Huntley defensive end Olalere Oladipo laid down the law early Friday against Jacobs.
Then quarterback Eric Mooney and Huntley’s offense reaped the benefits.
One night after committing to Illinois, Oladipo sacked Bowling Green recruit Chris Katrenick on consecutive first-quarter plays to spark Huntley’s defense to a night of dominance at home in a 35-0 Fox Valley victory.
“Defense wins championships and we wanted to send a message out to the state that we’re the best team out here,” Oladipo said. “The key point of emphasis was getting hits on the quarterback and we did just that.”
Huntley’s defense followed the lead of Oladipo, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound senior. Caleb Jones, Nick Lichay and Charlie Zornow also had sacks.
After Oladipo’s back-to-back sacks, Jacobs relied on quick, short throws by Katrenick or swing passes to the backs.
“The ball was coming out fast then,” Oladipo said.
Jacobs (0-1, 0-1) managed only 35 yards rushing, including 27 by Katrenick on scrambles. Katrenick was held to 172 yards on 14-for-33 passing with one interception as Huntley (1-0, 1-0) earned Matt Zimolzak a victory in his first game as coach.
“It was kind of the game plan to mix up the defense a little bit,” Zimolzak said. “We tried a little bit of an odd front that gave us a little bit different look.
“The key was the sacks. When we got to Katrenick, it kind of had them on their heels a little bit.”
Mooney began slow in his first quarterback start, but rushed for 53 yards. He ran around right end for a 40-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it 14-0. Mooney also threw for 168 yards on 14-for-18, including a 30-yard TD to Daniel Frederick to open the scoring 8:40 before halftime.
“When we started picking up on it with the sprint-out pass, then we were able to start running it a lot more,” Mooney said.
Huntley drove 72 yards to Mooney’s 1-yard TD run around left end to start the second half.
Mooney repeatedly burned Jacobs on rollout completions to Frederick (6 catches, 68 yards) and Alec Coss (7 catches, 78 yards).
“Eric did it all,” Zimolzak said. “He was a little nervous at the beginning and had a little trouble with some of his reads, but as the game progressed I think it kind of slowed down for him.”
About all that slowed down Mooney after the second quarter was cramps in his calf in both legs. Before that, he drove Huntley to scoring position for a fourth TD, with backup Cory Knipp scoring on a 2-yard run.
In the fourth quarter, Carter Beaudette added a 2-yard TD run after relieving starter Mike Ahmer (19 carries, 100 yards).
“We couldn’t get a running game going, we couldn’t block, we couldn’t catch the ball,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. “They’ve got a really nice team and they played well.”
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