Variety benefits Lake Forest in win over Mundelein
The game might have been lopsided, but it wasn’t boring. Lake Forest saw to that.
Scoring on short drives, long drives, an interception return and a safety, the Scouts found a variety of ways to put points on the board Thursday night in a 40-6 North Suburban Lake Division victory over visiting Mundelein.
“We ran the ball better than I thought we’d be able to tonight and our defense did a pretty good job of running at the ball and containing Emanuel Jones,” said Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli.
Jones, who had scored 5 touchdowns in the Mustangs’ first two games, was limited to 48 yards rushing and no scores.
“Hub Cirame has been our most consistent player through the first three games,” Spagnoli said. “He gets yardage even when it isn’t there. And I thought that (quarterback) Regis Durbin played pretty well too. He was very efficient with nice throws and nice decisions.”
The best decision Durbin made was getting the ball into the hands of running back Cirame, who scored 4 touchdowns on runs of 11, 3 and 10 yards, and a 27-yard reception from Durbin (143 yards passing). Cirame now has 11 TDs for the season.
The Scouts (3-0, 1-0) also tallied on a 67-yard interception return by linebacker Jack Kutschke, a 36-yard field goal by Kyle Gattari and a safety on a botched Mundelein punt.
The Mustangs (1-2, 0-1) averted a shutout by scoring on an 8-yard TD pass from sophomore Gavin Graves to wide receiver Dillon O’Donoghue with 2:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. By that time, the game had been played with a running clock for more than a quarter.
Mundelein coach George Kaider saw some positives despite the rout.
“I’m not sure that a Mundelein team has ever knocked them off the ball the way we did tonight,” he said. “I don’t think they expected us to hit them as hard as we did.
“I think our offensive line got a lot better this week and so did our backfield. Matt Hutchinson (61 yards rushing) ran low to the ground and was tough to bring down. And our outside linebacker Alex Edmonds is playing his heart out. I’m really proud of him.”
The Scouts jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on an 11-yard run by Cirame after the Mustangs took a chance and failed on a fourth-and-1 situation at their own 36-yard line.
“They were subbing at the time and we lined up quickly so I thought we could make it,” Kaider said.
Early in the second quarter, Lake Forest capped a nine-play, 73-yard drive with a Durbin to Cirame screen pass that netted 27 yards and a touchdown. The Scouts increased their lead to 21-0 midway through the quarter on Kutschke’s interception return. Cirame’s 3-yard TD run with 5:27 to play before intermission and a safety two minutes later put Lake Forest up 30-zip.
Midway through the third quarter, Cirame scored his fourth touchdown of the evening on a 10-yard run to conclude a 12-play, 93-yard march.
“We had a short week of practice, but it was a solid week and we were ready for their defense,” said Cirame, who had 95 yards rushing before sitting out most of the second half. “We did the job on offense, defense and special teams tonight.”
And it certainly wasn’t boring. At least for Lake Forest fans.