The Forester football team prevailed 48-13 at Illinois College on Saturday to remain perfect in Midwest Conference play so far this season.
Senior tailback Damon Bonds and junior quarterback Tre Stewart each scored twice on the ground while junior wideout A.J. Jackson ran for one touchdown and scored two more on punt returns.
The first score of the contest was set up by the first of two blocked punts by Forester junior Danny Baker. The visitors took over at the Illinois College four, two plays later, Jackson took it in from the three. Senior Patrick Goldammer connected on the extra point to make the score 7-0.
The Blueboys responded with an 8-play, 77-yard touchdown drive but missed the extra point.
After scoreless possessions for both teams, the Foresters took over at their own 47 and went 53 yards on four carries by Bonds, the last one 10 yards to the end zone.
Baker intercepted his team-high-tying fourth pass of the season on the first play of the second quarter and blocked another punt later in the period, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Bonds that made the score 21-6.
The Blueboys failed on fourth down from the Forester 7-yardline with just 66 seconds left in the half. After a Lake Forest penalty put the ball on the four, Bonds carried it 87 yards for the second-longest run in program history. Three plays later Stewart scored from a yard out and the visitors led 28-6 at halftime.
Stewart added an 8-yard touchdown run in the third as the Foresters took advantage of junior linebacker Javan Ah Quin's first career interception.
The next three Illinois College possessions ended with punts. The first was a touchback but the last two were returned 50 and 65 yards for touchdowns by Jackson. He became the first Forester with two punt return touchdowns in a game and has now scored that way six times in his career, more than any other player in league history. Jackson is averaging 28.3 yards on seven returns this season and 24.6 yards on 32 attempts since coming to the College. He is just the seventh player in school history with 25 career touchdowns and reached that milestone in just 17 games.
An Illinois College touchdown early in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring. The home team's final drive of the game ended ended with Forester freshman linebacker Nik Rieck's first career interception. It was the Lake Forest defense's 10th interception and 16th turnover of the year.
Senior linebacker Dominic Johnson led the Foresters with seven tackles and he was one of six players on the team with a sack on Saturday. Senior defensive tackle Jamari Tansmore was next with six stops, including 2.5 tackles for loss.
Lake Forest is now 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference while Illinois College remained winless in the same number of games.
The Foresters will travel to Ripon College next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
