Lake Forest College Sports Information
October 2, 2004
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Monmouth Hands Lake Forest First Loss of 2004
Foresters fall 14-0 on the road

Ryan Gallegos had two sacks and a game-high 15 tackles.
GALESBURG, IL - The Forester football team suffered its first loss of the 2004 season Saturday (October 2), a 14-0 decision at Monmouth College. Both Lake Forest and Monmouth are now 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Midwest Conference play.

The teams combined to punt on each of the game’s first five possessions before Monmouth finally broke through with a seven-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead. After the Foresters turned the ball over on downs, each team punted two more times before the home team put together another touchdown drive, this time covering 64 yards in eight plays. The visitors punted again before ending the Fighting Scots’ final drive of the half with freshman Ed Kidd’s (Round Lake, IL/Buffalo Grove) second interception of the season.

The teams entered the locker rooms at halftime with Monmouth leading 14-0. There were already 10 punts at that point in the contest, including six by Lake Forest.

After the first three drives of the third quarter ended with punts, the Foresters marched the ball from their own 16-yard line to the Monmouth 17 before turning the ball over on downs. Four punts and a missed Monmouth field goal later, Lake Forest started at its own 4-yard line and traveled to the Scots’ 23 before once again coming up short on fourth down. The visitors’ final possession of the game and hope for a comeback ended on a fourth-down sack with 2:11 remaining. The Scots then ran out the clock.

Sophomore linebackers Ryan Gallegos (Plantation, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) and Louis Bertuca (Chicago, IL/Fenwick) led the Lake Forest defense with 15 and 11 tackles, respectively. Gallegos had a pair of sacks for a loss of 14 yards. Senior David Bleitner (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) recorded nine tackles in the game and was credited with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Sophomore Anthony Gebhart (Addison, IL/Addison Driscoll) ran the ball 63 yards and leads the team with 508 rushing yards this season. Sophomore Matt Mahaney (West Chicago, IL/Addison Driscoll) threw for 222 yards in the contest and, with 1,315 passing yards this year, is well on his way to breaking the school record of 2,103. Senior Nick Hildreth (Lombard, IL/Willowbrook) led all receivers with eight catches for 90 yards, raising his school record career totals to 145 receptions and 1,903 yards.

The Foresters will return home next Saturday (October 9) at 1:30 p.m. to face Knox College for Homecoming. The Prairie Fire is winless in four games this season and 0-3 in MWC play. Lake Forest edged out Knox 13-12 last season in Galesburg, with all 25 points scored in the fourth quarter.

Box Score