Quarterback Eric Mooney is whatever Huntley needs him to be at the moment, whether it’s a leader, a runner, a passer or a returner.
One yard from the goal line with 11.1 seconds left Friday against Jacobs, Mooney did a pretty good imitation of a hard-charging fullback.
Mooney drove the Red Raiders 62 yards in 1:29 and plowed in for the game-winning touchdown with 7.7 seconds left to give visiting Huntley a 30-27 Fox Valley victory.
“Eric is just a leader out there,” Huntley coach Matt Zimolzak said. “He can rally anybody.”
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Mooney rallied Huntley from 12 points down to a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter on a 55-yard TD on a punt return. On the game-winning drive, he threw for 30 yards and rushed for 18.
“The second half, I thought we played a lot better,” said Mooney, who completed 14 of 24 passes for 146 yards and also rushed for 139 yards on 24 carries. “Our offensive line dominated that last drive.
“Going in, there had been a lot of questions about our line being able to block this year, and are we going to be able to run? I think they proved themselves in that second half, honestly.”
Huntley was out of timeouts as Mooney ran in out of the shotgun with Joey Wilson and the Red Raiders’ line providing a surge.
“If we’re down, we want it to be on us,” Wilson said. “We feel like we’re the strongest group in the state. We have a lot of confidence in our group and in our quarterback.”
Two pass interference penalties and a 21-yard completion by Mooney keyed the final march.
“Eric had a hell of a game,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. “He made some great plays for them. Big-time players make big-time plays. He did on the punt return and he did on that last drive. We made a lot of silly penalties.”
Jacobs committed a personal foul on a fair catch, giving Mooney another chance on his punt return TD.
“All week I was saying, ‘I’m going to return a punt for a touchdown, I’m going to return a kick, just get a body on a body and we’re going to return something,'” Mooney said.
Huntley needed a final rally because quarterback Anthony Wilson put Jacobs ahead 27-22 on a 3-yard TD run with 1:38 to play. Wilson was 5-for-9 for 124 yards and ran for two TDs.
Jacobs also had a 93-yard kick return TD from Trevor Fitzsimmons with 1:40 left in the second quarter, right after a 19-yard field goal by Huntley’s Chase Zion. Jacobs’ Loren Strickland (18 rushes, 92 yards) added a 1-yard TD run.
Huntley running back Melvin Aninagyei-Bonsu gained 130 yards on 22 carries, including TDs of 11 and 7 yards.
“Melvin is a hell of a running back,” Zimolzak said. “I think that’s what we were missing (last year). We were missing another guy to run the ball a lot like Melvin did for us.”
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Week 1 highlights
Byron 35, Burlington Central 14: Michael Kalusa caught a 25-yard TD pass from Johnny DiCostanzo and Nick Termini scored on a 1-yard run for Burlington Central (0-1).
Conant 17, Bartlett 2: Bartlett (0-1) scored its only points with a safety on a bad snap from center.
Genoa-Kingston 15, Rockford Lutheran 12: Jackson Ebel and Carivious Brown scored TDs for Genoa-Kingston (1-0, 1-0) in the Big Northern West win.
Hampshire 28, Dundee-Crown 14: Drew Dalby went 21-for-25 passing for 275 yards and threw two TDs to Devin Baldridge and one each by Nicolas Rummell and Eric Starrenburg as Hampshire (1-0, 1-0) won in the Fox Valley over Dundee-Crown (0-1, 0-1).
Larkin 14, Mundelein 3: Pierre Black’s fourth-quarter TD run of 11 yards put Larkin (1-0) ahead and Kindrel Morris’ late 25-yard TD run cemented the win.
St. Charles East 41, Rock Island 7: Fullback Justin Jett ran for 230 yards and three TDs to lead St. Charles East (1-0).
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St. Charles North 38, Schaumburg 13: Lucas Segobiano rushed for 151 yards and three TDs to spark St. Charles North (1-0).
St. Edward 44, Metamora 26: Dylan Mlinarich threw for 399 yards and five TDs to lead St. Edward (1-0). Three TD passes went to Saveon Smith and two to Tyler Holte.
South Elgin 47, Ransom Everglades (Fla.) 0: Nate Gomez scored three of his four TD runs in the first quarter for South Elgin (1-0) at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla.