The Lake Forest College football team celebrated Homecoming by defeating previously unbeaten Illinois College 35-28. The Foresters are now 5-0 in Midwest Conference play for the first time in program history.
Illinois College, the top team in the league's preseason coaches poll, entered the day 4-0 overall and 3-0 in league play. They led the nation with more than 600 yards per game but were held to 339 while the Foresters gained 435 on Saturday.
Junior linebacker Jordan Cruz led the Lake Forest defense with a dozen tackles, including 2.0 tackles for loss. Sophomore linebacker John Preston was next with eight stops and senior safety Aidan Price had seven. Senior defensive end Jake Rotkvich recorded the Foresters' only sack of the day and the first allowed by Illinois College this season.
Lake Forest ran for 218 yards on 44 carries and possessed the ball for nearly 37 of the game's 60 minutes. Senior tailback Al Mitchell had 23 carries for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added three receptions for 21 yards. Freshman Joey Valdivia carried the ball nine times for 49 yards and a score and junior Alec Howe had eight carries for 37 yards.
Forester senior quarterback Pete Scaffidi completed 22 of 28 passes for 217 yards, two toudowns, and two interceptions. His leading receiver was senior wideout Austin Sobey with five receptions for 69 yards. Sobey passed Joe Whalen (1983-86) for sixth place in team history with 1,582 career receiving yards.
A 12-yard touchdown pass from Scaffidi to freshman wide receiver Mike Rantis capped off an 8-play, 73-yard drive to start the game.
Illinois College, however, responded with a pair of touchdown drives in the opening period and led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.
A 15-yard run by Mitchell tied the score with 10:42 to play in the half but the Blueboys returned to the end zone just a minute later to regain the advantage. Neither team would score again in the period and the visitors took a 21-14 leading into the locker room at halftime.
Junior defensive lineman Michael Garetto-Balmer recovered a fumble to end Illinois College's first possession of the second half and the Foresters needed just four plays to travel 44 yards to the end zone, the final eight on a pass from Scaffidi to senior wide receiver Rocky Al-Mutawa. It was Scaffidi's 50th career touchdown pass.
The next three possessions ended with the first three punts of the contest. The Blueboys picked off a Scaffidi pass and scored on a 29-yard pass on the next play with 1:34 to play in the third quarter.
A 17-yard punt return by Forester freshman Clark Browning gave the home team the ball at the Illinois College 33 to start its first drive of the fourth quarter. Mitchell ran for nine yards on the first play and Valdivia covered the other 24 on three runs to tie the game.
Illinois College turned the ball over on downs at the Lake Forest 28 with 9:29 remaining on the clock, setting up the Foresters' winning drive. A 26-yard run by Mitchell moved the ball in to Blueboys territory. A 4-yard run by Howe converted a 3rd-and-2 situation and Scaffidi completed an 8-yard pass to senior tight end Greg Alonzo on 4th-and-3. The biggest play of the game was another fourth down completion by Scaffidi, this time a 16-yarder to Sobey on 4th-and-11 from the Illinois College 19 (video below). Mitchell reached the end zone from three yards out on the next play and the Foresters had a 35-28 lead with just 72 seconds to play.
The Blueboys quickly moved into Forester territory but were only able to gain eight yards on 4th-and-9 from the 44 and the Homecoming celebration was on.
Lake Forest is now 5-1 overall and will travel to Monmouth College (3-2, 3-1 MWC) next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff. Monmouth's 21-7 loss at Grinnell College on Saturday left the Foresters as the only team in the conference without a loss in league play.
