Lake Forest responded to early wakeup call

Updated: October 5, 2011 7:31PM

On the list of statistical oddities is this about Lake Forest’s football team.

On opening day, the Scouts lost 31-24 to a Buffalo Grove team that hasn’t won a game since. Meanwhile, Lake Forest hasn’t lost a game since, and has given up just 39 points in the last five contests.

So, what changed between Week 1 and Week 2 for the Blue/Gold?

“We really cracked down on being focused in practice,” said senior linebacker Brandt Pfeifer. “Our practices got a lot more intense. That first week, we weren’t playing together as a unit. Since then, everybody is reading their keys and concentrating on their responsibilities.”

Senior linebacker/safety Nick O’Keefe agreed with the Game 1 assessment.

“I played like crap in Week 1 so, personally, I was embarrassed,” he said. “Me and our quarterback (Jordan Beck) stayed in the locker room for hours (after the loss) talking about the changes we had to make. We talked about how it had to be a new season, almost. We started out in practice that week with a whole new attitude. I think the whole team embraced that.”

Since then, Lake Forest has beaten Highland Park, Mundelein, Zion-Benton, North Chicago and Stevenson ,but has a real danger game on Thursday night, at home against Warren.

The Devils are just 2-4 and have been in must-win playoff mode since starting the year 0-4 — all losses against powerhouse teams. They have to win out against Lake Forest, Libertyville and Grant to join Lake Forest in the postseason. Plus, Lake Forest hasn’t beaten Warren since 2006 and is 2-11 in the last 13 minutes in the battle of Blue/Gold.

“We’re aware of it (Warren’s must-win situation),” said Lake Forest star running back Owen Williams. “If we had four losses right now, I know we’d be really fired up for this game. We have to go out there and do what we do … we have to keep working as hard as we have every week.”

If you’re comparison shopping, Lake Forest beat Stevenson 10-7 last week while Warren lost to the Patriots last month.

Defense figures to be the key in Thursday’s battle.

“It’s unbelievable to have a defense that can get you 3-and-outs,” said Williams. “It takes a lot of pressure off our offense. Any time you can hold Stevenson to seven points, you’ve done a great job.”

This week’s game is being played on Thursday because of a religious holiday over the weekend.

Warren is passing more this season than in the past, but Lake Forest is comfortable defending any type of offense.

“Our offense embraces that type of offense too,” said Keefe. “I was a sophomore when we had Tommy Rees (now the starting QB for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame), so that’s when I learned what a spread offense looks like. So, we go up against it in practice all the time. There’s really no offense that takes us out of comfort zone.

“We play fast and we play hard. We can adapt to pretty much anything.”

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