On Friday night the Lake Forest Scouts varsity football team faced elimination from the IHSA playoffs for the second week in a row against the struggling (2-5) Mundelein Mustangs. Coming off an incredible late game comeback victory over Zion-Benton, the team’s confidence was very high heading into their matchup against the Mustangs. In the first half, the Scouts offense dominated Mundelein, but following a slow third quarter, the Mustangs suddenly made what looked to be a blowout into a close football game at the end.

It did not take the Scouts long at all to march down the field and score on their opening drive. As the Scouts inched towards their red zone, QB Jack Mislinski was able to find some running room and was able to cross the goal line and score only 2:32 into the game. Mundelein, however, had a rapid answer.

After Jack Brush sent a booming kick off that went all the way to the five yard line, the Mundelein return man, Abram Nazario, found a hole in the Scouts special teams and seconds later was in front of every player wearing a blue and gold jersey. Nazario took it to the house for a 95 yard TD return cutting the Scouts lead to one after a missed extra point.

With Mundelein knocking on the door, the Scouts were able to tack on one more touchdown before the first half whistle when Mislinski connected on a pass to John Deering, an unfamiliar face on offense, for a four yard TD. This score gave the Scouts a 14-6 lead heading into the 2nd quarter. Lake Forest’s first half scoring outburst would not stop there as they continued to add onto their lead before the first half came to a close.

After Mundelein failed to score on the opening drive of the second quarter, the Scouts offense got back to business on yet another scoring drive that ended with a one yard rushing TD for the Scouts, adding onto their double digit lead. Lake Forest was able to tack on one more touchdown just 17.6 seconds before halftime to give them an overwhelming 22-point lead over the visiting Mustangs. Little did they know that 28 points was not enough to defeat the feisty Mustangs.

Neither team really came out of the half looking sharper than they did in the first two quarters of play. At the beginning of the quarter, both teams traded the ball due to a series of defensive stops and turnovers. With 3:19 left however, Bryan Ooms was able to break the plane on an 8-yard run, giving the Scouts a whopping 29 point lead. After three great quarters, the Scouts may have played their worst quarter all season.

With less than three minutes left in the game, the Scouts put in a majority of their backups knowing that it would take a miracle for the Mustangs to come back. Mundelein, though, suddenly gained momentum and scored when Anthony Norris completed a four yard TD pass to Isiah Wellman. The Mustangs didn’t stop there. After recovering an onside kick to keep them in the game, Norris connected with Abram Nazario on a 16 yard TD pass making the difference only two touchdowns. Believe it or not, the Mustangs still were not done. After forcing a three and out on defense, the Mustangs added seven more points to the scoreboard after a 20 yard TD by Isaiah Wellman to cut the lead to seven. Now, with just 13.4 seconds left, the only chance the Mustangs had was recovering an onside kick and scoring on a Hail Mary touchdown. Luckily, the Scouts recovered the football on the kickoff, allowing the offense to go into the victory formation and complete what should have been a blowout victory over the Mustangs.

The Scouts won by the final score of 35-28, which is much closer than many would have expected given their lead heading into the 4th quarter. If Mundelein started this comeback five or so minutes before the game ended, then, given the Mustangs momentum, it would not have surprised me if the game would have gone to overtime. Luckily it didn’t and the Lake Forest Scouts playoff hopes are still alive with one game remaining in the regular season.

Up next for the Scouts will be the Waukegan Bulldogs who are winless in the 2017 calendar year. The Scouts are favored more than they have been all year to knock off Waukegan, which would mean that their playoff hopes would be in the hands of the IHSA committee. From here on out, the games will only become more intense for the Lake Forest Scouts.

Players of The Game:

Jack Mislinski: Friday night’s game may have been Mislinski’s most impressive game all season. He completed 15 of his 20 passes for 148 yards and rushed for a touchdown. He was one of the main reasons why the Scouts put up 35 points.

Bryan Ooms: Ooms had one of his better nights at the running back position against Mundelein. He ran for 73 yards on ten carries including two touchdowns

John Deering: Deering played another big role on defense for the Scouts Friday night with four tackles on defense. In addition to his dominance on the defensive side of the ball, Deering also got a touchdown on offense.

Scouts Offensive Line: The Scouts O-Line may have had their best performance of the year against the Mustangs. They did a phenomenal job of protecting their quarterback allowing more time to make higher quality passes and also made holes for Lake Forest’s running game.

Statistics:

Team

Individual: