Foresters Drop Season Opener at Washington University St. Louis
Comeback bid falls short

Tom Cirone

Washington drove 71 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown on its next possession but the visitors responded with a 53-yard scoring drive capped off by a 25-yard touchdown pass from senior Jeff Ziemnik (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) to classmate Tom Cirone (Chicago, Ill./Niles Notre Dame).

The home team reached the end zone again on its next possession and led 14-9 after the first quarter.

After a few punts, the Bears extended their lead to 20-9 on a 16-play 80-yard drive and held the same advantage at halftime.

Junior Jimmy Hoover (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Wentzville Holt) forced and recovered a Bear fumble on a punt return early in the third quarter to set up a 3-yard scoring strike from Ziemnik to Cirone, who finished the game with nine catches for a career-high 122 yards and two touchdowns.

Washington scored a touchdown late in the third quarter and another to start the fourth, increasing the home team’s lead to 34-15.

Lake Forest came back and scored from one yard out on a run by sophomore Jeff Waldman (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton). One play after an unsuccessful on-side kick, sophomore Chad Zimborski (Waukesha, Wisc./Waukesha North) forced a Bear fumble and junior Matt Lawler (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) recovered at the Forester 45. Ziemnik drove the visitors downfield again and completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Dan Carter (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) to cut the deficit to 34-28. Ziemnik finished the game with a career-high 280 passing yards and three touchdown passes to go with a pair of interceptions.

The Bears were forced to punt on their next possession but were able to pin the Foresters at their own 9. A few plays later a sack and fumble gave the home team the ball just one yard away from the final score of the game.
Hoover finished the contest with a game-high 10 tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage. Sophomore Donovan Baldridge (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) was next on the team with nine and senior Ed Kidd (Round Lake, Ill./Buffalo Grove) had eight. Sophomore Travis Calzavara (Shannon, Ill./Eastland) recorded Lake Forest’s only sack.

In addition to Cirone’s receiving totals, freshman Pat Jarvis (Chicago, Ill./Mt. Carmel), sophomore Will Christensen (Park City, Utah/Park City), and Carter each caught four passes for 64, 49, and 45 yards, respectively.

The Foresters will begin Midwest Conference play with a home game against Ripon College next Saturday (September 8) afternoon at 1:30. Live stats will be available during the game on the Lake Forest College Athletics Web site (www.lakeforest.edu/foresters) and fans can watch live video of the game on the internet at midwestconference.tv.

Box Score