The Lake Forest College football team was defeated 52-28 by visiting Illinois College on Saturday, despite 259 all-purpose yards from Forester junior tailback Charlie Quinn.
Quinn carried the ball 21 times for 116 yards, caught seven passes for a career-high 75 yards, and covered 68 yards on his first three kickoff returns of the season.
Forester senior wide receivers Willie McIntyre and George Vidas also had seven receptions in the game. McIntyre's added up to 107 yards with a pair of touchdowns and Vidas traveled 89 yards and also had a score. After throwing a pair of incompletions in the first half, freshman quarterback Jagan Cleary completed 19 of 27 attempts for a career-high 259 yards and three touchdowns in the final two quarters.
Senior Austin Van Meter and sophomore Michael Cole led the Lake Forest defense with 10 tackles apiece and both linebackers forced a fumble. Cole had 1.5 sacks and Van Meter added an interception and a fumble recovery.
The Foresters' first two drives of the game ended with interceptions and the next three with punts into the wind. The Blueboys took advantage and scored their fourth touchdown of the game on the final play of the opening quarter. The home team turned the ball over two more times and Illinois College added two more touchdowns in the second quarter, which ended with the visitors ahead 42-0.
Lake Forest sophomore cornerback Chase Slagboom recorded his team-high third interception of the season on the Blueboys first possession of the second half. The Foresters then traveled 41 yards on six plays, the final two on a touchdown run by freshman quarterback Tommy Galanapoulos.
The score remained 42-7 until Lake Forest's first possession of the fourth quarter, which covered 71 yards in eight plays and ended when Vidas caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Cleary, who was 4-for-5 for 56 yards on the drive.
Van Meter forced a recovered a fumble near midfield to stop the Blueboys' next drive and Cleary completed a 52-yard touchdown pass to McIntyre on the next play, cutting the visitors lead to 42-21.
Illinois College responded with its only touchdown of the second half at the end of a 9-play, 71-yard drive that ended with 9:14 to play in the contest.
Cleary was 6-for-6 for 78 yards on the next drive and hit McIntyre for a 4-yard touchdown to cap it off. Senior Jon Gurchak's extra point was the program record-tying 86th of his career and made the score 49-28 with 7:20 to play.
The Blueboys took nearly four minutes off the clock and kicked a field goal on their next drive to close out the scoring.
The loss dropped the Foresters to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in Midwest Conference South Division play this season. Illinois College improved to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the division.
Lake Forest will be at home again next Saturday against Cornell College. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
