The Lake Forest College football team was defeated 42-9 by visiting Gustavus Adolphus College on Saturday. It was the Foresters' annual Heroes Day, which honors those who serve our nation, both domestically and abroad.
The loss was the Foresters' first on Farwell Field since the 2011 season finale. The team's 10-game home winning streak spanned two entire seasons and matched the school record that began in 1907 and ended in 1910. Six of the 10 victories in the more recent streak were by eight points or less.
Saturday's contest started out well for the Foresters, who received the opening kickoff and mounted a 6-play, 68-yard drive that was capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run by junior Anthoney Prestly on a well-executed quarterback draw. Prestly had a 26-yard completion to freshman wide receiver Max Sorby and a 27-yarder to junior wideout Mike Rantis on the drive.
The Lake Forest defense kept Gustavus Adolphus off the scoreboard for the game's first 21 minutes. The Gusties punted on their first three possessions and turned the ball over on downs on the fourth. However, a quick 4-play, 60-yard touchdown drive gave the visitors a 7-6 lead with 8:59 to play in the second quarter and a 3-play, 45-yard scoring drive made the score 14-6 a minute later. The two possessions lasted a combined 87 seconds and the Foresters only play from scrimmage in between resulted in an interception.
After the teams traded punts, Lake Forest took over on its own 32-yardline with 4:38 on the clock. Converting on third-and-one, third-and-three, and third-and-five, the Foresters traveled 44 yards in 13 plays and scored on a 42-yard field goal by junior Jon Gurchak with 6.7 seconds left in the half.
Gustavus Adolphus mounted long touchdown drives on each of its first three possessions on the second half and added another score on an interception return. The Gusties were also able to run out the clock after taking over with nearly eight minutes to play in the contest.
Senior safety Joey Kropp led the Forester defense with 11 tackles while senior linebacker John Preston and freshman conerback Mitch Coha added 10 apiece. Sophomore defensive end Dylan Ernst recorded the first two sacks of his career.
A pair of receptions netted Mike Rantis a team-high 67 receiving yards and Sorby added 59 yards on five catches.
In addition to his field goal, Gurchak averaged 41.1 yards on eight punts
Lake Forest is now 1-1 on the season while Gustavus Adolphus improved to 2-0. The Foresters will host Carroll University next Saturday for Homecoming. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m.
