LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Upon arrival to Varsity Field on Saturday afternoon, the Lake Forest Scouts knew ahead of time that their matchup against the Hoffman Estates Hawks could be their final game of the season. And for the seniors, it could be their final game suited up in blue and gold. However, riding a four-game win streak and backed by plenty of momentum, Lake Forest knew that they had the talent to move on to the IHSA 6A Quarterfinals with a win. After taking the field on a cold, rainy day at West Campus, the Scouts made a statement early. But as the game progressed, they made a series of mistakes that allowed the Hawks to take control of the game, leaving the Scouts in the dust in their final 2017 performance at Varsity Field.
Saying everything went right for the Scouts in the first quarter would be a little bit of an overstatement, but they definitely played like a quarterfinal caliber team. With 9:14 remaining in the first, Mislinski threw a 43-yard dime to Luke Nolan who got the Scouts on the board early to take a 7-0 lead. Towards the end of the quarter, Hoffman Estates responded with a one-yard TD run which cut the Scouts lead to one after a blocked extra point. Things seemed to go downhill from there for the Scouts once the Hawks offense got comfortable in the offensive scheme.
It didn’t take Hoffman Estates long at all to take the lead in the second quarter. Following an interception in the Scouts’ red zone to close on the first quarter, the Hawks scored an easy touchdown six seconds into the 2nd quarter, taking a 14-7 lead after a successful two point conversion. For the final time in the game, the Scouts had an answer to a Hoffman Estates touchdown. Just minutes later, Bryan Ooms scored his first touchdown of the game to tie the game up at 14. But the Hawks refused to enter halftime with the game tied. With 8:37 to go in the 1st half, Will Nune caught a 24 yard TD to give Hoffman Estates a 21-14 advantage, and yet they still weren’t done. Following a tip drill interception by Jalen Alexander with just over five minutes left in the quarter, Jayvon Blissett crossed the plane for an 8-yard TD on the ensuing drive, expanding the Hawks lead to 14 heading into the half. The Scouts were all of a sudden in trouble and needed a huge response in the second half in order to keep their season alive.
Nothing seemed to change in the third quarter. Just under four minutes into the second half, Hoffman Estates scored another touchdown, practically icing the game with a 35-14 lead. The Hawks managed to score one more touchdown before the end of the 3rd on a 27-yard TD pass from Austin Coalson. At the end of the third, it was clear who the winner was going to be. That momentum, that confidence, and that pride the Scouts had on their four-game winning streak had vanished while Hoffman Estates began to celebrate a quarterfinal berth.
The Hawks’ star wide receiver, Javor Blissett, caught a seven-yard TD to begin the 4th quarter to expand their lead to 48-14. The Scouts began to make a bit of a comeback towards the end of the game with a rushing touchdown from Bryan Ooms and a fumble recovery in the endzone by Spencer Yauch, but it ended up being too little too late for the Scouts as they fell 48-28 to the Hoffman Estates Hawks.
Just by looking at the stats, it is easy to tell that the Lake Forest Scouts performed nowhere near the level they did last week again Riverside-Brookfield. The Scouts’ running game wasn’t superb as both Jacob Thomas and Bryan Ooms racked up less yardage than they did the week prior, while Ryan Cekay didn’t showcase the production that he had last week against R-B either. The Scouts also made some crucial mistakes, too. Jack Mislinski, who only completed 50% of his passes this week, threw two unlucky interceptions that were both tipped around and caught by the Hawks defense. On defense, Lake Forest’s cornerbacks and safeties struggled against Hoffman Estates talented receivers such as Jaylan Alexander, a Purdue commit, and Jayvon Blissett. All of this and more resulted in the Scouts defeat that brought an end to their season.
When you look back at this season and try to analyze if it was successful, there are a few things that need to come into consideration. Turn back the clock to the Scouts’ Thursday night game against Lake Zurich. After suffering their fourth loss in a row after losing to the Bears 27-0, they realized that they were one loss away from being eliminated from playoff contention. With so many people doubting this team, often labeling them as a “bust” or “disappointment” heading into their game against Zion-Benton, Lake Forest blocked out the negativity and went on to win in an epic 4th quarter comeback. From there, the struggling offense got red-hot and the Scouts defense continued to exceed expectations as they defeated Mundelein and Waukegan, giving them a 5-4 record at the end of the season and most importantly, a ticket to the playoffs.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Scouts faced off against the #2 seed in the 6A bracket, the Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs. In what many thought would be a blowout Bulldogs victory, the Scouts proved the exact opposite to be true as they obliterated Riverside-Brookfield in one of the biggest upsets of the year in 6A. Piecing it all together, this team may not have been as good as some of the teams of previous years, or stole the whole city’s attention, but they did have one thing: pride. They had pride in each other, pride in their coaches, pride for the sport, of course, the willingness to never back down even when the times got tough.
The Lake Forest Scouts Varsity Football team did have a successful year and the players and coaches should be proud. This is the end of a lot of the football players’ careers while some of them will begin a new chapter playing college ball. There is one thing that they will never lose collectively, and that is Scout pride.
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