Lake Forest Falls to St. Norbert in Season Finale
Team finishes 2004 with 8-2 record

Anthony Gebhart rushed for a dozen touchdowns this season.

DE PERE, WI – The Forester football team finished its 2004 season with a 28-13 loss at St. Norbert College on Saturday (November 6). Lake Forest fell to 8-2 overall on the season and 7-2 in Midwest Conference games. St. Norbert is 9-1 overall and won the league title with a perfect 9-0 mark in MWC contests. The Green Knights entered the weekend as the nation’s 20th-ranked team (American Football Coaches Association).

Sophomore tailback Anthony Gebhart (Addison, IL/Addison Driscoll) returned from injury to lead the Forester offense. He rushed for 50 yards and both Lake Forest touchdowns while leading all players in the game with eight receptions for 94 yards. Senior wide receiver Marty Quinn (Evergreen Park, IL/Mt. Carmel) was next on the team in receiving with four catches for 46 yards. Sophomore quarterback Matt Mahaney (West Chicago, IL/Addison Driscoll) finished the day with 15 completions for 207 yards.

The Forester defense was led by junior linebacker Soren Johnson’s (Ripon, WI/Ripon) nine tackles. Senior Drew Holman (Morris, IL/Morris) was next on the squad with eight and added a forced fumble and an interception.

Lake Forest started the game with three incompletions and mishandled the snap on the punt attempt. St. Norbert recovered the ball at the Forester four and scored its first touchdown of the day on it initial play from scrimmage. After the next three possessions ended with punts, the Green Knights marched 69 yards on just five plays to take a 14-0 advantage.

The visitors turned the ball over on downs but ended the Knights next possession with Holman’s interception. The Foresters punted on their final drive of the opening period and St. Norbert did the same on the first possession of the second.

Lake Forest pulled to within a touchdown with a seven-play, 70-yard drive on its first try of the quarter. Mahaney completed three passes for 44 yards to Gebhart, whose only run of the drive finished it off from two yards out.

Sophomore Jack Kavanagh (Concord, MA/Carlisle) recovered a St. Norbert fumble at the home team’s 41-yard line on the next possession, but the visitors were unable to move the ball. Sophomore Justin Ellerman’s (Chicago, IL/Loyola) punt went out of bounds at the three, one of three Ellerman boots on that pinned the Knights inside their own 20. He averaged 35.0 yards on his nine punts in the contest.

The top two defenses in the league forced each other to punt again before the home team traveled 48 yards in six plays and scored its third touchdown of the game to take a 21-7 lead. The half ended after two more punts and an unsuccessful faked field goal by the Foresters.

The first five possessions of the second half ended with either a punt or fumble and the sixth with both as the Green Knight returner was unable to handle the punt cleanly and Forester freshman Tom Cirone (Chicago, IL/Niles Notre Dame) landed on it at the St. Norbert 35. A penalty on the play gave Lake Forest the ball at the Knights’ 20 and four Gebhart rushes added up to a Forester touchdown. The extra point was blocked, however, and St. Norbert’s lead was cut to 21-13.

That is, of course, as close as the Foresters would get. St. Norbert missed a 44-yard field goal try on the last possession of the third quarter but, after forcing another Forester punt, scored its fourth and final touchdown of the game on a 50-yard pass play with 14:31 to play.

Each team punted one more time on its next possession and the Foresters’ final offensive effort ended with an interception at the St. Norbert three with 3:52 left. The Green Knights were able to run out the clock from there to seal the victory.

The Foresters set a number of single-season school records and challenged a few others. The offense recorded the most passing yards (243.6) and total yards (387.8) per game while ranking third in scoring (25.4 ppg.), fourth in completions (170), and tied-for-fourth in passing touchdowns (13). This year’s defense is fourth in team history in scoring (14.3 ppg.) and sacks (35) and the team is also fourth in kickoff return average (20.5).

Individually, Mahaney set single-season school records with 2,436 passing yards and Holman tied his own mark with seven interceptions. Mahaney also ranks among the all-time leaders with 170 completions (fifth), 345 attempts (second), and 13 touchdown passes (tied-for-second). Holman matched his own mark with seven interceptions and finishes his career with a school record 18. Senior Nick Hildreth’s (Lombard, IL/Willowbrook) 801 receiving yards and 53 receptions rank third and fourth, respectively, and he is first in the program’s history with 169 catches for 2,287 yards in his career. Gebhart had 786 yards rushing, the eighth-most for a Forester, and rushed for a dozen touchdowns to rank third. Senior wide receiver Mike Carter (Arlington Heights, IL/St. Viator) made five field goals this year, matching the program’s fourth-highest total, and his career field goal percentage of .667 (8-for-12) is a new school record. Finally, senior David Bleitner (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) will graduate in May with the most career tackles for loss (49.5) in team history and the second-highest sack total (29.0). He is one of 13 seniors on the team who have completed their Lake Forest careers.

Box Score