Foresters 5-0 for First Time in 64 Years After 27-3 Triumph at Monmouth
Defense forces seven turnovers in winning effort
  

Marty Quinn set new career highs with 10 catches for 109 yards.

Linebacker Omar Pickering (Mount Vernon, NY/Port Chester) led the defense with a dozen tackles, including eight solos and one for-loss. The sophomore also intercepted his second pass of the year. Senior linebacker Casey Urlacher (Lovington, NM/Lovington) chipped in nine tackles and added a fumble recovery and his fourth rushing touchdown of the season.

On offense, quarterback Don Lackey (Lindenhurst, IL/Antioch) continued to post respectable numbers with 22 completions in 42 attempts, 231 yards and a pair of touchdowns with just one interception. Lackey has thrown for two scores in four of the team's five games this year. At the regular season's halfway point, the junior has nine touchdown passes, just four shy of the school record set in 1983 and matched in 1985 by Avelino Cortez.

Lackey's favorite receiver on Saturday was sophomore Marty Quinn (Evergreen Park, IL/Mt. Carmel), who hauled in 10 receptions for 109 yards, including a 41-yard scoring strike early in the second quarter. Senior wide receiver Mike Fitzgerald (Aurora, CO/Kent), the team's leading receiver on the season, caught just three passes but tallied 69 yards and notched his sixth touchdown reception of 2002, which puts him on pace to match Chris Jensen's 1983 total of 12, the most in school history.

Special teams also played a big role in the victory. Kicker/punter Pat Dunne (Palos Heights, IL/Marist) made a pair of 37-yard field goals, giving him seven on the season, a new Forester record. With nine points in the game and 33 for the year, the senior has moved into fourth place among the school's all-time leading scorers. Dunne also had a successful game punting, averaging 39.6 yards and dropping four inside the Monmouth 20-yard line. The home team returned Dunne's nine punts a total of 16 yards.

The teams combined for just five first downs and eight punts in the game's first quarter and nearly three minutes of the second. On the first play of the Foresters' fifth possession, Lackey connected with Quinn on a 41-yard pass play, reaching the end zone and putting Lake Forest on the scoreboard.

After an Ian Thompson (Park Forest, IL/Rich East) interception and another punt by each team, the Foresters began their second scoring drive at the Monmouth 44. Lackey completed three passes in as many attempts and ran for eight yards to take the visitors to the three, setting up Urlacher's touchdown run with 1:58 to play before halftime.

Monmouth finally got on the scoreboard on its first drive of the second half. The Fighting Scots traveled 50 yards in 12 plays and scored on Andy Full's 32-yard field goal.

Lake Forest's next two possessions ended with a punt and a missed field goal, while both of Monmouth's were stopped by fumbles. The first was forced by Thompson and the second was recovered by Urlacher at the Forester 42. Lake Forest reached the Monmouth 29 before being called for a five-yard substitution penalty. On third-and-15, Lackey hit Fitzgerald for 34 yards and a touchdown.

Turnovers ended each of the Scots' next three possessions and four of their final six. A Dunne field goal late in the third quarter and another early in the fourth accounted for the rest of the game's scoring.

While Monmouth finished with a slight edge in total yardage (302 to 297), the Scots turned the ball over seven times while Lake Forest committed just one such miscue. Field position was in the Foresters' favor as well, and played a key role throughout the contest. The average drive for the visitors began just 5 yards short of midfield while Monmouth started at or inside its own 20 seven times and had an average starting field position of its own 25 yard line.

Ripon College, who Lake Forest defeated in its homecoming game last week, is the MWC's only 3-1 team. Four schools are two games behind the Foresters and Green Knights at 2-2 in league games, including the Foresters' next opponent, Knox College. Lake Forest Head Coach Chad Eisele will take his team to Galesburg, Illinois, next Saturday (October 12) to take on his alma mater at 1:30 p.m.

Box Score