Cary Christian football breaks away from rival Grace Christian Raleigh
Christian Jacobsen rushed for two touchdowns and also passed for one, and Ethan Peters added a pair of TD runs as Cary Christian rolled to a 44-16 victory over visiting Grace Christian Raleigh in an eight-man football game on Friday.
The Knights (2-3) led 18-16 at halftime but scored the game’s final 26 points in snapping a two-game skid while keeping Grace (0-6) in search of its first victory in its first year of varsity competition.
Cary Christian never trailed after scoring the game’s first two TDs. Anderson Brewer returned a fumble 35 yards for a score with 7 minutes, 19 seconds left in the first quarter, and Jacobsen followed with a 36-yard touchdown to give Cary Christian a 12-0 lead with 3 minutes, 20 seconds remaining.
Jacobsen, who rushed for a game-high 174 yards, scored on a 51-yard run to put Cary Christian ahead 24-16 just over two minutes into the third quarter. His touchdown pass came in the fourth quarter, a 15-yard toss to Pippin Payne that made it 36-16 with 2:43 to go.
Turning point
With Cary Christian leading 24-16 in the final minute of the third quarter, Grace had a chance to get the ball back near midfield as the Knights faced a fourth-and-3 at the Eagles’ 49. Grace couldn’t get a stop as Peters completed a 7-yard pass to Payne for a first down, and Cary Christian eventually capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run by Peters to go ahead 30-16 with 7:14 left in the fourth quarter.
They said it
“We made some personnel adjustments on the line that put us in a better position to succeed and gain an advantage at the point of the attack,” said Cary Christian coach Dell Cook, whose team’s defense limited Grace to 44 second-half yards and no points. “We had kids who had been hurt the last few weeks, and they finally came back which allowed us to put some guys in the right place to make things happen.”
Three who mattered
Christian Jacobsen, Cary Christian: Rushed for 98 of his 174 yards in the second half and also completed a pair of passes in the fourth quarter. “He’s such a stud,” Cook said. “The kid cannot get hurt and he can’t get tired I think. He has such drive, and when we need it, it’s him.”
Ethan Peters, Cary Christian: The sophomore quarterback rushed for 126 yards on six carries, among those a 65-yard TD in the first half, and also completed 5 of 8 passes.
Mitchell Haughee, Grace Christian: Rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown, and also caught five passes for 31 yards.
By the numbers
0: Number of first downs picked up by Grace’s offense in the fourth quarter.
44: Total yards for Grace’s offense in the second half. The Eagles finished with 164 total.
315: Rushing yards for Cary Christian.
This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Cary Christian football breaks away from rival Grace Christian Raleigh."