Carmel QB deals with adversity, but Lake Forest walks away with 24-14 win

Not many high school football players have multiple Power 4 offers before starting their first varsity game, so Carmel quarterback Trae Taylor is dealing with some unique pressure.

Part of the journey is learning to deal with adversity and the Corsairs got plenty of it Friday night in Mundelein. Lake Forest scored 3 unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter and pulled off a 24-14 nonconference victory.

Taylor finished the night 19-for-41 through the air for 308 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Lake Forest senior QB Danny Van Camp had a big game, going 15-for-19 for 321 yards. He threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another.

“I feel like tonight was not like a shocker, but, 'Hey, this is what we could see,'” Taylor said. “First time I've really seen this. You've just got to bounce back from it. A loss is a loss. At the end of the day, of course, I know the job for me is to take the blame. We didn't put up points and my job is to score points.”

Taylor was planning to wake up very early Saturday morning and drive to Ann Arbor, where he'll watch Michigan, one of the schools that has offered, take on Texas.

Some other reported offers are from Ohio State, Oklahoma, Miami, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Ole Miss and many, many others.

“I'm not going to take my mind off of this game because college is still three years away and we're working for state in a couple months,” he said. “We've got to fix it. This is not acceptable from me nor the offense, so just got to fix it.”

Taylor started Friday's game with a 48-yard pass to Jameer Miles, but that drive ended in a missed field goal. Taylor showed some nice footwork and late in the first half, he rolled right and hit Eli Jackson for a 13-yard touchdown to put Carmel up 7-3 at half.

The third quarter was all Lake Forest, though. Van Camp hit sophomore Jack Burger in stride on a crossing route and he took it for an 86-yard TD. Van Camp later scrambled to the sideline and threw across his body to Charlie Markee, who made a lunging catch on his knees to set up another TD.

“We were so ready for it,” Van Camp said. “We schemed up a lot of plays, a lot of formations, shifts, motions for these guys. We've got a lot of depth, over 40 seniors that want to win. It's a culture you can't really beat at Lake Forest. All in the same town, we all grew up together. It means a lot more at Lake Forest.”

Van Camp's 22-yard TD to Luke Pasquesi made it 24-7 at the end of 3. Taylor had to deal with a lot of pressure from the pass rush, but added a 20-yard TD pass to Jackson in the fourth.