In a battle between the only two football teams in the Midwest Conference without a loss in league play, Lake Forest College defeated host Monmouth College 24-10 on Saturday.
Senior tailback Damon Bonds carried the load offensively for the Foresters, running for 135 yards on 33 attempts. Junior quarterback Tre Stewart added 55 rushing yards on a dozen carries and scored a pair of touchdowns.
The Foresters' other touchdown came on a 30-yard interception return by junior cornerback Dante Esposito. He entered the contest tied for the national lead in that category and his eight on the season match the program record set by Steve Savage in 1978.
Senior defensive lineman Robert McPhee led the visitors with eight tackles and accounted for 1.5 of the unit's six tackles for loss in the contest. Jamari Tansmore, another senior defensive lineman, registered his first career interception and senior linebacker Dominic Johnson recovered a Fighting Scot fumble. The Foresters maintained their average of three forced turnovers per game and their 21 on the season rank tied-for-fifth in the country.
While there were several impressive individual performances on offense and defense, the first points of the game came on a 29-yard field goal by Forester senior Patrick Goldammer late in the opening quarter. He has made all four of his field goal attempts and is 42-for-44 on extra points this season.
The game's first touchdown came on a 2-yard run by Stewart with 6:25 to play in the first half. The short seven-play, 28-yard drive was set up the Forester defense pinning the Scots deep in their own territory and a 17-yard punt.
Monmouth mounted a long drive late in the second quarter and reached the Forester 2-yardline before settling for a field goal on the final play of the half.
A 50-yard punt return by Lake Forest junior A.J. Jackson reached the Monmouth five early in the third quarter and, three plays later, Stewart took it in from a yard out. Goldammer's extra point made the score 17-3 with 10:09 to play in the third. Jackson's return came on a 43-yard punt while the home team's other four punts on the day averaged less than 20 yards.
Esposito's interception and weaving return through the Monmouth offense later in the third gave the visitors even more breathing room.
The Scots traveled nearly the length of the field on their next possession but a fumble recovered by Johnson kept the margin at 21 points.
While the Foresters' next drive did not result in any points, they ran 14 plays and took more than nine minutes off the clock. Tansmore's interception stopped the home team's next drive near midfield and another two-and-a-half minutes elapsed before the Scots had the ball for the final time. Their only touchdown of the game occurred with just 44 seconds on the clock and the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Lake Forest.
The victory was the Foresters' eighth in as many games this year and the team improved to 7-0 in conference play. It was Monmouth's first loss in MWC play since 2014 and the Scots fell to 6-2 overall and 6-1 in the MWC.
Lake Forest will host Beloit College for Senior Day next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
