APPLETON, Wis. — The Lake Forest College football team blocked two fields in the final three minutes, including one on the last play of the game, to hang on for a 14-13 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University on Saturday night in the Banta Bowl.
The Foresters (2-0, 1-0 MWC) also blocked an extra point that proved to be the winning margin.
Lawrence trailed by a point when it took over at its own 36-yard line with 9:51 left. The Vikings took 13 plays to move all the way to the Lake Forest two-yard line before being stopped. Freshman Patrick O’Mahoney lined up for a 19-yard field goal, and the kick was blocked. The ball went out of the end zone and Lake Forest took over at its own 20 with 2:41 left.
Lawrence (0-2, 0-2) was out of timeouts, but the Foresters failed to pick up a first down. Lake Forest did the Vikings a favor by throwing an incomplete pass on third down to stop the clock. Lake Forest punted, and Lawrence got the ball back at its own 23 with 47 seconds left.
Lawrence quarterback Luke Barthelmess hit Sam Wagner with a 32-yard completion on the first play to move the ball to the Lake Forest 45. Barthelmess then ripped off runs of 11 and 24 yards to move to to the Lake Forest 10-yard line.
After a pair of incompletions, the Vikings were called for offensive pass interference with six seconds left. O’Mahoney lined up for a 42-yard field goal, but the kick was blocked again as time expired.
Barthelmess ran 21 times for 124 yards, and he completed 24 of 36 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown. Taylor Mandich grabbed seven passes for 95 yards for the Vikings.
The Lawrence offense piled up 450 yards of offense, including 166 on the ground. The Lawrence defense limited Lake Forest to just 239 yards, and the Foresters were just 3-for-11 on third down.
Alec Howe paced the Lake Forest offense by running 20 times for 121 yards. Quarterback Mike Lewis was 8-for-17 for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Lake Forest took a 7-0 lead when it moved 76 yards in six plays with Lewis connecting with Mike Rantis on a 14-yard touchdown pass. Lawrence answered on its next possession as the Vikings went 77 yards in 11 plays for the score. Barthelmess hit Mandich with a seven-yard scoring pass with 1:34 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
Lawrence then scored on its next possession to take a 13-7 lead. The Vikings went 49 yards in nine plays, with Isaac Barthlemess scoring his first collegiate touchdown on a three-yard run. Jake Rotkvich blocked the extra point, and the Vikings led by six.
Lake Forest then took the lead for good late in the second quarter. The Foresters went 50 yards in seven plays as Charlie Quinn ripped off a 20-yard touchdown run. Lake Forest converted on the extra point and led 14-13 with 4:48 left in the first half.