The Lake Forest College football team prevailed 17-10 at Cornell College Saturday afternoon to raise its overall record on the season to 7-1 and Midwest Conference mark to 6-1. Forester senior cornerback Ed Dobernig returned an interception 32 yards and a fumble 33 yards for a touchdown in the contest.
Dobernig's interception ended Cornell's first drive of the day and he returned it to the Ram's 21-yardline. Senior quarterback Mike Lewis completed a pass to senior wide receiver Mike Peters for a touchdown on the next play. The extra point by sophomore Jon Gurchak gave the visitors a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest.
A Cornell field goal less than four minutes later made the score 7-3 and it remained that way for the rest of the first half as each of the next 11 drives ended with punts.
An interception by junior linebacker John Preston set up the Foresters' next scoring drive. He picked off a pass at the Cornell 28-yardline and returned it seven yards before giving the ball to junior safety Joey Kropp, who was eventually tackled at the Ram 9. Lake Forest was unable to reach the end zone, however, and settled for a 25-yard field goal by Gurchak that extended the lead to 10-3 with 2:11 to play in the third quarter.
After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, Cornell started at its own 25. The Rams' quarterback ran to the 30 on the next play but fumbled after being hit by Forester senior defensive lineman Michael Garetto-Balmer. Dobernig picked up the ball at the 33 and took it into the end zone for his second career touchdown with 1:56 to play in the period.
Cornell finally reached the end zone for the only time on the day with 3:49 to play in the contest. The 8-yard scoring pass capped off a 13-play, 75-yard drive and trimmed the home team's deficit to 17-10.
The Foresters recorded a first down and took nearly three minutes off the clock on their next drive but were forced to punt. Cornell took over on its own 44 with 42 seconds to play and completed four passes to reach the Lake Forest 18-yardline. Forester senior cornerback Nick Waters and a Ram wide receiver battled for the ball on a pass into the end zone in the last 10 seconds and Waters came away with the game-clinching interception.
With four interceptions on the day, including two by Preston, Lake Forest has picked off 19 passes in eight games this season and trails the team record set in 2002 by just five. The Foresters have now forced 27 turnovers on the year, seven more than any other team in the conference.
The Forester defense also had five sacks on the day, each by a different player, and nine tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Jordan Cruz led the squad with 13 tackles, including a sack. Garetto-Balmer and fellow senior defensive linemen Jake Rotkvich and Taylor Holzmeyer combined for 23 tackles and each recorded a sack and two tackles for loss.
In addition to scoring the game's first touchdown, Peters led the Lake Forest receivers with three catches for 29 yards and freshman tailback Alex Plasiewicz ran for a team-high 27 yards.
Three of Gurchak's four kickoffs were touchbacks and he averaged 38 yards on school record-tying 12 punts in the game.
Cornell fell to 4-3 overall and 4-2 in the conference this season.
Lake Forest will play another road game at Ripon College next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
