The Lake Forest College football team defeated visiting Cornell College 35-30 on Saturday and is now 7-1 overall and 7-0 in Midwest Conference play. Forester senior quarterback Pete Scaffidi passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more scores.
Scaffidi completed nine of 15 passes for 207 yards and did not throw an interception. He also ran 13 times for 58 yards. Scaffidi became just the fourth quarterback in program history to surpass 5,000 career passing yards. His 5,099 yards trail only Jim DeLisa's 5,279 (1990-93), Avelino Cortez's 5,432 (1983-86), and Don Lackey's school record 5,556 (2001-03).
Lake Forest senior wide receiver Austin Sobey caught for a team-high 74 yards and a touchdown. Fellow senior wideout Rocky Al-Mutawa grabbed three passes for 64 yards and another score.
The Forester running game was led by senior tailback Al Mitchell, who finished with a game-high 105 yards on 15 carries. He also added 18 yards on a pair of receptions.
Senior safety Aidan Price led the Lake Forest defense with 11 tackles, including seven solo stops, and recovered a fumble. Junior linebacker Jordan Cruz and sophomore linebacker John Preston had seven tackles apiece and Cruz added his third career interception. Junior defensive lineman Taylor Holzmeyer had five tackles, including two sacks.
Lake Forest took the early lead on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Scaffidi to Al-Mutawa midway through the first quarter. Two plays after a 50-yard run by Mitchell, Scaffidi scored on a 2-yard run with 46 seconds to play in the period.
The Foresters added to their lead in the second quarter on a 63-yard catch-and-run by Sobey. Cornell finally got on the scoreboard on a 4-yard run with just seven seconds left in the half.
Lake Forest led 21-7 at halftime and extended the lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Joey Valdivia with 8:02 remaining in the third quarter. The Foresters converted a pair of third downs on the 11-play, 69-yard drive. Scaffidi connected with junior tight end Greg Alonzo for 31 yards on 3rd-and-12 from the Lake Forest 39 and a 6-yard run by Scaffidi on 3rd-and-5 from the Cornell 25 kept the drive going. The Rams responded with a 6-play, 87-yard touchdown drive and the Forester lead was 28-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Cornell finished off a 9-play, 69-yard scoring drive with 5:18 to play and got a safety on the ensuing kickoff to make the score 28-23. Cruz picked off a pass and returned it 11 yards to the Ram 31 and, seven plays later, Scaffidi plunged into the end zone from two yards out to put the Foresters ahead 35-23. Cornell scored the final touchdown of the game with just 20 seconds left and Lake Forest clinched the victory when freshman defensive back Pat Clark recovered the onside kick.
Cornell is now 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
Lake Forest will host Ripon College next Saturday at 1:00. A victory would clinch at least a share of the 2012 MWC championship for the Foresters. The Lake Forest seniors will be honored before their final career regular season home game. The Forester parents will be recognized on the field at halftime.
