Lake Forest pulls away against Mundelein
Host Mundelein was hoping to get its first football victory of the 2008 season Friday night in front of its large homecoming crowd.
But after a scoreless first quarter, visiting Lake Forest took advantage of a couple of miscues by the Mustangs' punting game to take a 10-0 lead into halftime in this North Suburban Conference contest.
From there, the Scouts (3-2, 1-2) would really get rolling as they posted a 36-0 Lake Division victory with a consistent passing game leading the way throughout the contest.
A mishandled snap on a punt led to Lake Forest's first points as the Scouts took over at the Mustangs' 14-yard-line.
Mundelein safety Mike O'Donoghue came up with a big deflection of Lake Forest quarterback Thomas Rees pass to force fourth down, but the Scouts got a 31-yard field goal from junior Drew O'Neill to take a 3-0 lead with 4:23 remaining in the second quarter.
Then on Mundelein's next punt attempt, Lake Forest's Jonathan Sobinsky came up with a blocked punt as the Scouts took over at their own 43-yard-line.
Two plays later, Rees hit Connor Moutvic on a dead run down near the left sideline as Moutvic raced 39 yards for the touchdown and a 10-0 lead with 2:15 left in the first half.
Mundelein (0-5, 0-3) was unable to contain the Scouts' offensive attack in the third quarter as Lake Forest marched 60 yards on 10 plays with Rees hitting John Cavalaris for a 15-yard touchdown pass on a screen play for a 16-0 lead with 6:35 left in the period.
Mundelein starting quarterback Brian Santiago played the first half and one series to open the second half before leaving the game midway through the third quarter due to a concussion.
Reserve quarterback Joe DeJesus did have some success moving the ball for the Mustangs' offense, but they could never find the end zone.
"I thought our defense played very well in the first half, but we just couldn't get the ball in the end zone offensively," said Mundelein coach Bob Stone. "We moved the ball alright at times, but we just couldn't get the big play."
Another mishandled punt attempt gave the Scouts the ball on the Mundelein 29 late in the third quarter.
Lake Forest would score quickly as junior running back Eric Gerber weaved through traffic en route to a 17-yard touchdown run before O'Neill's extra point made the score 23-0 with 4:58 left in the third quarter.
Then on the first play of the fourth quarter, Rees hit Moutvic with a 50-yard TD pass despite O'Donoghue being all over Moutvic defensively.
Senior Kenny Jernigan led the Mustangs with 79 yards on 15 carries while teammate Ricky Voss added 32 yards on 10 rushes. Rees was 17-for-32 passing for 196 yards.