Lake Forest College Sports Information
November 4, 2006
Contact:  Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Win Fourth Straight to Finish Season at .500
Ziemnik ties single-season school record for touchdown passes


Jeff Ziemnik
Lake Forest, Ill. - The Lake Forest College football team defeated Carroll College 21-14 at home on Saturday (November 4) to finish the season with a 5-5 overall record and 5-4 mark in Midwest Conference play. The Pioneers ended the year 4-6 overall and 4-5 in the league.

Junior quarterback Jeff Ziemnik (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) completed 17 of 28 passes in the game for 199 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His 15 passing touchdowns tied the single-season school record and his 135.04 pass efficiency rating is the second-highest mark in team history. He completed more than 60 percent of his passes on the season and did not throw an interception in the any of the team’s final four games, a span of 97 pass attempts.

Senior wide receiver Lee Fabiatos (Hamburg, N.Y./Nichols School) caught five passes for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his final collegiate game. Two of his fellow wide receivers also turned in fine performances as junior Tom Cirone (Chicago, Ill./Niles Notre Dame) led all players in the game with seven receptions for 86 yards and freshman Dan Carter (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) grabbed four passes for 56 yards and his 11th touchdown catch of the year. He also threw a touchdown pass.

Freshman Will Christensen (Park City, Utah/Park City) led the Foresters with 57 of the team’s 104 rushing yards on just eight carries. Senior Kevin Carter (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator), who started at both linebacker and tailback, carried the ball five times for 32 yards.

Sophomore defensive back Jimmy Hoover (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Wentzville Holt) came off the bench to lead the home team with seven tackles, including four solos. Junior safety Ed Kidd (Round Lake, Ill./Buffalo Grove) had six stops and an interception, which he returned 68 yards. Freshman Lorenzo Ramirez (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) also picked off a pass in the game.

The Foresters jumped out to an early lead thanks to a little play-calling creativity. Ziemnik returned the opening kickoff 24 yards to the Lake Forest 40-yard line. On first down he handed the ball off to Kevin Carter, a receiver-turned-tailback-turned-linebacker, who ran 22 yards to the Carroll 38-yard line. Ziemnik then threw a backward lateral to Dan Carter, who in turn hit Fabiatos for the score.

The teams traded punts for the game’s next seven possessions. The home team began the next possession at its own 32 with 5:06 remaining in the first half. Christensen ran three times on the drive for 35 yards and Ziemnik connected with Fabiatos from 10 yards out for the score. The pair then combined for the two-point conversion and the Foresters led 14-0 at halftime.

Lake Forest’s lead was cut in half on the first play after intermission when Carroll returned the third quarter’s opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.

The Foresters regained its two-touchdown lead on the very next possession by traveling 71 yards in 13 plays and taking up more than seven minutes off the clock. The team converted three times on third down and Ziemnik threw 24 yards to Dan Carter in the end zone on fourth-and-six.

Carroll punted twice and Kidd ended another Pioneer drive with his fourth interception of the season early in the final period. The visitors, however, pulled to within seven points again with 1:54 remaining in the game on a 7-play, 99-yard drive. After forcing a Lake Forest punt, Carroll’s comeback bid was thwarted by the Ramirez interception with 27 seconds left in the contest.

After a 1-5 start to the season, the Foresters won their last four games to finish alone in fifth place in the conference standings.

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