It had not been the best of nights for Libertyville junior quarterback Jackson Yarc.
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Sustained drives and chunk plays were few and far between as the Wildcats went toe-to-toe with Lake Zurich on Friday for sole possession of first place in the North Suburban Conference, and Yarc was even relegated to the bench for a drive in the second half.
Forgettable, right?
But Yarc won’t forget what happened late in the fourth quarter anytime soon.
“I’ll probably remember that for the rest of my life,” he said.
Yarc was sent back on the field with 3:13 left and proceeded to lead Libertyville on am 84-yard drive, and his 7-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Graham Sondalle with 19 seconds to go secured a 14-10 victory.
“It’s probably the most exciting moment of my football career,” Yarc said. “I got taken out, was having a rough game, got put back in, and I executed. It just makes me so happy.
“All of this hard work feels like it led up to that moment, and it paid off.”
Indeed, Yarc delivered when the Wildcats (6-2, 6-0) needed him most on a night when both defenses were in control. The teams combined for seven punts in the second half, and the Bears (5-3, 5-1) missed a 48-yard field goal.
Yarc wasn’t any less invested in the outcome after he was replaced by sophomore Whittaker Burton.
“We have a really tight QB room,” Yarc said. “I was there rooting for him. There was nothing more that I wanted than for us to win this game. I didn’t care if it was me, him, a defensive touchdown. It’s no different because the win is all that matters to me.”
Yarc sat out the Wildcats’ second drive of the third quarter and then got reps at H-back and receiver on the next set of downs. He caught a 9-yard pass from Burton and had another reception nullified by a penalty.
“He’s one of the smartest guys on the team,” Libertyville coach Tim Budge said of Yarc. “He knows what every position has to do on every play, so we’re able to do things like that, which is outstanding.”
After the Wildcats forced a punt, Yarc was back at quarterback, and the job at hand was obvious. He completed a 22-yard pass to Sondalle and a 23-yard pass to senior wide receiver Colin Waddell on a drive that also included two personal fouls called against Lake Zurich.
That set the stage for Yarc’s game-winning pass. He bought more time on the play by floating to his left to wait for someone to flash.
“Credit him for keeping the play alive with his running ability, and Graham was wide open,” Budge said. “When you have that running quarterback, I know as a defensive coach I don’t like that. When he rolls out, it moves all of the coverage, and then receivers can leak open, and that’s what happened there.”
For Libertyville, winning the game in regulation was a much more palatable option than a potential game-tying field goal and an unpredictable overtime.
“I was supposed to run a snag route, which is a slant, and supposed to settle, but I saw open ground and scrambled out there, and Jackson rolled out and delivered the throw,” Sondalle said. “That’s not how the play was designed. But when you improvise, that’s what can happen.”
Yarc, who has completed 56 of 98 pass attempts for 848 yards and eight touchdowns after going 9 of 19 for 92 yards against the Bears, likes to improvise.
“Preferably, it would be a three-step drop and then the ball is out of my hands,” he said. “But sometimes when I don’t see it open, I’ve got to do something. I want to get the ball out of my hands as my priority, but when it’s not there, that’s my time to shine. I put on the cape, and I’m like, ‘Here we go.’
“A lot of that is done with my feet outside the pocket. It’s something I’ve been really good at for three years, and it’s something that’s carried me.”
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This story will be updated. Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.