| Lake Forest College Sports Information
November 23, 2002 Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID Foresters Fall at Wartburg in Opening Round of 2002
NCAA Playoffs
On Saturday, Wartburg jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Knights scored 14 points in the first quarter and led 17-0 at the half. Lake Forest gave up a pair of touchdowns in each of the final two periods to account for the final score. The Foresters were unable to mount much of an offensive attack against the nation's third-ranked defense. Lake Forest netted just 57 yards of total offense while surrendering a season-high 481. A number of individual players put their names in the Forester record books this season. On defense, senior linebacker Casey Urlacher (Lovington, NM/Lovington) recorded six tackles on Saturday and a team-high 117 tackles for the season, surpassing his 2000 total by one while falling just eight short of his school-record 125, set last year. His 358 career stops in three years are just nine shy of Andy O'Hara's school record of 367. With 19 tackles for loss in 2002, Urlacher also came within one of the single-season school record. His 43 career stops behind the line of scrimmage are the most for any Forester. Joining Urlacher on the single-season tackles for loss list is sophomore linebacker Omar Pickering (Mount Vernon, NY/Port Chester). His 15 are tied for fourth. On the career list, senior linebackers Ian Thompson (Park Forest, IL/Rich East) and Kevin Krabel (Oakland, IL/Oakland) moved into the top five. Thompson's 33 are tied for third while Krabel's 31 are tied for fifth. Krabel had a game-high 10 tackles on Saturday. Junior safety Drew Holman (Morris, IL/ Morris) had nine tackles Saturday and a fumble recovery. His seven interceptions this season set a new school record, breaking the previous mark of six, which was shared by three different players. On the offensive side of the ball, history was once again made by junior quarterback Don Lackey (), who broke his own school records for passing yards (2,103), touchdowns (15), and completions (187) in a season. He also set a new single-season mark with 417 pass attempts. Senior wide receiver Mike Fitzgerald (Aurora, CO/Kent) caught four more passes on Saturday for 34 yards. He finished the season with a team-high 58 receptions, 796 yards, and eight touchdowns, the fourth, third, and tied-for-third-highest totals in school history, respectively. On the career list, his 101 catches are fourth and his 1,448 receiving yards are fifth in the program's history. Fitzgerald also put his name among the top punt returners in the Lake Forest record books. He tallied 20 yards on four returns on Saturday, giving him a school record 33 returns on the season for 248 yards, the fourth-highest total ever for a Forester. His career total of 544 punt return yards ties him with Steve Savage for the most in school history while his 75 career returns tops the list. Despite a blocked field goal on Saturday, senior kicker/punter Pat Dunne's (Palos Heights, IL/Marist) 2002 season is easily the best-ever by a Forester. He finished with 14 field goals, breaking the previous school record by eight, and a team-high 63 points, the most by any Lake Forest kicker. His other school records include 30 career field goals (including a 50-yarder), 86 career extra points, 199 career punts, and 7,517 punting yards. His 37.8 career yards-per-punt average is third-best in school history. As a team, Lake Forest allowed just 84.6 rushing yards per game to set a new school record. The team held opponents to 274.5 total yards per contest, the program's fifth-best mark. On offense, the team's 24.8 points per game were good for fourth all-time. The 2002 roster included 12 seniors but 16 starters are expected to return for the 2003 season. The biggest hole will be at linebacker, where three of the four all-conference players will graduate in May.
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