There are enough roles on a football team for players to take on more than one, and Timotei Dan epitomizes that for Lake Forest.
Whether Dan is using his words to motivate his teammates, relentlessly roaming the field after the whistle blows or kicking field goals, he has the unique ability to make everyone around him raise their game.
“Tim, in a large way, is the heart and soul of our team,” Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli said. “What it comes down to is trust, and there’s not one guy in that locker room that doesn’t trust Tim Dan with anything.”
For three years running, Dan has been a mainstay in the middle of the Scouts’ defense. The senior linebacker plays bigger than his 5-foot-11, 195-pound frame would seem to allow in the running game and has enough speed and instinct to effectively flow into pass coverage. Dan is also Lake the Scouts’ placekicker.
Every ounce of all of Dan’s traits were put to the test during Lake Forest’s wild 42-35 North Suburban Conference win against previously unbeaten Libertyville at home on Friday.
The Scouts (6-2, 4-2) withstood a furious comeback that wasn’t fully extinguished until Wildcats senior quarterback Quinn Schambow’s fourth-and-2 pass into the end zone fell incomplete with just over a minute remaining.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with a louder crowd than that,” Dan said. “There was a lot on the line. On that last play, my responsibility was to guard the running back. I was getting ready for a rush, but he threw it, and we sealed the deal.”
To do so, Dan and his defensive teammates underwent an in-game makeover after Libertyville (7-1, 5-1) jumped to a 14-0 lead in the game’s first six minutes and put up 21 points in the first quarter. The Scouts yielded just 14 points the rest of the way, and seven of those came at the end of a 19-yard drive following Libertyville senior Sam Seth’s long kickoff return.
“I changed to being assigned to sit in the tackle box and get ready for anything going outside, in case the quarterback breaks contain or if there’s anything shallow coming in,” Dan said. “I was there to clean up any mess.”
If it sounds like Dan resembled a security blanket, it’s probably not a coincidence. That’s how he is viewed by his teammates as well as his coaches.
“You don’t have to worry about replacing him in situations,” Spagnoli said. “He’s going to play, and he’s going to give you everything he’s got. Most of the time, everything he has is more than enough. His character carries us.”
So does Dan’s voice. On Friday, he used it for an impromptu prayer that was initiated by junior Finley Michael. Dan often goes through the same regimen with a couple of his teammates, but it turned into something larger after Michael’s suggestion.
“We all sat in a circle arm in arm, he would say a couple of words and we would repeat them,” Lake Forest senior running back Marty Hippel said. “It was awesome, and I had a good feeling afterward.”
Although the message, which ended with a line about sacrificing for one another, wasn’t planned, Dan didn’t blink an eye about delivering it.
“The team knows I’m a spiritual guy, and I was waiting for like 10 guys to enter the room, and we were going to huddle,” he said. “And then I saw guys coming in and coming in, and we got pretty much the whole team in there. That was quite a sight to see. It’s a real morale boost.”
Lake Forest counts on Dan to provide those on the field, and he delivers.
“The biggest thing is to play to your strength,” he said. “I think my strength is that I have a nose for the ball, and I work on the mental aspect of the game as much as I can. And then the technique is going to overcome the genetic disadvantages I have.”
Dan, who said he was born in Romania and then moved to Great Britain, played soccer when he was little. He moved to the northern suburbs in third grade and began playing football four years later.
Dan still makes use of his right foot, though, as the Scouts’ kicker. He was good on both of his field-goal attempts on Friday, connecting from 25 yards and 34 yards.
“Among my siblings, we speak English because that’s easier for us,” Dan said. “My parents still speak Romanian. That’s my maternal language. But here’s where I am today, and I’m thankful for it.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.