Monmouth Ends Lake Forest's 12-Game Winning Streak

Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

Junior wide receiver Chris Edomwande accounted for the home team's only touchdown in the Foresters' 42-7 loss to visiting Monmouth College on Saturday.

Edomwande grabbed a pass from junior Jagan Cleary and scored from nine yards out with 4:19 to play in the contest. It wsa the 19th touchdown pass of the year for Cleary and the seventh to Edomwande, the team's leading receiver with 52 catches for 690 yards on the year.

Senior tailback Joey Valdivia led the Forester offense with 127 rushing yards on 23 carries. It was his first game without a touchdown since late in the 2015 season.

Lake Forest sophomore linebacker Johnny Laponte finished the afternoon with a game-high 10 tackles and picked off his second pass of the season. Senior safety R.J. Pompey was next on the defense with nine stops, including a tackle for loss. Freshman Safety Nick Pilafas intercepted a pass on the game's first play from scrimmage and sophomore nose guard J.W. Windsor forced a fumble that was recovered by senior defensive end Tim Finucane.

After throwing an interception on their first possession and turning the ball over on downs deep in Forester territory on the second, the Fighting Scots reached the end zone three of the next five times they had the ball and led 21-0 at halftime. The visitors added touchdowns on their opening drive of the third quarter and their first two possessions in the fourth.

The loss snapped the Foresters' program record 12-game winning streak, which dated back to early October of last year. Lake Forest is now 7-1 overall this season and 3-1 in Midwest Conference South Division play. Monmouth improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the division. The victory clinched the 2017 MWC South Division title for the Scots.

The Foresters will close out their regular season conference schedule at Illinois College next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The team's season finale will be a home game on November 11 against the team in the MWC North that finishes in the same place as Lake Forest in the divisional standings.