Sangamon Sun

Lake Forest, Ill. – Lake Forest College handed the Illinois College football team its first defeat of the 2024 season, outlasting the Blueboys, 42-35, on Saturday at Farwell Field.

Illinois College dropped to 1-1 for the season while the Foresters improved to 2-0. The contest marked the Midwest Conference opener for both teams.

Lake Forest jumped out to a quick lead when Josiah Kidd returned a blocked punt 21 yards for a touchdown. LFC missed the extra point and held a 6-0 advantage.

The Blueboys responded when Collin Brunstein caught a 20-yard pass from Destin Chance. Toby McTamney's extra point gave Illinois College a 7-6 lead. Lake Forest closed out the first quarter scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run by AJ Jackson.

Illinois College surged in the second quarter as Trey Birdsong scored on a 26-yard pass from Chance followed by another connection between Chance and Brunstein, this time from 74 yards out. McTamney successfully kicked both extra points, giving Illinois College a 21-13 lead.

Jackson found the end zone for Lake Forest just before halftime on a 7-yard run, narrowing Illinois College's lead to 21-20 at halftime.

The second half opened with another Jackson touchdown, this time from 10 yards out, giving Lake Forest a 27-21 lead going into the final quarter.

Brunstein and Chance connected for their third touchdown reception to open the fourth quarter on a 64-yard play, making it 28-27 in favor of Illinois College before Jackson tallied twice more to give Lake Forest a commanding 42-28 lead.

The Blueboys got within one touchdown when Jordan Bethany scored on an 11-yard pass from Chance but could not close the gap further.

Illinois College outgained Lake Forest, amassing 505 yards compared to LFC's 370. Chance completed 17 of his 40 passes for an impressive total of five touchdowns and accumulated over four hundred passing yards. Brunstein had seven receptions totaling three scores and over two hundred receiving yards while Birdsong also recorded seven catches amounting to over one hundred receiving yards.

Ethan Billingsley and Cam Dailey led defensively with eleven tackles each while Larvell Watkins contributed eight stops.

Notably, Illinois College saw its nine-game regular-season winning streak come to an end. Destin Chance now has seventy-eight career touchdown passes, ranking third in school history. Already holding records for reception yards and receiving touchdowns at IC, Brunstein increased his totals significantly during this game and is approaching further milestones in career catches.

Next up for Illinois College is their home debut against Ripon at England Stadium next Saturday with kickoff scheduled for early afternoon.