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Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire had little trouble moving the football against Illinois College and its second-ranked defense in the Midwest Conference. However, the Blueboys’ -- with the best offense in the league -- had a big second half en route to a 49-29 victory on Saturday in Knox’s Homecoming game.
Knox (1-6, 1-5 MWC), behind another outstanding effort by junior Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South), trimmed a 42-15 deficit with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter to 42-29. Mortensen scored on a 17-yard rushing touchdown with 7:58 to play in the game to get the Prairie Fire within two scores.
Prior to the run by Mortensen, junior quarterback Drew Diaz (Niles, IL, Niles Notre Dame) hit first-year receiver Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) with a 9-yard touchdown pass at the 12:24 mark of the final quarter to slice the IC advantage to 42-22.
The Blueboys (6-1, 5-1 MWC), however, answered back with a 2-yard touchdown run by Cecil Brimmage with 6:06 left in the game to go up 49-29. IC then closed the door by intercepting Diaz on a 1st down and 10 at the Illinois College 24 yard line with 4:12 in the fourth quarter.
Illinois College opened the game with a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown for a 7-0 lead less than 2:00 into the game (13:21 of the first quarter). The Blueboys added a 5-yard rushing touchdown at the 5:36 mark of the opening quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.
Mortensen scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 1-yard run with 2:17 left in the first quarter. The score remained 14-6 following a missed kick for the extra point.
Diaz and senior Mike Pinter (Naples, FL, Palmetto Ridge) connected on a 10-yard pass play for a touchdown with 8:31 in the second quarter. The two-point conversion failed and the Prairie Fire trailed just 14-12.
Illinois College made it 21-12 on an 11-yard touchdown reception by Colin Duling three minutes after the Knox touchdown. Junior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) atoned for his missed extra point earlier by kicking a season-best 39-yard field goal with 2:55 remaining in the second quarter to close within 21-15. Neither team scored the rest of the first half.
IC owned the third quarter, scoring 21 consecutive points on three touchdown runs, and grabbed the biggest lead of the game at 42-15.
Mortensen had his second straight huge game running the football. He finished with 34 carries (tied for #8 all-time) for 195 yards. The effort pushed Mortensen over the 1,000 yard mark this season to 1,005, which is tied for the fifth-most yards in a season. He had 37 carries for 232 yards and three touchdowns a week ago at Cornell College.
Mortensen’s two touchdowns against the Blueboys give him 22 in his career, which ranks third all-time. The record is 25 touchdowns, shared by Rick Truttman (1972-75) and Kevin Megli (2003-06). Mortensen also moved up the career rushing yards list to #4 with 2,279 – passing Knox greats Jim Smith (1974-76) and Drew Sherman (1996-99). He notched his fifth game this season with 100 or more yards, tied for the second-most in Knox football history with Smith and Megli.
The Prairie Fire had season-highs of 294 yards rushing and 478 total yards of offense against IC, which came in allowing opponents an average of just 280 yards per game. The Blueboys had 490 yards of offense – 276 through the air and 214 on the ground.
Diaz completed 21-of-37 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns and added another 35 yards rushing. Pinter led the receivers with eight catches for 67 yards. Emini contributed five receptions for 54 yards.
Brimmage and quarterback Kendall Gibson each had two rushing touchdowns for the Blueboys. Brimmage led Illinois College with 91 yards and Gibson had 54. Gibson was 10-of-14 passing for 150 yards. Brady Huber, who spelled Gibson for a time at quarterback, completed 5-of-9 passes for 126 yards and one touchdown.
Duling paced the IC receivers with five receptions for 114 yards.
Senior linebacker Mike Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg) had seven tackles. He has 346 in his career, which moved him past Tyler Hill (345 career tackles) to #2 all-time. Hendrick owns the all-time mark for career unassisted tackles with 177.
Junior linebacker Matt Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg) led Knox with nine tackles in the game against the Blueboys, along with a forced fumble. Fellow junior linebacker Tom Discher (Woodstock, IL, Woodstock) added eight tackles and also forced a fumble. Senior defensive lineman Lloyd Scott (Chicago, IL, Mount Carmel) and junior DL Steve Bora (Northfield, IL, New Trier) each had a sack in the game for the Prairie Fire.
Despite the loss to IC, it’s been a positive weekend for Knox football.
Former players Seth Kopf ’04 and Mark McIntosh ‘72, 1901 and 1902 coach John Frederick McLean, and the Midwest Conference champion 1976 football team coached by Al Reilly were installed as the 26th Class of the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday night.
In addition, President Teresa Amott announced during Saturday’s Homecoming Convocation that the football program is the beneficiary of $1.6 million from the late Vernon E. L. Stisser Jr. ’62. Stisser served on the College’s Board of Trustees for 16 years and was a long-time and generous supporter of Knox College athletics. In recognition of that generosity, the football field at the Knosher Bowl is now known as Vernon Stisser Field.
The Prairie Fire has a rare Saturday in the fall off on October 27. The addition of Cornell College back into the Midwest Conference this year created a bye week for each of the 11 teams in the league.
Knox resumes play with the final home game of the 2012 season on November 3 against Lawrence University. The Prairie Fire's 18 seniors and their parents will be recognized prior to the game as part of Senior and Parents' Day.
The Vikings (1-6, 1-5 MWC) lost 56-28 on Saturday at Monmouth College (4-3, 4-2 MWC), their fourth straight defeat going into next Saturday’s game at Grinnell College. Grinnell (2-5, 2-4) couldn’t hold on to a 20-7 lead with 6:41 to play in the first half at Carroll University (5-2, 4-2 MWC) and lost 21-20.
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