Lake Forest College

It was a happy Homecoming at Lake Forest College after the football team finished off a 72-13 victory over Lawrence University on Saturday.

Scoring for the home team started just 67 seconds into the contest. Three plays after Jeramichael Hernandez returned the opening kickoff 74 yards to the Lawrence 15, tailback Cole Sorensen scored on a 1-yard run.

Wide receiver Dom Esposito caught the first of three touchdown passes from Ethan Springer on the Foresters' next drive. He reached the end zone from 18 yards out in the first quarter, 40 in the second, and 8 in the third. Esposito led all players in the game with seven receptions for 98 yards and has already scored nine times this season. Springer was 21-for-31 for 234 yards and four touchdown passes on the day and has now tossed 22 touchdown passses against just one interception this year.

Lake Forest's 28-point opening quarter also included a 2-yard touchdown pass from Springer to wideout Payton Ross and a 6-yard rushing touchdown by running back Javion McKinney.

McKinney struck again from six yards out early in the second quarter and Taylen Goodwin added a 7-yard touchdown on the ground later in the period. Esposito's second score of the day raised the Foresters' halftime tally to 49 points, tying the fourth-highest total in program history. Their 72 points overall matched last year's score against Lawrence, which ranks fifth in team annals.

Esposito's final touchdown of the contest was followed by the first of senior Simon Micula's career on a 2-yard run. Micula was the game's leading rusher with 70 yards on 15 attempts.

Lawrence got on the scoreboard with 6:41 to play in the third quarter but the extra point attempt was blocked by Evan Vernon and returned 92 yards by Kaden Kern for a defensive 2-point conversion, Kern's second of the season and third in his career.

McKinney closed out the scoring for Lake Forest on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter and the Vikings found the end zone again for the final score early in the fourth.

Hudson Schambach followed each of the Foresters' 11 touchdowns with successful extra points to match his career high and the second-highest single-game total in school history. He has already tied the program record for career extra points with 95 in just 15 games.

Lake Forest out-gained Lawrence 514-231 and did not commit a turnover while forcing three. The second quarter began with cornerback Payton Smith's second interception of the season and ended with Owen Pimbert picking off a pass for the first time in his career. Vernon added his second interception in as many games and returned it 39 yards to set up Micula's third quarter score.

Linebacker Zachariah Brayboy and defensive end Preston Mosher shared the team lead with four tackles apiece and Mosher accounted for one of the Foresters' five sacks. Merino Merola had 2.0 tackles for loss and Ben Jones 1.5.

The victory raised the Foresters' overall record to 5-0 and Midwest Conference mark to 3-0. Lawrence, meanwhile, fell to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Lake Forest will travel to Ripon College next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.