Crystal Lake Central holds off Jacobs with late touchdown

CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake Central quarterback Colton Madura and wide receiver Jake Carnrite had a connection most of the second half against Jacobs, particularly when it mattered most.

On three consecutive plays in the Tigers’ final drive, Madura hit Carnrite for big gains. Then, when Carnrite was covered, Madura rolled right and fired a touchdown pass to sophomore Jason Penza with 57 seconds remaining.

Central’s defense put up one last stand as the Tigers, No. 8 in The Associated Class 6A poll, held off Jacobs, 41-34, Friday in their Fox Valley Conference game at Owen Metcalf Field.

[ Photo gallery: Crystal Lake Central holds off Jacobs ]

“Those are situations in practice we do during the week, the kids didn’t panic and just executed and knew what we needed to do,” Tigers coach Jon McLaughlin said. “Get the ball, get out of bounds. It was nice to come out on the right side of that one.”

The biggest play came on fourth-and-7 from Central’s 49 when Madura kept the drive alive with a 16-yard pass to Carnrite. He hit him for 19 more on the next play and on 7 the play after that.

Madura was looking for Carnrite again, but he was pressured and Carnrite was covered.

“That was a scramble too,” Madura said. “It broke down, Carnrite was covered and I rolled out, saw (Penza) was open and connected. Pretty much all summer we’ve been running two-minute drills, beat the clock, get to the sideline. We were ready for that.”

Central (2-0, 2-0) could have been in much worse shape, but trailed only 20-13 at halftime. Jacobs (1-1, 1-1) lamented its missed first-half opportunities, most notably a fumble while going in to score on its first possession and a high punt snap late in the first half that set Central up on the Golden Eagles’ 18.

“We left 14 points off the board easily,” Eagles coach Brian Zimmerman said. “We shot ourselves in the foot, we had a couple bad play calls, they made some adjustments on the other side.

“I hope we showed people we were better than they thought we were. I don’t feel they were a better team than us. I got a lot of respect for (Central). It’s tough to swallow when we should have had a three-touchdown lead for the second half and we were up by one.”

Central scored on its first possession of the second half to tie the score at 20-20, but Jacobs’ defense came up with a touchdown on the next series. Madura was trapped in the end zone and the Eagles forced a fumble, which linebacker Dino Hunt scooped up at the 2 and took into the end zone.

The Tigers were unable to mount any rushing attack, but Madura (23 of 29, 282 yards, five touchdowns) got rolling with Carnrite (10 catches, 131 yards, three touchdowns). Carnrite caught his third scoring pass early in the fourth quarter.

“In the second half, we were in the same position as last week (trailing Huntley by a touchdown),” Carnrite said. “We needed to do a lot of soul-searching. Me and Colton dug really deep, we battled it out. He puts the balls where they need to be and I make the plays.”

Carnrite’s third touchdown catch made it 34-27, but Jacobs tied the score with 2:09 to go on Michael Almeida’s 5-yard run.

Jacobs running back Ben Ludlum broke loose for a 78-yard touchdown run in the first half and finished with 165 yards rushing. Eagles quarterback Max Benner threw for 91 yards had a touchdown pass each to Grant Stec and Nick True in the first half.

“We’re here to show people we can play football,” Zimmerman said. “I’m proud of our guys and they’re proud of it. I hope we showed people we’re a good football team.”

Crystal Lake Central 41, Jacobs 34

Jacobs 6 14 7 7 – 34

CL Central 7 6 14 14 – 41

First quarter

CLC–C. Fleming 39 pass from Madura (Kork kick), 6:09.

J–Stec 15 pass from Benner (kick failed), 2:36.

Second quarter

J–True 37 pass from Benner (Rocha kick), 11:51.

J–Ludlum 78 run (Rocha kick), 8:07.

CLC–Carnrite 18 pass from Madura (kick failed), 0:16.

Third quarter

CLC–Carnrite 29 pass from Madura (Korn kick), 10:12.

J–Hunt 2 fumble return (Rocha kick), 6:36.

CLC-Madura 1 run (Korn kick), 0:30.

Fourth quarter

CLC–Carnrite 8 pass from Madura (Korn kick), 9:03.

J–Almeida 5 run (Rocha kick), 2:09.

CLC–Penza 9 pass from Madura (Korn kick), 0:47.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Jacobs: Ludlum 18-165, Canty 16-68, Almeida 10-52, Rudolph 1-2, Benner 4-minus 17. Totals: 49-270. CL Central: Blitek 13-16, Madura 15-2, Team 1-minus 1. Totals: 29-18.

PASSING–Jacobs: Benner7-14-0-91. CL Central: Madura 23-29-0-282.

RECEIVING–Jacobs: Stec 4-49, True 2-43, Canty 1-minus 1. CL Central: Carnrite 10-131, Penza 7-85, Dimopoulos 4-30, C. Fleming 1-39, Blitek 1-minus 3.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Jacobs 361, CL Central 300.