The Lake Forest College football team defeated visiting Cornell College 17-0 on Saturday. Lightning in the area prevented the second half of the Foresters' Homecoming game from being played.
After scoring a touchdown on the opening kickoff of the team's first home game of the season, Lake Forest took the lead on the third play of Saturday's contest. Junior Logan Persson's kickoff was a touchback and the Rams ran for a short gain on their first play from scrimmage. The next play was a pass that Forester junior safety Danny Baker intercepted and returned 36 yards for his first career touchdown.
The home team's first offensive possession was an 8-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard field goal by senior Patrick Goldammer.
After punting on their second drive, the Foresters found the end zone on the third. A pair of runs by senior tailback Damon Bonds totaled 18 yards to the Ram 34-yardline and junior wide receiver A.J. Jackson took care of the rest. He caught a short pass from junior quarterback Tre Stewart, spun around the Cornell cornerback, and raced up the right sideline to the end zone. Jackson caught five passes for 54 yards in the game and scored a receiving touchdown for the seventh consecutive contest.
Stewart completed 8 of 14 passes for 71 yards and led all players in the game with 44 rushing yards on six attempts. Bonds finished with 42 on just three carries.
Senior defensive lineman Jacob Fitch led the Forester defense with five tackles while sophomore defensive back Trenton Brail added four. The unit registered eight tackles for loss in just 30 minutes of play and forced the game's only turnover, a fumble forced by senior Robert McPhee and recovered by junior Alex Bendler.
Cornell finished with just 111 yards of total offense while Lake Forest amassed 160.
The victory was the fourth in as many games this season for the Foresters while the Rams fell to 1-3.
Lake Forest will travel to Illinois College next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
