Lake Forest Improves to 4-2 After 28-14 Homecoming Win over Knox College
Foresters set record with 28 first quarter points   

LAKE FOREST, IL – The Lake Forest College football team improved to 4-2 overall after a 28-14 Homecoming win over Knox College on Saturday (October 8). The Foresters improved to 3-2 in the Midwest Conference while Knox fell to 1-3 in league play.

Soren Johnson led the defense with 10 tackles, matching his career high.

The home team did not waste time getting on the scoreboard, as junior quarterback Matt Mahaney (West Chicago, IL/Addison Driscoll) found sophomore Jeff Ziemnik (Oswego, IL/Oswego ) for a 68-yard touchdown pass on the team’s first offensive play of the afternoon. After the successful extra point kick, Lake Forest led 7-0, just 1:44 into the contest.

The Forester offense scored again three minutes later. Starting on the Prairie Fire’s 42, Mahaney hit sophomore wide receiver Lee Fabiatos (Hamburg, NY/Nichols School) for a gain of 16, then senior running back Andre Washington (West Palm Beach, FL/Benjamin) carried the ball eight yards to the Knox 18 yard line. From there, Mahaney hit freshman Harry Ruzicka (Wichita, KS/Independent) for an 18-yard touchdown pass. After another good extra point kick, the Foresters led 14-0 with 10:14 to play in the first period. Fabiatos recorded four catches for 47 yards and Washington carried the ball 14 times for a game-high 72 yards.

On Knox’s ensuing possession, junior linebacker Ryan Gallegos (Plantation, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) picked off a Prairie Fire pass, the fourth of his career, and returned it 31 yards to the visitors’ three yard line. From there, a two-yard rush was offset by a five-yard penalty, but Mahaney found junior fullback Devin Furlong (Lake Worth, FL/Cardinal Newman) in the end zone for the Foresters’ third score of the quarter. Furlong finished with a pair of catches for eight yards, and six carries for 11 yards. Mahaney notched 11 completions on 25 attempts, tallied 163 yards, and threw three touchdowns on the day.

With a 21-0 lead, the Lake Forest defense responded again. At the Knox 37, sophomore safety Edward Kidd (Round Lake, IL/Buffalo Grove) jarred the ball away from a Knox running back and freshman Kyle Wetzel (Sarasota, FL/Cardinal Mooney) recovered it and returned it 37 yards for the touchdown. Kidd finished with seven tackles, a pair of forced fumbles, a pass deflection and he assisted in a sack.

The 28 points in the first quarter marked the most ever in program history. The previous high, 26 points, was recorded in 1996 against Beloit College.

Knox didn’t score until the final seconds of the third quarter, then added another touchdown midway through the fourth. The Prairie Fire managed only 41 passing yards, and 163 total yards. Senior linebacker Soren Johnson (Ripon, WI/Ripon) led the defense with 10 tackles, matching his career high. Freshman Nick Kula (Argyle, TX/Liberty Christian) added a career-best nine tackles, and sophomore linebacker Roman Shklover (Fox Point, WI/Nicolet) finished with six tackles, with a pair of them accounting for loss yardage. Senior Keith Hanson (Fairfax, VA/Vermont Academy) finished the contest with five tackles and a pair of interceptions. Hanson leads the team with five picks.

Lake Forest will travel to Jacksonville, Illinois, next Saturday to battle Illinois College (2-3, 1-3). The Foresters beat the Blueboys 28-14 last year and lead the all-time series 14-7.

By Franklyn Beckford

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