Jacobs QB Judson shows on-field maturity

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Jacobs quarterback Jason Judson turned left, saw his pocket collapsing and took off up the middle.

The Golden Eagles’ junior then cut to the right, wiggled through defenders and eventually gained 8 yards on third-and-7 Saturday against Joliet West. On the next play, he rolled left and tossed a perfect pass to wide-open tight end Henry Gigeous to cap a 34-13 victory in the season opener in Joliet.

Judson did a lot more during the game, one in which he did not commit a turnover, but those two fourth-quarter plays signified his improvement and maturity, which also indicate possible good things to come for Jacobs this season.

A year ago, Judson was a sophomore, and the offense struggled. The Golden Eagles’ 198.2 yards a game ranked 15th among the 17 area teams. Judson completed 29 of 75 passes for 388 yards, although he often didn’t have a lot of time to throw or much room to run.

“This is my second year of varsity, and I’m getting more used to it,” Judson said. “I’m comfortable with the offense. We have so many options, and the line is blocking well.”

Jacobs moved the ball all day against Joliet West. The game started with the Eagles running an 18-play, 9:00 drive that culminated with a touchdown. It was a sign of things to come.

For his part, Judson was cool and in control. Even when West scored twice in the third quarter to put some pressure on the Eagles, Judson and the offense responded with two more scores to seal it.

“He started getting his shoulders around and throwing the ball well,” first-year Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said.

There are a lot of things in Judson’s favor – from Mitz’s new offense to a big line and experienced players in the backfield (fullback Kyle Wright and running back Caz Zyks) with him. Wright, also a junior, knows that Judson put in the time in the offseason.

“Jason’s been working hard,” Wright said. “He hit the weights, and month after month he got better and better. We went to Lifetime Fitness (in Algonquin) and we’d work out, then he’d throw.”

Jacobs (1-0) will try to equal last season’s win total when it visits Johnsburg on Friday.

“We looked real good and put up some points [at Joliet West],” Judson said. “I think we looked pretty good.”

County meet heat: The McHenry County Cross Country Meet, hosted by Harvard High School, will be run at Emricson Park in Woodstock today with the boys varsity race starting at 4:15 p.m.

The weather could be a factor, with forecasts calling for temperatures in the high 80s and humidity in the high 70 percent range around 3 p.m. In 2007, the meet was called after the girls freshman-sophomore race because of high temperatures and humidity. Four ambulances were called to the course before race officials decided to call it off.

Area coaches got together after that and decided to run the varsity boys and girls races first, meaning the freshmen and sophomores, who are less-experienced runners, would have another hour or so for the temperatures to cool a little. Also, the freshman-sophomore races were cut to 2.5 miles.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.