De Pere, WI - The Prairie Fire hung tough with St. Norbert College, but two quarters were the difference as the Green Knights won 31-20 on Saturday.

St. Norbert (1-1, 1-0 MWC) outscored Knox 17-0 in the second quarter and 14-6 in the fourth.  Clinging to a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter, SNC fumbled the football at the Prairie Fire 44 yard line with 11:56 to play.

Knox (0-2, 0-1 MWC), however, gave the ball back on an interception on the second play of the drive at the 11:01 mark.  The Knights took advantage, scoring on a six-yard pass play with 8:56 remaining to cap a four-play, 42-yard drive.  The successful extra point kick increased the St. Norbert lead to 24-14.

The Prairie Fire was unable to score on the next possession and draw any closer.  Knox moved the ball inside the St. Norbert red zone, but a sack on third and five set up a fourth and 19 on the SNC 28 yard line.  A pass fell incomplete, and the 14-play, 52-yard drive that ate up 5:12 stalled and gave the football back to the Green Knights on downs.

St. Norbert grabbed its largest lead of the game at 31-14 on a 16-yard touchdown run and extra point kick with 1:46 to play.

The Prairie Fire closed the gap to 31-20 by scoring on its last possession.  The 75-yard, seven-play drive that took just 1:18 off the clock culminated in a 13-yard touchdown run by junior Cort Scheel (Wilmington, IL, University of Dubuque) with 28 seconds left in the game.

Knox was unable to get the ball back on the kickoff and St. Norbert ran out the clock to earn the win.

The Prairie Fire opened the game’s scoring when junior quarterback Drew Diaz (Niles, IL, Niles Notre Dame) connected with junior tight end Neal Moon (Kahoka, MO, Clark County R-1) on a 10-yard pass with 10:54 in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.

The Knights tied the score at 7-7 on a 10-yard passing touchdown with 14:54 to play in the first half. 

The hosts added another second quarter touchdown on a seven-yard pass play for a 14-7 advantage with 9:55 remaining in the second quarter.  St. Norbert closed out the half with a 24-yard field goal to lead 17-7 at the intermission.

Knox sliced the SNC lead to 17-14 on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Diaz to junior wide receiver Dustin Armstrong (Cincinnati, OH, Country Day).

St. Norbert College had 397 yards of total offense and the Prairie Fire defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions.  Knox racked up 314 yards of offense and was picked off twice.

Both teams had success throwing the football.  Knox passed for 211 yards and the Knights had 258.  St.Norbert outgained the Fire on the ground 119 to 103.

Diaz completed 11-of-22 passes for 119 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.  First-year quarterback Luke Oosterbaan (Palos Heights, IL, Marist) was 8-for-14 for 92 yards.

Armstrong led the Knox receivers with seven catches and 77 yards.   First-year Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) caught four passes for 66 yards and Moon had five receptions and 48 yards.

Junior Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South) was the leading rusher for the Prairie Fire.  He finished the game with 20 carries for 69 yards.  Scheel added 36 yards on eight rushing attempts.

Defensively, senior Mike Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg) made a game-high 15 tackles, including one for a loss.  He also forced a fumble and intercepted a pass by St. Norbert quarterback James Tringali (20-of-33, 258, 3TD, 4INT).  Senior defensive back Quentin Gittemeier (Bridgeton, MO, Pattonville) picked off two passes by Tringali and senior DB Jonas Mack (Algonquin, IL, Cary-Grove) also had an interception.

Senior running back/ kick returner Mike Schroeder (Glenview, IL, Glenbrook South) returned five kickoffs for 103 yards and had seven tackles.  Junior defensive lineman Steve Bora (Northfield, IL, New Trier) contributed six tackles, four of them for a loss.

St. Norbert’s leading rusher was Austin Williams, who gained 101 yards on 24 carries.  Joe Green caught six passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

The Prairie Fire welcomes Carroll University (2-0, 1-0 MWC) to the Knosher Bowl on September 15.  The Pioneers defeated Ripon College 30-24 on Saturday in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Carroll scored 24 second quarter points to jump out to a 24-3 halftime lead.  Ripon roared back with 21 unanswered points in the second half to tie the game at 24-24 with 3:48 to play.  The Pioneers pulled out the victory in their last possession on a Lamont Williams 7-yard rushing touchdown with 44 seconds remaiing

The kickoff for the Knox/Carroll football game is at 1:00 p.m.  The contest will be streamed live at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#.  Access to the webcast will also available on the Midwest Conference game page at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/midwest.portal#

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