The Lake Forest College football team trailed early but eventually pulled away for a 41-17 victory over visiting Cornell College on Saturday. Forester freshman quarterback Jagan Cleary tied a school record with five touchdown passes in the contest.
Cleary completed 13 of 22 passes for 263 yards and no interceptions on the day. He tied the record set by Pete Scaffidi in September of 2011 and tied by Scaffidi five weeks later. Seven of the completions went to senior wide receiver George Vidas for a total of 81 yards and two were caught by fellow senior wideout Willie McIntyre and covered 72 yards. Both players scored twice and junior wide receiver Alex Pasiewicz accounted for 58 yards and the other touchdown.
The Forester ground game was just as successful. Junior tailback Joey Valdivia ran for a career-high 171 yards on 18 carries and scored on a 71-yarder. Fellow junior tailback Charlie Quinn added another 49 yards on 11 carries.
The Lake Forest was led by senior linebacker Sean Chapman and sophomore linebacker Michael Cole with nine tackles apiece. Chapman became the first Forester since Roman Shklover in 2004 with three sacks in a game. Sophomore defensive end Tim Finucane recorded a pair of sacks and senior linebacker Austin Van Meter had one to go with a forced fumble.
Cornell took the early lead in the contest, marching 68 yards to the end zone in six plays to go ahead 7-0.
The Foresters responded with an 8-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a 8-yard pass from Cleary to Vidas. Senior kicker Jon Gurchak connected his 87th career extra point, breaking a tie with Pat Dunne (1999-2002) for first place in program history.
The Rams were unable to convert on fourth down at the Forester 29 and the home team needed just one play to take the lead. Valdivia started to his left, cut back to the right, and left the Cornell defense behind on a 71-yard sprint to the end zone.
The visitors, however, tied the game at 14 on a 59-yard drive to close out the first period scoring.
Lake Forest went ahead for good on the next possession, which ended with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Cleary to a wide open Pasiewicz down the left sideline. The extra point was blocked, leaving the score at 20-14.
A 31-yard Cornell field goal with 6:30 to play in the second quarter cut the margin to three points but turned out to be the final points of the afternoon for the visitors.
McIntyre caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Cleary with 3:14 on the clock and the teams went into the locker room at halftime with the Foresters leading 27-17.
Van Meter forced a fumble on a sack on the Rams' third play from scrimmage in the second half and senior nose tackle D.J. Baker recovered it at the Cornell 15. Cleary connected with Vidas on a 12-yard touchdown just two plays later. Gurchak's extra point made the score 34-17.
Sophomore cornerback Mitch Coha picked off his first pass of the season to end the Rams' next drive but the Foresters were unable to capitalize.
Three consecutive tackles for loss by the Foresters forced Cornell to punt on 4th-and-28 from its own 10 and the home team took over on the Rams' 45. Quinn ran for two yards on first down and Cleary connected with McIntyre on the record-tying touchdown pass on the next play. Lake Forest led 41-17 with 4:50 to play in the third quarter and neither team scored again.
Both teams are now 3-5 overall and 2-2 in Midwest Conference South Division play this year.
The Foresters will conclude the regular season at Grinnell College next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
