Mount Vernon, IA – The Prairie Fire utilized a potent ground game to build a third quarter lead, but Cornell College scored three of the last four touchdowns to escape with a 42-38 win on Saturday.

Junior tailback Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South) ran for a career-high 223 yards on 37 carries and found the end zone three times.  The 223 yards ranks fifth all-time in a game for Knox and the 37 carries is tied for fourth all-time.

The Prairie Fire finished the game with 285 rushing yards as junior Cort Scheel (Wilmington, IL, University of Dubuque) added 61 on 11 carries.

Senior Mike Schroeder (Glenview, IL, Glenbrook South) broke his second school record of the season for the Fire.  He now holds the all-time mark for kick return yards in a season with 810 after totaling 108 against Cornell.  The previous record was 806 by Demetrius Evans in 1985.

Schroeder set a new record for career kick return yards in week four at Lake Forest College.

A 21-yard field goal by junior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) with 5:34 to play in the third quarter gave Knox (1-6, 1-5 MWC) a 31-21 lead, a string of 24 straight points by the Prairie Fire.

Cornell scored the first two touchdowns of the game, one on a 21-yard pass play at 11:51 in the first quarter and the other on a 42-yard run about 5 1/2 minutes later, for a 14-0 lead.

Mortensen scored his first touchdown at the 4:14 mark of the opening quarter on a 25-yard run that capped a 5-play, 56-yard drive to cut the deficit to 14-7.

The Rams (3-3, 3-2 MWC) responded just 10 seconds later with a 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 21-7 advantage.

Mortensen scored his second touchdown from 1-yard out with 1:49 before halftime to trim Cornell’s lead to 21-14.

The Prairie Fire tied the game at 21-21 when first-year quarterback Luke Oosterbaan (Palos Heights, IL, Marist) hit junior wide receiver Dustin Armstrong (Cincinnati, OH, Country Day) with a 14-yard touchdown pass at the 10:32 mark of the third quarter. 

Oosterbaan tossed his second touchdown pass when he connected with tight end Neal Moon (Kahoka, MO, Clark County R-1 ) from 21 yards out with 8:56 to play in the third frame to give Knox its first lead of the game at 28-21.  Tallman’s field goal gave the Prairie Fire its largest lead of the game.

Cornell stormed back on a 34-yard pass play with 2:57 in the third quarter for a score to cut the Knox advantage to 31-28.  The Rams reclaimed the lead at 35-31 on a 20-yard pass play with 55 seconds remaining in the third frame.

Knox grabbed its final lead of the game at 38-35 on a 1-yard run by Mortensen just 1:46 into the final quarter.

The Rams held the Fire scoreless the rest of the way while scoring what turned out to be the winning touchdown with 8:33 left in the game on a 4-yard run to go up 42-38.

The teams combined for 990 yards of offense.  Knox added 170 passing yards and finished with 455 total yards while Cornell had 197 on the ground and 338 through the air for 535 yards.

Oosterbaan completed 13-of-20 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns for the Prairie Fire.  Armstrong had five catches for 52 yards, first-year Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) caught two passes for 65 yards, and Moon was on the receiving end of two passes for 28 yards.

Cornell quarterback Juan Flores passed for 338 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another 112 yards, accounting for 450 yards of offense.

Senior linebacker Mike Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg) led the Fire defense with 12 tackles, including one for a loss, and a forced fumble.  Schroeder added 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Knox returns to the Knosher Bowl on October 20 for the Homecoming game against Illinois College (5-1, 4-1 MWC).  The Blueboys beat Beloit College 31-9 on Saturday in Jacksonville.

The kickoff for the Prairie Fire game against IC is at 1:00.  The game will be streamed live on the Web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal# beginning at 12:50 p.m.

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter