Mooney, Huntley storm back to beat Jacobs

Eric Mooney simply refused to let the Huntley Red Raiders lose.

Mooney's 1-yard run with 7.7 seconds left gave the Red Raiders an exhilarating 30-27 win over Jacobs in Fox Valley Conference action in Algonquin Friday night.

"We have been working hard since June 10 and we didn't panic when we got behind," said Mooney. "We played the poorest first half we could possibly play. Coach (Matt Zimolzak) told us we would come back and win. It is a great win against a very good Jacobs team."

Jacobs (0-1) looked to be in good shape when Anthony Wilson scored on a 3-yard run with 1:38 left in the game to give the Golden Eagles a 27-22 lead.

Mooney, who gained 138 yards on 24 carries with 2 touchdowns, engineered an 8-play, 62-yard winning TD drive.

"Eric shows so much poise," said Huntley coach Matt Zimolzak. "We were down and never panicked. I had faith in the team and they came through and we beat a very good Jacobs team."

Mooney, who also ran back a punt for a 55-yard TD, was 14-for-24 for 147 yards. Melvin Bonsu gave Mooney help in the running game with 130 yards on 21 carries which included touchdown runs of 7 and 11 yards.

Ryan Antonsen, who caught a 2-point conversion pass on the winning TD by Mooney, caught 5 passes for 21 yards. Mike Boland snared 4 catches for 46 yards and Brian O' Mara grabbed 3 passes for 59 yards for the winners.

Jacobs seized momentum of the game when Loren Strickland scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 7:26 left in the third quarter to give the Golden Eagles a 21-9 lead.

The most exciting play of the game came with 1:40 left in the first half when Trevor Fitzsimmons broke 5 Huntley tackles and scored on a 93-yard kickoff return to give the Eagles a 14-9 advantage.

Junior Anthony Wilson, replacing 3-year starter Chris Katrenick at quarterback, scored on runs of 15 and 3 yards. He rushed the ball 10 times for 32 yards.

Showing a deft touch, Wilson completed 5-of-9 passes for 121 yards. John Farrissey grabbed 3 passes for 62 yards; his biggest gain was 50 yards. Strickland grabbed a pass for 39 yards and Stephen Cavanaugh caught 1 for 20.

Behind an offense led by 4-year starter Jimmy Wormsley, Strickland gained 91 yards on 16 carries and a TD and Kavanaugh toted the ball 9 times for 31 yards.

Huntley, which compiled 18 first downs, were hindered by 7 penalties for 85 yards.

The Red Raiders collected 415 total yards, 268 rushing and 147 passing.

"We had pretty good balance on offense," said Zimolzak. "We had a nice running attack with Melvin and Eric and our receivers ran well."