Huntley rolls to opening night win over Jacobs

Huntley made a statement in its season opener, even if it wasn't always eloquent.

Eric Mooney ran for 2 touchdowns and threw for another, and the Red Raiders' defense dominated Jacobs in a 35-0 Fox Valley Conference win in Huntley.

The game featured many of the hallmarks of a season opener, as the teams combined for over 200 penalty yards.

But Huntley overcame 14 penalties and a lost fumble to come away with the win.

"I think a lot of it was our first-game jitters," said first-year Huntley coach Matt Zimolzak. "A lot of the penalties we were getting and a lot of the mistakes we were making, get that out of the way now. And once we got that out of the way, we were able to lock it down."

After a scoreless first quarter, Mooney capped a 60-yard drive by finding Daniel Frederick for a 30-yard touchdown pass. After the defense forced Jacobs to punt, the Raiders drove 67 yards for another score, with Mooney covering the final 40 yards himself, racing around right end and eluding a couple of would-be tacklers on the way to the end zone.

"On the previous play, my wide receiver came up to me and he said that I missed a read, he was blocking the lineman, so I took advantage of it, went outside, the linemen blocked it, our receiver blocked it well, and I broke a tackle," said Mooney.

Jacobs had a chance to make it close before halftime, reaching the Huntley 8-yard line, but Huntley's defense held, forcing an incomplete pass on fourth down.

The defense kept the pressure on Jacobs quarterback Chris Katrenick from the beginning, with Olalere Oladipo sacking him on back-to-back plays in the first quarter.

"That's what we want, to put pressure on the quarterback," said Oladipo, who committed to Illinois Thursday, "to make them throw passes under pressure, and that's what we did.

Huntley took the second-half kickoff and drove 72 yards, Mooney again finishing the drive, this time from 2-yards out.

When Mooney had to leave the game with cramps in both legs, it didn't matter. Backup Cory Knipp took over and finished a drive with a 2-yard scoring run of his own.

Carter Beaudette added the Raiders' final score on a 2-yard run after his 60-yarder put them in range.

Michael Ahmer ran for 100 yards for Huntley. Alec Coss was Mooney's favorite target with 7 catches for 72 yards.

Katrenick finished 16-of-34 for 182 yards for Jacobs, but that was the extent of the Eagles' offense. They ran the ball 23 times for just 31 yards.