run by senior Liam Morrissey to make it a 26-6 game with 1:38 left in the half.
Mitz tried to change the momentum by opening the second half with a successful onside kick, but the offense went three-and-out. Lincoln-Way then provided the dagger: a 14-play, 80-yard drive for a 33-6 lead. That drive was keyed by Ken Anderson's 20-yard reception on fourth-and-11 and finished by Bauer's 5-yard keeper to the pylon.
The Griffins intercepted Katrenick on Jacobs' next two possessions to thwart any thought of a comeback.
"I'm proud of our kids. We played hard to the end," Mitz said. "There was a lot of hard hitting until the end. For the seniors, it's tough. For the others, the (next) season starts"