The Lake Forest College football team closed out the regular season with a 28-6 triumph over visiting University of Chicago on Saturday to capture the 2021 Midwest Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
The final weekend of league play began with three teams in contention for at least a share of the conference title but ended with the Foresters alone atop the standings at 9-0 in MWC play. It was their program record 10th victory of the year overall and extended their winning streak to 13 games, the longest in team history. The league championship is the sixth in program history (1952, 1958, 1983, 2002, 2012, and 2021)
The Lake Forest defense was especially stingy on Saturday against a team ranked third in the nation with 52.7 points per game and fourth with 544.9 total yards per contest. With 276 yards of total offense, the Maroons amassed fewer than half their season average and did not get on the scoreboard until the 5:02 mark of the fourth quarter.
Junior safety Danny Baker led the home team with a career-high 13 tackles, including two tackles for loss, and added two pass breakups and a fourth quarter forced fumble deep in Forester territory. Senior cornerback Kobee Marion and linebackers Gavin Stapley and Dominic Johnson were next on the team with seven tackles apiece while a pair of defensive linemen, senior Jamari Tansmore and junior Alex Bendler, each added six. Freshman defensive lineman Donnevan Plummer recovered a fumble and junior linebacker Javan Ah Quin picked off a pass as Lake Forest forced multiple turnovers for the 10th game in a row.
Junior quarterback Tre Stewart led the Forester offense, completing 11 of 16 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown and running for 64 yards and a score on 13 carries. Eight of his completions went to junior wide receiver A.J. Jackson, who finished with 90 yards and caught his school record 14th touchdown pass of the year. Senior Damon Bonds led the squad with 72 yards rushing while junior Armani Brown added 43. Both tailbacks scored a touchdown.
Lake Forest's specials teams play was also of high quality on Saturday. Junior punter Logan Persson averaged 40.8 yards on eight punts with two inside the 20 and senior kicker Patrick Goldammer made all four of his extra points, extending his single-season program record in that category to 58.
The Foresters took the lead on the game's first possession with a 9-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run by Bonds on fourth down.
The score remained 7-0 until Jackson caught an 18-yard pass from Stewart in the right side of the end zone early in the fourth quarter. Brown scored from 19 yards out with 6:56 to play, making the score 21-0.
The Maroons answered with their only touchdown drive of the game and made things a little more interesting by recovering the ensuing onside kick. They drove to the Forester 8-yardline but Ah Quin's interception in the end zone denied the scoring opportunity. Three plays later Stewart faked a handoff up the middle and raced up the right side of the field for a 69-yard game-clinching touchdown.
Along with the MWC title comes the league's automatic bid to the national playoffs, which will begin next Saturday. The 32-team field and complete bracket will be revealed in the NCAA Division III Tournament Selection Show on NCAA.com Sunday afternoon at 4:30 (CT).
