HUNTLEY – At the point of the fourth quarter Bret Mooney had grown accustomed to producing magical finishes, the only drama remaining Friday night was whether the Jacobs quarterback could find a jersey that fit.

The gash in his familiar No. 5 had forced Mooney to find a replacement in the half minute since Jacobs students had started chanting “League Champs.” By then, Mooney had done enough in a 27-20 victory over Huntley that gave Jacobs at least a share of the Fox Valley Conference championship for the first time since 1979.

Mooney, who squeezed into a white road jersey bearing the No. 3, had set the tone, running for two touchdowns and connecting with Hunter Williams on a 49-yard touchdown pass that proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

Jacobs' defense took care of the rest, holding off a late Huntley rally that preserved the Golden Eagles' sixth straight win and within one win of winning the Valley Division title outright.

"It's a huge accomplishment," said Mooney, who threw for 223 yards on 14-of-20-passing to go along with his two touchdown runs. " Now we have to beat (Dundee) Crown and then make a run in the playoffs."

Jacobs (6-2, 5-0 FVC Valley) made an early statement offensively, scoring on three of its first four possessions. Mooney's two scoring runs (15 yards and 1 yard) – along with a 2-yard Josh Walker on the Golden Eagles' first possession helped left Huntley (4-4, 2-3 Valley) facing a big deficit.

The Golden Eagles defense stymied the Red Raiders in the first half, holding Huntley to 72 yards of total offense. But the unit's more impressive showing came in the second half when Jacobs' offense stalled with the exception of Mooney's long scoring pass to Williams that gave Jacobs what appeared to be a commanding 27-6 lead.

But Huntley, which finally got on the board on the first play from scrimmage in the second half on Blake Jacobs' 69-yard touchdown pass to Mackian Stephens, was far from done. Jacobs sprinted 61 yards to draw the Red Raiders to within two touchdowns.

Yet, the Red Raiders were hurt by self-inflicted wounds, turning the ball over three times and stalling on back-to-back trips to the Red Zone. Still, that, Jacobs connected with Brandon Altergott on a 57-yard touchdown pass that drew Huntley to within 27-20 in the game's closing minutes.

It wasn't enough.

"I just don't think we were into it at the beginning of the game," Altergott said. "We just weren't into it. It was shocking. I thought we were going come out strong and start punching it down the field. It just didn't happen."

The Golden Eagles were able to withstand the late charge, allowing Mooney to run the clock out, keeping the Golden Eagles rolling heading into next week's regular season finale.

“We didn’t play as well as we could in the second half, but, we got the victory,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. “That was huge for us. Now we’ve got one more to go – one more big one to go.”