The Lake Forest College football team hosted and defeated Grinnell College 28-14 on Saturday. The Foresters took the lead in the third quarter on an 86-yard touchdown pass from junior Peter Rantis to sophomore Alex Pasiewicz.
It was the Foresters' longest play from scrimmage of the season and came with the home team trailing 7-6 with 8:37 to play in the third quarter. Rantis ran in the two-point conversion attempt, giving Lake Forest a 14-7 lead. Rantis passed for 211 yards on the day, including 152 on six completions to Pasiewicz. The 86-yard score was the first for both players this season. Rantis also ran for 17 yards in the game, including eight on a touchdown in the first quarter.
The Foresters extended their lead to 14 pounts on their next possession in the third quarter, traveling 81 yards in eight plays. The last a 37 yards were accounted for by a dash to the end zone by sophomore tailback Charlie Quinn, who finished the game with 99 yards on 18 carries.
The Lake Forest offense did not even get the ball back before the team scored again. Junior safety Pat Clark blocked a Pioneer punt, classmate Anthoney Prestly picked it up at the 3-yardline, and he cruised into the end zone for the score with 1:52 to play in the third.
Grinnell mounted a long scoring drive late in the game, accounting for the game's final score with 1:49 to play.
Clark also picked off his team-high fifth pass of the season and junior Joey Kropp his second. Both occurred in Forester territory during the fourth quarter.
Junior linebacker Austin Van Meter led the Lake Forest defense with eight tackles and he and sophomore defensive lineman Dylan Ernst each had 1.5 sacks on the day. Senior lineback John Preston made six tackles to tie Louis Bertuca (2003-06) for eighth place in program history with 265 career stops.
The Foresters are now 3-6 overall and they finished the regular season fourth in the South Division of the Midwest Conference with a league mark of 2-3. Grinnell is 2-7 overall and placed fifth in the division at 1-4 in the league.
Lake Forest will host Ripon College, the fourth-place team in the North, next Saturday during MWC Championship Weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and the game will be played at Lake Forest High School.
