Foresters Pass Through Beloit and Register 28-14 Victory
Lackey throws for 339 yards and 3 TD's

BELOIT, WI -  The Forester football team traveled to Beloit College on Saturday (September 29th) with hopes of ruining the Buccaneers' homecoming and did exactly that by defeating the hosts 28-14. The offense scored a touchdown in each quarter and the defense made a number of key stops to even Lake Forest's Midwest Conference record at 1-1.

While the Foresters of the past tried to wear down the defense with a punishing running game, the new offense put in place by Head Coach Chad Eisele and Offensive Coordinator Brent Holsclaw calls for multiple formations and a more wide open attack. After experiencing only sporadic success during the first two games of the season, things started to click on a more regular basis at Beloit and the yardage, as well as the points, began to pile up.

Sophomore quarterback Don Lackey (Lindenhurst, IL/Antioch) connected on 26 of 41 pass attempts for 339 yards and three touchdowns. He completed passes to eight different receivers while accumulating more yards through the air than any Forester signal-caller in 18 years. The 339 yards is also the third-highest total in the program's 120-year history.

Junior Jason Arendsee (Baraboo, WI/Baraboo) found himself on the receiving end of eight of Lackey's completions, 110 of the yards and one of the touchdowns. He now has both a 100-yard rushing game and a 100-yard receiving game in his Forester career.

On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore linebacker Gary Wojdyla (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) recorded a game-high 16 tackles (4 solo), four tackles-for-loss and a half-sack. He anchored a defense that held Beloit to less than 10 yards on nine of 14 possessions.

Lake Forest needed less than two minutes to get on the scoreboard first. After a 30-yard return of the opening kick-off by junior Casey Urlacher (Lake Bluff, IL/Lovington-NM) put the ball on their own 45-yard line, the Foresters embarked on a 6-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Tom Starnicky (Oak Lawn, IL/Marist). A 16-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver Nick Hildreth (Lombard, IL/Willowbrook) on 4th-and-5 from the Beloit 35 kept the drive going and Starnicky scored on the next play.

Lake Forest punted on its next three possessions and Beloit's first four possessions ended with three punts and a fumble recovered by the Foresters at their own 15.

Lake Forest extended its lead to 14-0 with an 8-play, 65-yard drive made possible by clutch completions on 3rd-and-11 and 3rd-and-14. The drive culminated with a 19-yard scoring strike from Lackey to Arendsee.

Beloit rebounded with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive of their own to cut the Forester lead in half at 14-7. The first half ended after two punts and a missed 48-yard field goal attempt by the Foresters' Pat Dunne (Palos Heights, IL/Marist) as time expired.

Beloit threatened to tie the score at 14 twice in the third quarter. Sophomore linebacker Jim Letz (Chicago, IL/Mt. Carmel) stopped Beloit's second drive of the second half by intercepting a pass at the Forester 3. After a Lackey fumble was recovered by Beloit at the Forester 6, the defense held again, forcing the Bucs to turn the ball over on downs at the 3-yard-line.

The offense followed up the big defensive stand with a 14-play, 97-yard touchdown drive. Lackey hit five different receivers on the drive, including sophomore Nick Rossie (Deerfield, IL/Deerfield) from 4 yards out for the touchdown with 1:18 left in the third quarter.

Beloit punted after three plays on two of their next three drives and Urlacher snagged the first interception of his Forester career on the first play of the other drive.

Lake Forest's next scoring drive began innocently with a rush for no gain by Adam Niles (Lake Villa, IL/ Antioch), who led the team with 59 yards rushing. After a pass interference call on Beloit, Lackey connected with Arendsee for 26 yards and then with Rossie on the very next play for a 40-yard touchdown.

Beloit responded with a touchdown with 6:30 to play to cut the lead to 28-14. The Buccaneers turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and the Foresters ran out the final 2:24 to seal the victory.

The Foresters will play their home opener next Saturday (October 6th) against Ripon College at 1:30 pm. There are three schools tied at 2-0 in the MWC and both Ripon and Lake Forest are tied with two other schools at 1-1.

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