A sustained drive to start the game looked like it was taking football team everywhere Friday at Lake Forest, but key turnovers and timely defensive plays by the Scouts put the Giants in a hole they could not escape for a 41-8 loss.
Football recap:
Not only did a 60-yard drive, consuming nearly half the first quarter, fail to produce any Highland Park points, an interception and lost fumble became almost immediate points for Lake Forest, putting the Giants in a 27-0 hole near the end of the first half.
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A change in quarterbacks and a switch to a passing strategy in the second half allowed the Giants to score, but not nearly enough to erase a 27-point first half Lake Forest advantage.
After the opening kickoff, and led a running attack, pushing the Giants from their own 21-yard line deep into Scout territory. Echt had 42 yards on seven carries while Sledd took the ball three times for 17 yards.
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“We never swerved from what we were supposed to do,” Giant Coach Hal Chiodo said. “We took the ball right at them.”
Echt and Sledd kept running at Lake Forest. Echt broke loose for runs of 14 and 12 yards while Sledd had one for 11. In between they provided the yeoman effort necessary to notch five first downs during the advance.
The Scouts were not surprised, but there was little they could do as the Giants kept moving the ball up the middle controlling the line of scrimmage and the game.
“We knew what they were going to do, it was expected” Lake Forest linebacker Matt Wagnner said. “They just kept coming up the middle at us.”
Highland Park had the ball inside the Scout 30 as Echt ran for six yards and another two to give the Giants a third and two on the Lake Forest 19. Two more rushes produced nothing as four opposing defenders stopped Echt on a key fourth down play to take control of the ball.
“That was a momentum changer,” Chiodo said of the stop. “When you give it up like that it changes the game.”
Six plays later, Lake Forest had its first touchdown. On its next series a Max Mordini pass was intercepted by Tim Wilson. Two plays later the Scouts’ Owen Williams ran 70 yards for a touchdown and it was 14-0. The next time the Giants got the ball they fumbled and Lake Forest connected two plays later on a touchdown pass. Highland Park was behind 21-0.
Highland Park changed strategies and quarterbacks to start the second half. The running Giants came out passing with Jason Goldstein calling the signals.
“Mordini wasn’t doing anything wrong, we just wanted to give Jason a look,” Chiodo said. “We didn’t feel like we were making plays.”
The highlight of the second half for the Giants was Goldstein’s 72-yard touchdown pass to Alan Ksiazek. It was Ksiazek’s first career touchdown as he caught the ball and outmaneuvered a pair of Scout defenders to race into the end zone.
In the final analysis Chiodo took the blame for the defeat himself and then shared it with the rest of his staff and the players.
“There are 50 players and six coaches,” Chiodo said. “When this happens we all do it together.”
The Giants fell to 0-2 for the season. They entertain New Trier at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Wolters Field.
