The Lake Forest College football team hosted and defeated Ripon College 38-10 on Saturday to finish the spring 3-0.
In terms of yardage, it was the best game of the short season for the Foresters on both sides of the ball as they racked up 416 on offense while allowing just 176.
Lake Forest sophomore quarterback Jeff Getchell made his first career start and, after tossing an interception on his first attempt, completed 13 of his next 17 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver A.J. Jackson caught five of those passes for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns while junior tight end Cooper Tomin had three receptions for a career-high 56 yards and the other score.
Sophomore Armani Brown led the Lake Forest rushing attack, gaining 90 yards on 15 carries and scoring a touchdown for the third consecutive game. Junior Stone Matthews added 69 more yards on the ground and scored the first time this year. The Foresters finished the game with 51 carries for 227 yards.
Junior linebacker Dominic Johnson and lineman Alex Bendler led the Lake Forest defense and set career-highs with 10 and 7 tackles, respectively. They also combined for half of the team's 11 tackles for loss. Junior cornerback Kobee Marion picked off a pass for the second week in a row and added an additional pass breakup.
The Foresters' performance on special teams was also impressive. Sophomore Logan Persson averaged 45 yards on a pair of punts and classmate Danny Baker connected on his first career field goal. Jackson returned three punts a total of 58 yards and freshman Robbie Sullivan recovered a muffed punt.
After a scoreless opener quarter, Lake Forest took the lead on Jackson's first touchdown of the game, a 19-yarder. The Foresters missed the extra point and her their lead cut in half by a Ripon field goal with 3:10 to play. The home team regained its 6-point lead on the final play of the half, a 36-yard field goal by Baker.
The Foresters pulled away with touchdowns on their first four drives of the second half, beginning with Brown's 1-yard run followed by a pass from Getchell to Jackson for the two-point conversion. Getchell found Tomlin wide open down the middle of the field for a 33-yard score before Ripon's only touchdown of the afternoon made the score 24-10 with a quarter to play. Matthews scored from a yard out and Jackson caught a 22 pass going into the end zone to close out the scoring.
Lake Forest finished the spring 3-0 while Ripon fell to 0-3.
