Box Score

Jacksonville, IL – The Prairie Fire erased a first half deficit, but the high powered offense of Illinois College had a big second half in 48-24 win on Saturday afternoon.

Knox senior tailback Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South) and sophomore linebacker Mitch Weissenhofer (Homewood, IL, Marian Catholic) both had a big day and tied school records.

The Prairie Fire scored first on a 4-yard run by Mortensen less than 2:00 into the contest after both teams committed turnovers during their opening drives.  Senior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South ) kicked the extra point through for a 7-0 Knox lead.

Knox fumbled the football away on the second play of the game.  The Blueboys gave the ball right back when Weissenhofer picked off the first pass thrown by quarterback Michael Bates, giving the Prairie Fire the football on their own 46 yard line to begin the drive.

IC ran off 20 consecutive points in the first quarter, including a pair of touchdowns on drives that were set up by a Knox fumble and an interception.

The Blueboys (7-0, 6-0 MWC) tied the game at 7-7 on a 24-yard pass play for a score with 10:52 left in the first quarter.  IC took its first lead at 14-7 on a 31-yard run into the end zone about 6:00 later, followed by an 8-yard touchdown pass by Bates for a 20-7 advantage with no time left on the clock.  A two-point conversion following the TD failed.

The Prairie Fire (1-7, 1-6 MWC) outscored the hosts 14-0 in the second quarter and reclaimed the lead at 21-20.

Sophomore quarterback Luke Oosterbaan (Palos Heights, IL, Marist) connected with sophomore receiver Jordan Zanger (Quincy, IL, Quincy) for a 17-yard touchdown with 5:05 remaining, and Tallman's extra point kick cut the Blueboy lead to 20-14.  Mortensen added another touchdown on a 2-yard run and Tallman again kicked home the extra point at the 1:29 mark of the second quarter to go into the half on top of undefeated Illinois College.

IC outscored Knox 14-3 in the third quarter to pull away, and then secured the win with two touchdowns in the final 15:00 of play.

The Blueboys took the lead for good at 27-21 following a 2-yard run into the end zone by Cecil Brimmage that capped a long 16-play, 89-yard drive with 8:42 in the third quarter.

The Prairie Fire answered with a 10-play drive that ended with Tallman kicking a career-long 44-yard field goal with about 4:00 left in the quarter to trim the IC lead to 27-24.

Tallman's field goal is tied for the fifth-longest in Knox football history.  His previous best was from 39-yards last season at home against IC.

Brimmage struck again for Illinois College, breaking loose and racing 30-yards into the end zone to give IC a double-digit lead of 34-24 with 1:01 on the third quarter clock.  He followed with a 7-yard run with 6:47 to play, putting the Prairie Fire in a 41-24 hole.

Bates concluded the scoring for IC with a 2-yard touchdown pass with 4:01 in the game.

Mortensen had a game-high 111 yards rushing, and the two touchdowns he scored increases his career total to 40.  That ties the career touchdown record originally set by Tom Neagle between 2001 and 2003.  He also tied the record for 100 yard rushing games in a season with seven that three other former players have accomplished as well (Mortensen also had seven 100 yard rushing games in 2012 and is joined by Vince Singleton, Drew Sherman, and Matt Hayden).

Mortensen is on the verge of tying or breaking two more school records.  He needs four points to equal Neagle's record of 250 career points and a touchdown on the ground in his next game to match Drew Sherman's all-time mark of seven straight games with a rushing touchdown that he set during the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

Mortensen earlier this year set new records for career rushing yards, career rushing attempts, and most 100 yard games in a career while tying the record for consecutive games with 100 or more yards rushing (8).

Weissenhofer made 19 tackles against the Blueboys, a career-high that ranks him #7 all-time at Knox for total tackles in a game.  His 14 solo stops ties the record that former All-American linebacker Mike Hendrick set during the 2010 season, also against IC.

Illinois College outgained the Prairie Fire in total yardage 555 to 209 and had ran 41 more plays (95 to 54).  Knox committed five turnovers – three interceptions and two fumbles – while IC turned the ball over twice.  Two of the Prairie Fire miscues were interceptions on their final two possessions of the game.

Oosterbaan was 10-of-18 passing for 106 yards.  Zanger had his biggest day of the season with three receptions and 75 yards, including a 49-yard catch.

Junior safety Will Ruzicka (St. Louis, MO, St. Mary's) and senior linebacker Matt Hendrick (Smithton, IL, Freeburg), like Weissenhofer, posted career-highs in tackles.  Ruzicka had 17, including 2.5 for a loss, and Hendrick made 16 stops while also forcing a fumble.

Knox has a bye this week and resumes play on November 9 at Lawrence University.  The Vikings (0-7, 0-6 MWC) lost 31-7 at Monmouth College on Saturday.

The kick-off between the Prairie Fire and Lawrence is at 1:00 and the game will be streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/lawrence.portal?mode=link#

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