The Lake Forest Scouts varsity football team’s playoff hopes were on the line Friday night at Zion-Benton High School. Coincidentally, the Zee-Bees also had to win to have a chance to keep their postseason hopes alive. The game began with the Scouts looking the same as they had in the past four games. The defense was focused on keeping the game close and the offense was having trouble getting hot. Entering the final quarter of play, it seemed like the same story was about to unfold for Lake Forest, but something miraculous happened that Scouts fans hadn’t seen since the St. Viator early on the season: a comeback.
The first half of play was simply a mirror image of the Scouts’ early struggles from the past four games. With just a little less than half of the first quarter complete, Zion Benton was able to cross the goal line first, giving them a 6-0 advantage over the Scouts after a missed extra point. Following the Zee-Bees score, the Scouts were putting together a promising drive until Jack Mislinski was picked off at the goal line, ending what could have been a game-tying scoring drive.
The second quarter wasn’t pretty for either team. The Lake Forest Scouts offense, yet again, was shut down by the Zee-Bees surprisingly strong defense. In fact, the Zee-Bees forced a safety which resulted in an 8-0 lead over the Scouts in the first half. The Scouts had one more promising drive at the end of the half, but were stopped on the goal line on 4th down, unable to decrease the Zion-Benton’s lead heading into the final half of play.
After a seemingly uneventful third quarter with no scoring on either side, the Lake Forest Scouts had 12 minutes to keep their playoff hopes alive. The offense needed to wake up, and the defense needed to halt Zion-Benton at 8 points in order to keep the Scouts within striking distance. With the clock inside seven minutes, the Scouts offense began to put together another promising drive, and this time it was successful. Jack Mislinski threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Ryan Cekay on 4th and 11 from the 16 yard line. This set the Lake Forest faithful who traveled the 30 minutes to Zion-Benton into a frenzy, boosting the momentum of the Scouts on the field. At that point, the Scouts were still trailing by two, therefore they attempted a two point conversion, which ultimately failed. Fortunately, the Scouts defense stepped up and was able to get the ball back to the offense with enough time to put together a game-winning drive.
With a little over 90 seconds left to play in the contest, the Scouts handed the ball off to their trustworthy running back junior Jacob Thomas, who they were hoping would get Lake Forest closer to the end zone to set up a last second TD pass. Thomas, though, had something better in mind. Jacob Thomas found a hole in the Zee-Bees defense and the rest was history. Thomas found himself in the end zone greeted by his jubilant teammates and a roar of the crowd behind the Lake Forest sideline after a breakout run. Lake Forest tacked on two more points on a two point conversion giving the Scouts a 14-8 lead. The defense put the finishing touches on the Zee-Bees, putting their loyal fans who withstood a rainy night in Zion into a state of shock.
In the fourth quarter, the Lake Forest Scouts faced a major challenge, but they stood their ground and wouldn’t back down, resulting in the return to glory celebration they had been waiting on for over a month.
By all means, Friday night was not a pretty win, but at this point in the season, the Lake Forest Scouts took what they could get. With three wins on the season, the Scouts still need to win out to have at least a chance of making it to the playoffs. If they hit the five win mark, there will most likely get the points required to make it into the IHSA 6A playoff field. Up next for the Lake Forest Scouts will be the Mundelein Mustangs, who were recently dominated by the Libertyville Wildcats 42-0. It will be senior night at Varsity Field Friday night, so make sure to come out and support your very own Lake Forest Scouts, which will be the last time the majority of the football team plays on their home turf.
Players Of The Game:
Jacob Thomas: Talk about clutch. When the Scouts needed it the most, Thomas delivered. The junior running back ended the night with 148 yards, 2 catches, and the biggest TD run of his varsity career.
Ryan Cekay: Cekay had the other big touchdown Friday night for the Scouts. His 16 yard scoring catch went along with five others that tallied over 115 yards. He will be a key component of the Scouts offense if they want to win these next two games.
John Deering: Deering had an incredible game Friday night. The senior had six tackles along with one of those being a TFL (tackle for a loss). He was a huge reason why the Scouts kept the Zee-Bees under ten points.
Jack Mislinski: Mislinski seems to be turning things around for the Scouts offense. Although he got off to a rough start, he was cool under pressure in the late stages of the game. He went 10-28 on passing for 138 yards.
Spencer Yauch: Yauch was yet another key component to the Scouts defense Friday night. With four tackles, two TFLs, and one sack, Spencer Yauch was one of the defensive players of the game.
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