Ripon, WI - The Prairie Fire is represented by four players on the 2011 All-Midwest Conference Football Team.
The selections are junior linebacker
Mike Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg High School), sophomore running back
Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South High School), sophomore offensive lineman
Jordan Willits (Aledo, IL, Mercer County High School), and junior punter
Doug Lillibridge (Byron, IL, Byron High School).
Hendrick was named MWC First Team All-Conference on defense after setting three new Knox football records. He finished the season leading all of NCAA Division III in total tackles, solo tackles, assisted tackles, and average tackles per game.
Hendrick owns four tackles records at Knox and his name is associated with 10 all-time top 10 marks for tackles. He broke the all-time single-season tackles record of 141 set in 1991 by Tracy Rodgers during the first half of the Prairie Fire’s season finale at Monmouth College on November 5. Hendrick entered the game one tackle short of tying the record, and then set the new mark with seven tackles by halftime. He finished with a game-high 17 stops, increasing his season total to 157.
Besides leading the nation in tackles, Hendrick topped the Midwest Conference by a wide margin, while also leading the league and the country with his average of 15.7 tackles per game. He also set the all-time tackles record in a game with 26 on September 24 at home against Beloit College. The previous record of 23 was held by Del Camp since October of 1968.
The third record Hendrick set in 2011 was solo tackles in a season. He finished with 75, besting Tyler Hill’s 54 solo tackles during the 2006 season.
In addition, Hendrick owns the record for solo tackles in a game, 14, which he had in 2010 at Illinois College. He also ranks second with 12 solo stops, which he achieved earlier this season against Beloit.
Willits, who was named MWC Second Team All-Conference, is one of only three sophomore offensive linemen to earn all-league accolades. He helped the Prairie Fire rush for an average of 154.5 yards per game and 18 touchdowns. The Knox running game averaged nearly 4 yards per carry with Willits manning the line all 10 games in 2011.
Lillibridge was named MWC Second Team All-Conference as a punter. He was second in the conference with an average of 38.6 yards per kick, third best in school history, and he booted an 83 yard punt on September 17 at St. Norbert College that was the longest in the conference this season and ranks as the third longest in school history. Lillibridge had nine punts inside the opponent’s 20 yard line in 2011 and has 23 in his career, which ranks third all-time at Knox.
Lillibridge was also instrumental in the Prairie Fire’s punt game ranking of fourth place in the conference. The Prairie Fire averaged 36.6 yards per punt, tied for second in the MWC, and averaged 32.9 net yards per punt.
Mortensen received All-MWC Honorable Mention honors at running back in his return to the gridiron after an injury in 2010 cut short his first season.
A powerful runner, Mortensen finished the season with 795 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on the ground. He ranked third in the conference in rushing touchdowns, sixth in total yards and his 79.5 average yards per game was seventh. He went over 100 yards rushing three times this season and scored a touchdown in three consecutive games twice.
Mortensen’s four touchdowns in the last game of the season at Monmouth ties him for second all-time at Knox, he’s sixth for most rushing attempts in a season with 207, and he ranks fourth for most rushing TDs in a season with the 11 he scored in 2011.
Link to All-Midwest Conference football teams
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