Calvin Jackson’s 5 TDs, Finn Karam’s 3 INTs key Barrington’s win over Hersey

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS – Barrington senior defensive back Finn Karam worked this past summer doing maintenance work at the school’s Fields of Dreams softball complex. On Friday night at Hersey, he had a dream game while taking care of some defensive maintenance.

Karam made a career-best three interceptions while his classmate Calvin Jackson cleaned up on the offensive side with a career-high five touchdowns as Barrington (2-0) held off the pesky Huskies 41-32 in the Mid-Suburban League crossover contest in Arlington Heights.

“Turnovers were the difference,” said Hersey coach Tom Nelson, whose team also lost a fumble on a kickoff return late in the game that led to Barrington grabbing a 34-20 lead on Jackson’s 24-yard TD run with 7:15 left in the game.

The Huskies (0-2) bounced back to within 34-32, thanks to Brandon Jenkins’ 65-yard TD run and a 32-yard TD pass by Colton Gumino to Tyker Wentink with under five minutes left.

Hersey went for two points to tie the game but Vaughn Werner batted down Gumino’s pass and Barrington responded with an 80-yard drive, highlighted by Jackson’s 56-yard burst followed by his 9-yard TD run that made it 41-32 with 3:31 left.

Karam eventually sealed the deal in the final 30 seconds with his third interception.

“Four turnovers and some missed extra points hurt us,” Nelson added. “But Barrington is a great team. They made plays when they had to so give them all the credit.”

Barrington coach Joe Sanchez credited his team’s resilience.

“We knew this was going to be a battle and they are a proud program,” he said. “Tom (Nelson ) and his guys have done a great job so we knew they’d come out fighting. I’m just proud of our kids finding a way to win on someone else’s field for the second week in a row and for being resilient. I’m proud of them and all our coaches.”

Jackson ran for three touchdowns in the Broncos’ opener, giving him eight in two games. He rushed for 190 yards.

“He had one heck of a night,” Sanchez said. “Credit to him and credit to our O-line ( Ben Knuth, Gabe Galovich, Bryan Galovich, Aidan Sharpe-McClary and Owens Fors) for getting it done. And we needed every single one (touchdown) tonight.”

Barrington QB Nick Peipert threw for 136 yards, including a 17-yard TD pass to Ian Tepas while Hersey’s Colton Gumino tossed for 270 yards with 28 completions, including two TD passes to Wentink (37 and 32 yards) and one to Grant Kalata (2 yards).

The Huskies also threw in some razzle-dazzle when Wentink tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Gumino to get Hersey to within 21-20 with 9:08 left in the game.

“We had a lot of confidence going into the game,” Karam said. “We got a lot of fourth down stops early in the game but they started to creep back into the game and find their mojo. We just had to find out what we had to do. Once we started playing our positions and doing what we needed to do. Once we started doing that, we began making big plays.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240906/prep-football/jacksons-5-tds-finns-3-ints-key-barringtons-win-over-hersey/