With their backs against the wall, Team Jacobs rolled to a tournament win at the 2019 Stu Sells Toronto Tankard at the High Park Club on Monday in Toronto.
The Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden finished the five-day World Curling Tour event with five wins in a row to win the tournament title.
On Monday afternoon, the Jacobs rink beat Calgary’s Kevin Koe 6-1 in the tournament final.
Jacobs took the lead early after scoring with the hammer in the opening end before stealing one more in the third to take a 2-0 lead.
After Koe scored one in the fourth, Jacobs blanked the fifth end and took a commanding lead with three in the sixth before sealing the win with a steal of one in the seventh end.
In Monday’s semifinal, Jacobs used a pair of points late to beat Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. 7-5.
Jacobs held a 5-2 lead through five ends before Gushue scored three in the sixth to tie things up. Jacobs proceeded to score one in the seventh and steal one in the eighth to pick up the win.
Koe got into the final thanks to a 9-5 win over American Korey Dropkin in the other semifinal.
Trailing 5-4 through six ends, Koe took the lead with two in the seventh and stole three in the eighth end to seal the win.
It took four consecutive wins for the Jacobs rink to advance to Monday’s final, which included three wins on Sunday.
After posting a 2-2 record through the opening three days of the triple knockout event, Jacobs entered action on Sunday needing a pair of wins to get into the playoff round.
The Jacobs rink opened the day on Sunday with a 6-4 win over Brantford’s Wayne Tuck Jr.
Trailing 3-2, Jacobs took a 5-3 lead thanks to a pair in the fifth end before stealing one more in the sixth. After Tuck Jr. scored one in the seventh, Jacobs sealed the win with a single in the eighth end.
Jacobs then booked a playoff spot with an 8-1 win over Toronto’s Rob Ainsley.
Leading 2-1 after two ends, Jacobs extended the lead with a pair in the third and stole points in the subsequent three ends to pick up the win.
In quarterfinal action on Sunday night, Jacobs beat Ross Whyte of Stirling, Scotland 5-3 to move on to semifinal action on Monday.
With the hammer, Whyte blanked the opening end before scoring a pair in the second to take the early lead. Jacobs would tie the game with a pair of his own in the third, but Whyte retook the lead with a single in the fourth.
Trailing 3-2, Jacobs blanked the following two ends, scored a pair in the seventh to take the lead and sealed the win with a steal of one in the eighth end.