The Forester football team was defeated 48-35 by visiting Illinois College on Saturday. Junior quarterback Pete Scaffidi set a team record for completions in a game and became the first Forester to throw five touchdown passes in a contest.
Scaffidi's 34 completions (in 48 attempts) were one more than the previous mark set by Don Lackey late in the 2001 season. His career-high 333 passing yards on the day rank seventh in team history and he did not throw an interception. He also led the Foresters with 45 rushing yards on 11 attempts and was not sacked. Scaffidi was one of six signal-callers that shared the record with four touchdown passes in game, having accomplished the feat last season against Monmouth.
Senior wide receiver Kevin Davis and junior wideout Austin Sobey set new career-highs with 11 and nine receptions, respectively. Davis finished with a team-high 122 receiving yards and one touchdown while Sobey had 109 yards and tied the team record with three touchdown receptions. He joins Davis and six others that share the record. Sobey and Davis are the first Forester duo to surpass 100 receiving yards in the same game since Tom Cirone and Pat Jarvis did so in October of 2007.
The Lake Forest defense was led by sophomore linebacker Bryce Jones' 11 tackles. Fellow sophomore linebacker Jordan Cruz was tied for second on the team with eight stops and he had the unit's only tackle for loss as well as an interception. Senior defensive lineman Casey Flynn recovered his second career fumble.
Illinois College took the early lead on a 7-play, 89-yard touchdown drive on the Blueboys first possession. The Foresters responded with an 11-play, 78-yard drive that culminated with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Scaffidi to sophomore tight end Greg Alonso. It was Alonzo's first career reception. The extra point by freshman Donnie Caldwell gave the home team a 7-6 lead.
The teams traded fumbles before the visitors scored another touchdown on the last play of the first quarter. Lake Forest came back once again and Scaffidi finished off a 10-play, 46-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Sobey. The extra point put the home team ahead 14-13.
Illinois College scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter and led 27-14 before a 17-yard completion to sophomore tailback Al Mitchell and an 8-yarder to Davis set up Scaffidi's longest completion of the day, a 30-yarder to Sobey for a touchdown with 18 seconds to play in the half.
The Blueboys had the only score in the third quarter and led 33-21 going into the final period.
Scaffidi connected on a 6-yard score to Davis with 11:44 to play in the game, making the score 33-28. The Foresters were unable to record a first down on either of their next two possessions, however, and fell behind 48-28 before mounting one last scoring drive. It took a dozen plays and covered 50 yards, the final two on a pass that gave Scaffidi a pair of school records and helped Sobey match another.
The loss drops Lake Forest's overall and Midwest Conference record to 0-2. Illinois College is now 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Foresters will travel to Grinnell College next Saturday for a noon kickoff.
