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Brad Jacobs will head into day four of the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier with a 2-1 record.
Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie-based rink, representing Northern Ontario in the 10-day, 18-team event, picked up a split on Sunday after a pair of games in Lethbridge, Alta.
Team Jacobs, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, and alternate Jordan Chandler, opened the day with an 11-4 win over Team British Columbia, skipped by Brent Pierce in the morning draw before dropping an 8-7 decision to Brad Gushue, one of three wild card teams in the field.
Against Pierce, Jacobs opened the scoring with the hammer in the first end as Jacobs drew for three.
With his final stone in the second end, Pierce made a draw for a pair to cut into the Northern Ontario lead.
In the third end, Jacobs made a tight draw for two more to take a 5-2 lead.
The fourth end saw Pierce draw for one against three Jacobs rocks.
Jacobs picked up three more in the fifth end after playing a hit to remove a Pierce rock.
With his final shot of the sixth end, Pierce looked to make a runback facing a pair of Jacobs rocks and gave up a steal of two in the process, giving the Jacobs rink a 10-3 lead.
After Pierce picked up a single in the seventh end, Jacobs sealed the win with one of his on in the eighth.
Jacobs alternate Jordan Chandler got into the game, throwing skip stones for the eighth end.
In Sunday’s evening draw, after Gushue blanked the opening end, Jacobs forced the wild card team to draw for one in the second end.
Jacobs would take the lead in the third end with a draw for two to take a 2-1 lead.
With his first shot in the fourth end, Gushue played an in-off to remove a Jacobs rock from the house.
Then, facing four with his final rock in the fourth end, Jacobs used his final shot to remove two of Gushue’s rocks, leaving the wild card skip with a draw for three and a 4-2 lead through four ends.
Facing a pair of Gushue rocks in the fifth end, Jacobs made a draw for one to cut into the lead, but Gushue would extend it after a draw for three in the sixth end to take a 7-3 lead.
Jacobs would score with a hit and stick in the seventh end.
Gushue took an 8-4 lead in the eighth end after a draw for one.
Looking to remove a pair of Gushue rocks and sticking around with his last in the ninth end, Jacobs couldn’t quite hold the shooter, but would score two, cutting the deficit to 8-6 heading into the final end.
Gushue limited to Jacobs to a steal of one in the 10th end after removing one of two Jacobs rocks from the house and rolling out.
The Jacobs rink is set to return to action with one game on Monday, facing Quebec’s Mike Fournier in the afternoon draw at 3:30 p.m. Sault time.