Lake Forest thrives, at Mundelein's expense

This was definitely not the kind of senior night the Mundelein football team had envisioned Friday night as the Mustangs hosted Lake Forest.

But with some of its top players out of the lineup, including top running back Aaron Woolford, Mundelein really struggled offensively as the Scouts built an insurmountable 40-0 halftime lead before rolling to a 40-7 North Suburban Conference victory.

Lake Forest (5-3, 3-3) looks like it will be headed for the playoffs, and can assure itself of postseason play with a victory over Waukegan in the final regular-season game next weekend.

The Mustangs fell to 2-6 overall, and 1-5 in the NSC as they head into their final game of the season next weekend at Lake Zurich.

From the outset Friday, Lake Forest set the tone with its explosive offense as senior running back Liam Pooler (68 yards on 5 carries) scored on a 31-yard TD run 1:25 into the contest before teammate Jack Brush's extra point made the score 7-0.

Besides Woolford, who is expected to return next week at Lake Zurich, the Mustangs also lost defensive back Nik Fisher to a concussion in the first quarter while defensive back/wide receiver Abram Nazario also missed much of the game due to a series of injuries. Nazario is also Mundelein's top punter and kicker. Key linebacker Sabian Rivera also missed the game for the Mustangs.

Mundelein junior quarterback Anthony Norris was hampered by the absence of Woolford in the backfield as the Scouts really kept the pressure on Norris all night with the Mustangs' offense forced into numerous negative-yardage plays.

Lake Forest's second possession resulted in a 6-play, 60-yard scoring drive as Andrew Athenson powered his way through the line of scrimmage on his way to a 24-yard TD run and a quick 14-0 advantage.

Then on the Scouts' next possession, quarterback Charlie Reinkemeyer (57 yards on 4 carries) made a great spin move before bolting 26 yards for the touchdown and a 20-0 lead with 3:27 left in the first quarter.

"We took advantage of some opportunities, and offensively I don't think we could have played much better," said Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli, whose team had 228 of its 378 total yards on the ground. "When you can run the football good things happen, and confidence is always an important thing."

The Scouts extended their lead to 26-0 when Pooler broke some tackles at the end of his 15-yard TD run early in the second quarter.

Reinkemeyer (5-for-8, 120 yards) hit teammate Reed Thomas with a 21-yard screen pass for the touchdown on a second-and-goal from the 21 play to boost the lead to 33-0 midway through the second quarter.

Then Bryan Ooms' broke off a 31-yard TD run going left before the extra point by Brush boosted the lead to 40-0 with 2:34 left in the first half.

"We had a couple of kids out and and our best player (Woolford) was not in the game, but they battled hard tonight probably without half of our starters in the lineup," said Mundelein coach Larry Calhoun, whose team really struggled offensively. "But hats off to Lake Forest, they're an excellent team and they're well coached."

The Mustangs did put together a long, and time-consuming scoring drive to open the second half as Norris (7-for-12, 76 yards) guided Mundelein on a 65-yard march into the end zone.

It took a whopping 15 plays to get the job done with a key 24-yard pass to Cameron Jobe taking the ball down to the Lake Forest 18-yard-line.

Then on fourth-and-goal from the 4, Norris found sophomore Jake Vander Ploeg in the right corner of the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass before the extra point by Marc Rey accounted for the final score.

Vander Ploeg had 28 yards on 9 carries in limited duty late in the game while teammate Isaiah Wellman had 28 yards on 8 rushes. Lake Forest's Evan Swint added 53 yards on 5 attempts while Ooms had 45 yards on 3 carries.