Lawrence Deals Lake Forest 52-20 Loss
Foresters now 4-5 overall with one game remaining

Mike McNally connected on 70% of his passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns in his starting debut.

APPLETON, WI – The Lake Forest College football team dropped its third straight contest last Saturday (October 29), a 52-20 loss at Lawrence University. The loss makes the Foresters overall record 4-5 and the team’s Midwest Conference mark is now 3-5. Meanwhile, Lawrence improved to 3-5 overall and in league play.

The first quarter was scoreless until Lawrence’s third drive of the game. Starting from their own 29, the Vikings’ quarterback found his receiver downfield, and 71 yards later, the home team led 7-0. But the Foresters responded early in the second period. From near midfield, Lawrence was penalized 15 yards for pass interference, then freshman quarterback Mike McNally (Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg) found senior wide receiver Jeff Huebner (Antioch,IL /Antioch) for a 37-yard touchdown pass to knot the score at seven.

However, over the next 40:14 of game time the home team reeled off 42 unanswered points, including three touchdowns in the third quarter, to post a 49-7 advantage.

Lake Forest tried to chip away at the deficit in the final period, as McNally found senior A.J. Rodino (Elkhart, IN/Elkhart Memorial) for his first touchdown reception of the year, then connected with Huebner again for an 18-yard scoring pass with just under four minutes to play, but the comeback efforts fell short.

In his debut as a starter, McNally completed 14 of 20 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns, and also netted 22 rushing yards. His favorite receiver was Huebner, who finished with five catches for a game-high 133 yards. Huebner is now one touchdown catch away from matching the school record with 18 career scoring receptions and needs 117 yards to break the school record for most receiving yards in a season.

Defensively, senior linebacker Soren Johnson (Ripon, WI/Ripon) finished the afternoon with a career-best 14 tackles and sophomore safety Edward Kidd (Round Lake, IL/Buffalo Grove) was second with six. Senior Keith Hanson (Fairfax, VA/Vermont Academy) tallied his sixth interception of the year late in the second period and the defensive back is one pick shy of matching the program record of seven interceptions in a season set in 2002 and a year ago by Drew Holman ’05.

The Foresters will close the book on the 2005 season on Saturday (November 5) when the team battles St. Norbert College (7-2, 7-1) at 1:00 p.m. Lake Forest will honor parents and the team’s 11 seniors during the game.

By Franklyn Beckford

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