BLOOMINGTON - Massac County junior Mason Jacobs' world was crashing around him Saturday, courtesy of a brutal three-hole stretch where he went bogey, triple bogey and quadruple bogey.

"Being down after that first nine I knew I had to do something pretty special to get back into it," Jacobs said.

Jacobs somehow recovered, birdieing four of the last nine holes to defend his individual title in the final round of the Class A State Tournament at Prairie Vista Golf Course. He also helped Massac County hold off a furious rally by Effingham St. Anthony and capture the team crown.

"Mason showed what type of person he is today," said Massac County coach J.R. Conckle. "He showed a lot of intestinal fortitude. At one point he was even. Then he went 8-over par for three holes, and not many people are going to recover from that.

"He didn't have his best game but he kind of willed the ball into the hole."

Massac County, also bolstered by a runner-up finish from sophomore Dustin Korte, carded its second straight 311 to finish with a 622 total. St. Anthony, which trailed by 14 entering the round, closed with a 303 to finish six back at 628.

"You have to give Effingham St. Anthony all the credit in the world," Conckle said. "They played great and fought hard. Fortunately we came up on the tall end of the stick.

"It was pretty close to being even with a few holes to go. We had four guys that knew their score was going to be counting and they buckled down, refocused a little bit after some bad shots and really grinded it out."

Waterloo Gibault was third at 315-643 followed by Bismarck-Henning (314-647) and Monmouth-Roseville (314-650). After entering the day in third place, hometown favorite Central Catholic (326-654) dropped into a tie for sixth with Champaign St. Thomas More (322-654).

"They just had a tough day out there," said Central Catholic coach Tom Prescher. "They're disappointed, but I'm real proud of them. It was a terrific season. They got second in the regional, won the sectional and performed real well here."

Jacobs, who entered with a two-shot lead after a 1-under-par 71 in Friday's first round, closed with a 76 for a 147 total. He started fast with a birdie on No. 1 before his round took a near-disastrous turn.

He three-putted for bogey on No. 4 and followed with a four-putt triple bogey on No. 5. Just things couldn't get any worse, Jacobs hooked his drive on No. 6 and chuncked his second shot before hitting into the water en route to a snowman.

"It wasn't too pretty and I kind of got to thinking about it," Jacobs said. "I knew I still had to get in a decent score for my team."

Jacobs began his comeback with a birdie on No. 8 and followed with birdies on Nos. 11, 13, 14, 15 to more than offset a bogey at 18. Jacobs fired a tournament record 137 last year.

"This is pretty close to last year's win," Jacobs said. "It shows that I can grind it out and still get a good score in."

Korte fired a 74 for a 150 total which was matched by Peoria Christian's Jonathan Hauter (72) and Rockford Christian Life's Nic Barnes (74). Massac County's other counting scores were posted by Eli Glass (80-162) and Calvin Wientjes (81-165). The Patriots were state runner-ups last season.

"We were disappointed we didn't take it home last year," Jacobs said. "Having a good lead yesterday was really important."

St. Anthony nearly pulled it out by posting five scores in the 70s. The 2001-02 champions were led by David Griffin, who tied for 12th at 78-155.

"I'm very proud of our kids," said St. Anthony coach Phil Zaccari. "We tried and that's all you can do. We just dug too big of a hole yesterday. I can't say enough about the effort we put in"

"(303) is pretty good for one day. It's too bad we couldn't do it for two."

Central Catholic, making its first state appearance since 1992, never got untracked despite improved weather conditions following Friday's windy and frigid round.

"We struggled a lot today," said Central Catholic senior Eric Naleway. "I guess we got our heads thinking that we were going to do all right because the weather was a little better, and we didn't pull it through."

Naleway tied for 21st (82-158) to lead the Saints.

"I had a 20-foot birdie on No. 9, and that was my last hole of high school golf so I feel pretty good about that," Naleway said. "We really did a good job as a team this season. People don't think of golf as a team sport, but it really is."

The Saints' other counting scores were carded by Tim Gaertner (80-161), Michael Ginnetti (80-170) and Jake Walters (88-171). Alex Weber (86-172) and Greg Naleway (88-177) completed Central Catholic's lineup.

"None of us had a good day, and that was pretty much it," Gaertner said. "I couldn't roll the ball on the greens at all, and I don't think any of my teammates could either and that really killed us.

"Our goal at the beginning of the year was just to get to state, and I think we exceeded our expectations."

Olympia junior Jay Freitag tied for 36th at 83-162.