The Lake Forest College football team hosted and defeated Lawrence University 35-14 on Saturday. Forester freshman Ed Dobernig helped seal the victory with a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions and returned the second one 39 yards for a touchdown.
The Foresters ran 42 times for a season-high 187 yards in the game. Senior Brock Stenberg led the home team with 75 yards, sophomore Al Mitchell had 54 and a touchdown, and senior Ty Van Valkenburg finished with 18 yards and a pair of scores. Sophomore quarterback Pete Scaffidi added 43 yards on the ground and passed for 155 and a touchdown.
Van Valkenburg scored his first touchdown on the game's first possession, which covered 63 yards in nine plays, seven of them rushes for a combined 58 yards.
The score remained 7-0 until Mitchell finished off an 11-play, 82-yard drive with a 5-yard score less than two minutes into the second quarter. The Foresters then went 45 yards in six plays on their next drive and Van Valkenburg's 2-yard score gave the home team a 21-0 advantage.
Lake Forest out-gained the Vikings 231-62 in the first half and led 21-0 at intermission.
Lawrence came out strong in the third quarter, scoring touchdowns on two drives and missing a field goal on another. The visitors were dirving again early in the fourth when Dobernig intercepted a pass at the Lake Forest 19-yardline.
Facing third-and-15 from his own 41-yardline, Scaffidi found Kevin Davis wide open down the middle of the field and the junior wide receiver out-ran the Viking defense for a 59-yard touchdown. Davis caught five passes for 87 yards on the day and the touchdown was his eighth in as many games this season.
After the teams traded punts, Dobernig sealed the victory when he picked off his second pass of the day and third this season and returned it down the sideline 39 yards to the end zone. Senior kicker Tim Gruzwalski's fifth extra point of the day closed out the scoring. He now has 64 PATs in his career, the second-highest total in team history. His 95 career points are the third-most by a Forester kicker, nine shy of David Fee's second-place total.
Senior linebacker Anthony Garetto and freshman linebacker Jordan Cruz led the Forester defense with eight tackles apiece and Cruz recovered a fumble late in the third quarter. Junior safety Luke Butts and senior linebacker Tanner Compton added six tackles each and Dobernig and senior safety David Adams had five apiece.
The Foresters and Vikings are now 1-7 overall this season and 1-6 in Midwest Conference play. Lake Forest will host Knox College, which has the same record, next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. It will be the Foresters' Senior Day and Parents Day.
