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Monmouth, IL – The Prairie Fire’s Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South) had another record-breaking day, but two straight touchdowns in the fourth quarter lifted Monmouth College to a 49-35 victory in the 124th Bronze Turkey Game on Saturday.

The win, which snapped a two-game slide, was the 14th straight for Monmouth against Knox (2-8, 2-7 MWC) and boosted the Fighting Scots' record to 64-50-10 in the all-time series.  Mortensen, meanwhile, broke two more records and tied two others.  The Prairie Fire also set a new team record for points in a season with 311, topping the previous all-time mark of 295 points by the 1919 Knox team.

Mortensen, who finished the game with 29 carries for 154 yards and two touchdowns, entered the season finale against Monmouth College (5-5, 5-4 MWC) with 230 carries for 1208 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.  He ran the football into end zone on Knox’s first two possessions of the game, a 22-yard touchdown at 9:50 and a 25-yard score with 3:56 in the first quarter, to give Knox a 14-7 lead while setting a new record for touchdowns in a season.

Mortensen’s first score tied the record of 16 touchdowns in a season shared by Chris Vogel (1987) and Tom Neagle (2002), both wide receivers for Knox.  Mortensen took sole possession of the record with his second touchdown run of the contest and 17th of the season.

The 12 points from the two touchdowns gave Mortensen 104 total points this season, tying him with Bill Senn for the record.  Senn scored 104 points in 1924.  Mortensen also went over 100 yards rushing for the seventh time in 2012, tying a single-season record.  The others to rush for 100 or more yards seven times in a season are Matt Hayden (1996), Drew Sherman (1999), and Vince Singleton (2002).

Monmouth’s first score was a 1-yard run by quarterback Brik Wedekind with 8:00 in the first quarter followed by an 8-yard run by Wedekind on the Scots’ first offensive play of the second quarter at 14:56.  The hosts missed the extra point kick and trailed 14-13.

The Prairie Fire extended its lead to 21-13 on a 12-yard touchdown run by junior Cort Scheel (Wilmington, IL, University of Dubuque) with 9:25 in the second quarter.

Monmouth held Knox scoreless the rest of the second quarter while putting up 21 unanswered points on three passing touchdowns by Wedekind to Garrett Youngren, the last one with 18 seconds to play, to lead 34-21 at halftime.

Knox fought back and reclaimed the lead at 35-34 with 1:17 left in the third quarter on a 51-yard pass from first-year quarterback Luke Oosterbaan (Palos Heights, IL, Marist) to junior receiver Dustin Armstrong (Cincinnati, OH, Country Day). 

Prior to that, the Prairie Fire cut the Scots’ 13 point advantage to just a touchdown at 34-28 when Oosterbaan scored on a 29-yard run with 10:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Monmouth College got the lead back for good at 42-35 on a 22-yard touchdown run by Michael Buehne and two-point conversion with 12:59 in the fourth quarter.  The Scots made it 49-35 on an 11-yard rushing touchdown by James Lauber at the 9:13 mark. 

The Prairie Fire was outscored 15-0 in the fourth quarter after blanking Monmouth 14-0 in the third stanza.

Knox rushed for 228 yards and passed for 131 for 359 total yards of offense. 

Oosterbaan was 10-for-21 passing for 131 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.  He also ran 58 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown.  Scheel finished with 16 yards and a score on four carries.

First-year Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) led the Prairie Fire receivers with four receptions for 53 yards.  Armstrong added 51 yards and senior Mike Pinter (Naples, FL, Palmetto Ridge) caught three passes for 24 yards.

Monmouth College rushed for 357 yards and had 514 yards of total offense.  Wedekind was 16-for-25 passing for 157 yards and three touchdowns.  He was picked off once by Knox first-year Mitch Weissenhofer (Homewood, IL, Marian Catholic).

Lauber led the Scots’ rushing game with 158 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.  Buehne contributed 13 carries for 135 yards and a score.  Youngren led the receiving corps with five catches for 50 yards and three touchdowns.

Playing his final game, senior Mike Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg) led all defensive players with 17 tackles to go along with one sack.  Jack Porter and Sam Hoster had 10 tackles and one sack apiece for Monmouth College.  Ryan Flanigan was on the receiving end of both interceptions thrown by Oosterbaan.

Check out photos from the Bronze Turkey Game at http://www.flickr.com/photos/knoxcollege/sets/72157631977084577/

The game was the last for 18 Knox seniors and coach Chad Eisele.  Eisele recently announced he was stepping down as the head football coach to direct more focus on his duties as the Prairie Fire’s athletic director.

Knox wants to have its new head football coach in place by mid-December.

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