Box Scores
The Prairie Fire football team traveled to Lake Forest College hoping to snap a two-game losing streak and win for the second straight season against the Foresters. Neither happened as both the offense and defense struggled at Farwell Field and Lake Forest handed the Prairie Fire a 35-6 loss.
The Fire (1-9, 1-8 MWC) had an especially difficult second quarter when the Foresters - who've now posted back-to-back wins at home against Lawrence and Knox and put up 35 points in both games - scored on all three offensive possessions during that stanza and five of seven possessions in the first half.
The Prairie Fire held the LFC offense in check during the hosts first two offensive drives, which resulted in a punt after running seven plays and gaining 14 yards on the game's opening possession and 26 yards on seven plays during the second possession that ended with senior defensive back Lucas Motta (Grinnell, Iowa) intercepting Lake Forest quarterback Geoff Sobey.
The Fire, however, couldn't capitalize on the two Lake Forest possessions in the first half that didn't produce points. The first drive, a three-and-out for minus-1 yards, forced Chad Eisele's squad to punt the ball away. After Motta's interception, the offense stalled again after running three plays that produced nine yards and another punt.
The Foresters (2-8, 2-7) put the first points on the board during their third possession, which started on their own 42 yard line.
Wide receiver Kevin Davis hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Sobey to for a 6-0 lead with 1:21 to play in the first quarter in the highlight of the nine-play, 58-yard scoring drive. The score remained at 6-0 after the point after attempt by kicker Tim Gruzwalski failed.
Two field goals, a successful 49-yard boot with 11:07 to go in the first half by Dominick Compagna and a 31-yard kick by Gruzwalksi that split the uprights at the 5:46 mark of the second quarter, gave Lake Forest at 12-0 lead.
The Foresters pulled away from the Prairie Fire with two long touchdown passes to Davis from Pete Scaffidi. The first was a 42-yard pass play for a score with 2:56 to play in the half and the second was a 40-yard score with 1:16 to go in the half that increased the Lake Forest lead to 26-0 at halftime.
Davis had a huge game for Lake Forest, catching five passes for 113 yards and three touchdowns. Austin Sobey found himself on the receiving end of the Foresters' fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon, a 34-yard reception with 12:44 to play in the third quarter that gave the hosts a commanding 32-0 advantage.
Scaffidi also played big for LFC. He led the Forester run game with 12 carries for 102 yards, an average of 8.5 yards per rush attempt. He also completed 5-of-16 passes at quarterback for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Geoff Sobey was 5-of-9 for 43 yards and a touchdown, along with one interception. That was the only turnover in the game for Lake Forest.
The Foresters completed their scoring with a 33-year field goal by Gruzwalksi with 3:11 to play in the game.
The Prairie Fire found pay dirt and avoided being shut out when senior Dan Kizior (Manteno, Illinois) scored on a 1-yard run with 12:19 to play. A two-point conversion run by first-year quarterback Drew Diaz (Niles, Illinois) on the ensuing play failed.
Diaz completed 11-of-26 passes for 91 yards and threw two interceptions. He was also sacked twice. Sophomore Mike Pinter (Naples, Florida) relieved Diaz and completed just 1-of-4 passes for seven yards and threw an interception. The Fire's fourth turnover was a fumble by junior running back Wolf Vos (Amsterdam) that was recovered by LFC.
Senior Bill Meyer (Carey-Grove, Illinois) completed a pass for nine yards and caught a team-high six passes for 42 yards out of his starting slotback position. Meyer also had a good day returning kickoffs: four for 89 yards, including a 29-yard return.
Junior Luke Northam (Colorado Springs, Colorado) led the Fire ground game with nine carries for 65 yards, a 7.2 yards per carry average. Kizior finished with 11 carries for 33 yards.
Knox finished the game with 124 yards rushing on 39 carries and 107 yards passing for 231 total yards of offense. Lake Forest totaled 381 yards of offense, 231 on the ground and 169 passing.
Sophomore defensive lineman/linebacker Mike Hendrick (Smithton, Illinois) had a strong game defensively for the Prairie Fire with 10 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Senior linebacker Kevin Beck (Chicago, Illinois) added nine stops. Junior defensive back Luke Butts had a game-high 13 tackles for the Foresters and first-year defensive back Ed Dobernig picked off two passes.
The Prairie Fire will try to regroup ahead of a huge game Saturday at the Knosher Bowl against Monmouth College, one of the nation's oldest rivalries. The meeting between the two schools will be the 122nd all-time in the Annual Bronze Turkey Game.
The Fighting Scots (5-4, 4-4) are in the unfamiliar position of spoiler this season after dominating Midwest Conference opponents the past two seasons and advancing to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Like the Prairie Fire, the Scots have been hit hard by injuries. The biggest was the loss of all-American senior quarterback Alex Taney early in the season.
Monmouth is coming off an impressive win Saturday against Carroll University, hurting the Pioneers' chances of its first league title in over a decade. The Scots rebounded from a 13-0 deficit going into the fourth quarter to win 16-13 in overtime at April Zorn Memorial Stadium. Monmouth has won three of its last four games and has a 2-2 record away from home.
The Scots defeated the Fire 42-0 at the Knosher Bowl last season, but led just 7-0 after the first half of that game. Saturday's kickoff for the Bronze Turkey Trophy is at 1:00 p.m.
