Jacobs holds off Crystal Lake South
Jacobs senior quarterback Chris Katrenick and junior wide receiver John Farrissey liked what they saw late in a tied Fox Valley Conference football game Friday night at Crystal Lake South's Ken Bruhn Field.
Everyone associated with the Golden Eagles really enjoyed what they witnessed on the third-and-5 play when the Bowling Green-bound Katrenick threw a perfect pass over a defender to Farrissey for a 20-yard touchdown with 1:15 remaining. Katrenick's fifth touchdown pass of the night and third to Farrissey completed a dramatic 35-28 comeback victory.
"We all believe every time we get the ball we should score," Katrenick said after completing 14 of 25 passes for 287 yards.
"He was really on tonight," said Jacobs coach Bill Mitz. "That's a game you expect Chris to have and he was on the money."
He needed to be after South (0-3, 0-3) rallied to take a 28-21 lead in the third quarter. Quarterback Luke Nolan (16-for-28, 154 yards) ran for a 15-yard score, hit Kyle Leva (6 catches, 93 yards) for a 29-yard touchdown and threw a 2-point pass to Matt Meyers.
But the Gators lost a chance to increase their lead to 10 on third-and-8 at the Jacobs 15 when Nolan was sacked by Eric Schutt for a 19-yard loss.
"That was huge because that could have been a big change there," Mitz said of forcing South to punt.
That led to the tying score for Jacobs (2-1, 2-1) as Katrenick found a wide-open Farrissey (8 catches, 173 yards) in the middle of the field on fourth-and-3 and it turned into a 60-yard touchdown with 6:33 left. After a three-and-out, Katrenick got the ball back for a drive that started at its own 15 after a false start at 4:21.
The Golden Eagles marched downfield with some solid running from junior Loren Strickland (25 carries, 103 yards) and David Butros behind senior Kyle Vega, juniors Dylan DeMuth, Cade Purifoye and Jimmy Wormsley and sophomore Cade Portell. And everything seemed to be in place for them when Farrissey set up wide to the right side at the South 20.
"It was a great throw," Farrissey said. "I thought it would be a touchdown right away, right when I lined up and they were in man coverage. Chris did a great job of getting me the ball there."
Katrenick saw the same thing with options of a hitting Farrissey on a wheel route or going to Aidan Ludlum on a curl.
"I knew we could take a shot," said Katrenick. "He made a great catch. He had a great game today."
Katrenick also hit Trevor Loewen for touchdowns of 50 and 19 yards and Farrissey for 9 yards for a 21-14 halftime lead. But the Gators, who led twice in the first half on a 23-yard touchdown run by Michael Swiatly (19 carries, 121 yards) and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Nolan to Leva, made one last push to force overtime.
They drove from their 19 to the Jacobs 34 but on the final play Ludlum intercepted Nolan's pass at the 3.
"We battled them and gave them everything they could handle," said South coach Chuck Ahsmann. "Unfortunately their quarterback came up big when they needed him to. We did some really good things and battled them all the way to the end."