Jacobs awaits semifinal opponent at provincials

Next up is the semifinal for Brad Jacobs at the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) provincial playdowns in Nipigon, Ont.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, wrapped up round robin play on Saturday morning with a 9-1 win in seven ends over Trevor Bonot of the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay.

Jacobs jumped out to an early lead on Bonot thanks to a pair in the opening end with the hammer.

The Jacobs rink proceeded to take control with steals of one each in the second and third ends before stealing two more in the fourth end to take a 6-0 lead.

Bonot would blank the fifth end before getting on the board with one in the sixth.

Jacobs sealed the win with three in the seventh end.

The Sault Ste. Marie rink finished the round robin with a 6-1 record. The lone blemish on Jacobs’ record was a 9-6 loss to Tanner Horgan of Curl Sudbury on Friday night.

After a win over Dylan Johnston of the Fort William Curling Club on Saturday morning, Horgan finished the round robin with a perfect 7-0 record and advances directly into Sunday’s final.

Jacobs will learn who his semifinal opponent on Saturday night as Bonot faces Mike McCarville of the Fort William Curling Club.

A morning win on Saturday left McCarville with a 4-3 round robin record while Bonot needed a win over Johnston in Saturday’s afternoon draw to also finish with a 4-3 record and force a tiebreaker on Saturday night.

For Jacobs, the focus is on being solid in Sunday’s semifinal.

“Hopefully we can go out and play a really good semifinal. That’s all we’re really focused on right now,” Jacobs told TBNewsWatch.com. “We’re very familiar with the route to get to the Brier. We’ve actually gone this route more times than the bye straight to the final. So it’s familiar to us and it’s never a bad thing to get out there and play.”

The tournament winner will represent northern Ontario at the 2019 Tim Hortons Brier in Brandon, Man. in March.