Lake Forest Blanks Grinnell College to Open Renovated Farwell Field
Hildreth sets school record for career receptions

Nick Hildreth is now Lake Forest's all-time leader with 125 career receptions.

The first period was scoreless until the home team scored on its final play. The drive began at the Forester 21-yard line. Freshman quarterback Matt Mahaney (West Chicago, IL/Addison Driscoll) found junior Jeff Huebner (Antioch, IL/Antioch) for a 13 yard reception to the 34 with just over three minutes left in the quarter. Sophomore running backs Anthony Gebhart (Addison, IL/Addison Driscoll) and Devin Furlong (West Palm Beach, FL/Cardinal Newman) ran for seven and eight yards, respectively, to advance the ball to the 49. Mahaney connected with Huebner again for 15 yards and located senior Mike Carter (Arlington Heights, IL/St. Viator) for a 23-yard completion, advancing Lake Forest to the Pioneers’ 13-yard line. After another Furlong rush for five yards was offset by a Lake Forest penalty, a Mahaney-to-Huebner 13-yard touchdown pass put the home team ahead 6-0 as time expired.

Gebhart finished the afternoon with a dozen carries totaling a game-high 69 yards. Furlong finished with eight carries for 31 yards.

On the Foresters’ first drive of the second period, Mahaney hit senior wide receiver Nick Hildreth (Lombard, IL/Willowbrook) for a 10-yard gain. Hildreth’s reception was the 120th in his career, surpassing the former school record held by Dan Cole ’91. Lake Forest drove to the visitors’ 11, but the field goal attempt failed, giving possession to Grinnell on its own 20.

The Pioneers completed three straight passes, advancing the ball to Foresters’ 44, but freshman defensive back Marc Naya (Miramar, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) picked off his second pass of the season and returned it 33 yards to the Pioneer 23 with 6:06 remaining in the half. Mahaney connected with Huebner again on the next play for a 23-yard touchdown pass to put his team up 12-0.

Grinnell was forced to punt after four plays on its ensuing possession and the home team started its final drive of the half with 3:02 remaining. After a pair of incomplete passes, Mahaney found Hildreth for a 31-yard reception, connected with Carter for a 12-yard gain, then hit Hildreth again for a 15-yard touchdown pass to post a 20-0 lead.

The Pioneers put together their best drive of the game on their final possession of the first half. The visitors began at their own 38-yard line with 1:10 on the clock and completed passes of 2, 18, 19, 8, and 14 yards to come within a yard of the goal line with 16 seconds remaining. Grinnell’s quarterback threw a pair of incomplete passes, but the second drew a pass interference penalty and an automatic first down. A run up the middle was stopped for no gain and the Pioneers called their final time out with three seconds left. Pass interference was called on another incompletion and a final run up the middle was stopped short as time expired.

Niether team scored in the third period. On the Foresters’ first possession of the fourth, Mahaney completed three passes for 62 yards and capped the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Carter, who finished the afternoon with three catches for 55 yards. Both Hildreth and Huebner finished with six receptions, with Hildreth amassing 92 yards and Huebner netting a game-high 101. Mahaney connected on 20 of his 37 passes for 280 yards and a school record-tying four touchdowns without an interception.

The home team added a final score with 7:49 to play in the contest. Junior running back Andre Washington (West Palm Beach, FL/Benjamin) turned the corner and sprinted down the sideline for a 20-yard touchdown, the first of his career. Washington finished the game with five carries for 34 yards.

Defensively, sophomore Ryan Gallegos (Plantation, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) had a game-high nine tackles, including a sack. Freshman Josh Haas (Dunlap, IL/Dunlap) and senior David Bleitner (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) finished with seven stops apiece. As a unit, the Foresters limited Grinnell to just 69 rushing yards and held the visitors scoreless in three red-zone opportunities.

Lake Forest will travel to Beloit College next Saturday (September 18). The Buccaneers (1-1, 0-1) held a 16-0 halftime lead over the Foresters last year, but Lake Forest put up 20 points in the final period to win the come-from-behind thriller. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.

By Franklyn Beckford

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