Brier berth on the line for Jacobs

After a tough day on Friday, Brad Jacobs picked up three key victories on Saturday at the Northern Ontario Curling Association provincial championship in Little Current, Ont.

The victories mean the Community First Curling Club team will play on Sunday with a chance to represent northern Ontario at the 2018 Tim Hortons Brier in Regina in March.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, will face Tanner Horgan of Sudbury in Sunday’s final after picking up a 5-3 semifinal win over Jordan Chandler of Sudbury.

Tied at three through eight ends after Chandler scored a pair in the seventh, Jacobs would proceed to score two of his own in the ninth end, giving the Sault-based rink the lead to stay.

Jacobs got into the semifinal thanks to a tie-breaker win over Dylan Johnston of the Fort William Curling Club. Both teams held 5-2 records during the round robin.

Trailing 1-0 after Johnston stole one in the second end, Jacobs would score three in the third. After Johnston scored one in the fifth end, Jacobs would blank a pair of ends before scoring a pair in the eighth. Johnston would score one in the ninth end to make the final 5-3.

Chandler earned a semifinal berth after finishing second in the round robin with a 5-2 record and holding the tiebreaker over both Jacobs and Johnston, putting the pair in the tie-breaker game.

Jacobs opened the day needing a victory in the final round robin draw to earn at least a spot in the tie-breaker game. 

Trailing 5-4 against Dustin Montpellier through six ends, Jacobs would take the lead with a pair in the seventh before steals of one each in the subsequent two ends to pick up an 8-5 win over the Copper Cliff Curling Club team.

Sunday’s final is set for 2 p.m.