By: Down 28-7 in the third quarter, the Blueboys didn’t allow another point and got within one possession of the Foresters before running out of time.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College football team came back valiantly on Senior Day at England Stadium, but the Lake Forest College rushing attack proved to be too much in the end as the Foresters escaped with a 28-21 victory. The win improved Lake Forest to 8-1 (4-1 Midwest Conference South Division) on the season and sent IC to 4-5 (3-2 MWC South).
Lake Forest never trailed in the game and the Foresters sliced through the Illinois College on their opening possession, moving 80 yards in 10 plays. Joey Valdivia came in as one of the leading rushers in all of Division III football and he lived up to his billing with a 21-yard gallop to put the Foresters on top, 7-0, early on.
Illinois College was in the Lake Forest red zone early in the second quarter after
Kyle Obertino beat his man down the sideline for a 27-yard completion. With the ball on the Forester 17-yard line, a
Drew Chance pass in the direction of Obertino was tipped, bobbled, and eventually picked off by Chase Slagboom. Slagboom took the interception the length of the football field for a 100-yard return, changing the tone of the contest as the Foresters took a 14-0 lead on the Blueboys.
Later in the second quarter, Lake Forest had a chance to tack on another touchdown until the Illinois College defense rose to the occasion on a fourth down and stuffed Valdivia for a loss to give possession back to the offense. Starting on their own 10-yard line, the Blueboys got out of the shadow of their own end zone with a swing pass to
Greg Cross for a 10-yard gain. Then, on third down, Glen Gibbons Jr. hauled in a pass for a first down and then rambled past the Forester defense, zigging and zagging for 73 yards and a touchdown to make it 14-7.
With less than two minutes until halftime, Chance was intercepted on a deep ball and the Lake Forest return took the Foresters out to their own 41. Starting a drive with 67 ticks left in the half, the visitors moved the ball efficiently down the field and Valdivia went in untouched from a yard out with eight seconds to go, giving Lake Forest a 21-7 edge at the break.
Illinois College couldn't get anything going on its first drive of the second half and were forced to punt. Lake Forest sped around the edge to block the punt and the recovery gave the ball to the Foresters on Illinois College's 5-yard line. Two plays later, Lake Forest took a 28-7 lead after a one-yard plunge from Valdivia.
Though the Foresters were comfortably out in front, the Illinois College defense would soon begin to take control of the game, giving the Blueboys a chance to get back in it. A big gain of 37 yards on a pass from Chance to Obertino again had IC in striking distance late in the third quarter. On a fourth down from the LFC 3-yard line, Gibbons Jr. snared his second touchdown grab of the game to make it 28-14 entering the final quarter.
The Foresters had the ball in IC territory to begin the final quarter, but the Blueboy defense held and forced a turnover on downs with 13 minutes remaining. Illinois College then took over on its own 26 and began a 13-play, 74-yard march that culminated in a one-yard scoring play from Chance to Obertino to pull IC to within one possession at 28-21.
With less than eight minutes to play,
Vincent Vanhorne intercepted a Jagan Cleary pass to give the ball back to Illinois College. The Blueboys were able to pick up one first down, but with the ball near midfield and facing a third-and-long, Chance's pass long down the field was intercepted to give the ball back to the Foresters with less than six minutes to play. LFC went to the ground and picked up one first down before facing a fourth down with 2:39 left. Valdivia broke a tackle and went 12 yards to get a fresh set of downs and the Blueboys had no way to stop the clock, allowing the Foresters to run out the clock.
Valdivia ended the day with 218 yards and three scores on 35 carries. Cleary was 21-of-31 for 183 yards with an interception. The Blueboy offense was led by Obertino's 12 catches for 184 yards and a touchdown. He went over 2,000 receiving yards for his career in the game, while
Logan Uyetake hauled in his 200th career reception as well. Chance ended the day 21-of-37 for 339 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
The Illinois College defense was paced by
Steve Reyna's 14 tackles (10 solo).
Ryan Torrance added 10 tackles (six solo), while Logan West had nine tackles (five solo) which included three behind the line of scrimmage.
Josh Brooks had four stops and also forced a fumble and had the recovery.
Lake Forest's win gives the Foresters the No. 2 seed in the South Division while Illinois College takes the No. 3 seed into next weekend's action. The Blueboys will host the No. 3 seed from the North Division, Macalester College, in a 1 p.m. kickoff at England Stadium on Nov. 11 in the regular season finale.
