Box Score

Galesburg, IL – A third quarter touchdown lifted Lake Forest College past the Prairie Fire in Midwest Conference play on Saturday at the Knosher Bowl.

The Foresters broke through first on a 37-yard pass play for a touchdown with 4:43 left in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.

Knox (0-4, 0-3 MWC) picked up a big stop when the defense forced an incomplete pass on a third down and four from the Prairie Fire 44 yard line and Lake Forest elected to punt the ball away with less than 6:00 remaining in the third quarter.

The kick pushed Knox back to its own 8 yard line, and a first down running play by senior Derek Mortensen (Crystal Lake, IL, Crystal Lake South) was grounded at the line of scrimmage for no gain.  Sophomore quarterback Luke Oosterbaan (Palos Heights, IL, Marist) tried to hit one of his receivers on the next play, but LFC defensive back Pat Clark intercepted the pass and returned it to the Prairie Fire 4 yard line.

The Foresters (4-0, 3-0 MWC) capitalized on a quick hitter from quarterback Mike Lewis to tight end Greg Alonso for a 14-0 lead at the 4:09 mark of the third quarter.

The Prairie Fire responded with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by Mortensen to trim the Lake Forest lead to 14-7 with 5:13 to play in the game.

Knox tried an onside kick following the score and got the ball back at the Lake Forest 42 yard line.  LFC, with the top ranked defense in the Midwest Conference, prevented the Prairie Fire offense from moving the football and recovered it on downs with 3:49 in regulation.

Knox made a big defensive stand on a fourth down and 1 from the Fire 36 yard line.  Lake Forest running back Alec Howe was stuffed for no gain and the Fire received one more chance to tie or win the game with 1:21 on the clock.

Clark struck again on the first play Knox ran, intercepting his second pass of the afternoon to secure the win for the Foresters.

Lake Forest, with a MWC-best seven interceptions entering week four, picked Oosterbaan off three times and forced four total Prairie Fire turnovers.

The Knox defense had a strong game, limiting the Foresters to 276 total yards of offense and forcing two fumbles.  Sophomore linebacker Mitch Weissenhofer (Homewood, IL, Marian Catholic) had a game-high 12 tackles to go with a forced fumble that he recovered.

The Prairie Fire offense finished with 213 yards, including 142 through the air on 14 completions by Oosterbaan. 

Knox sophomore wide receiver Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) caught three passes for 57 yards and senior tight end Neal Moon (Kahoka, MO, Clark County) made four grabs for 47.

Lake Forest held the Prairie Fire to a season-low 71 yards on the ground while Knox was 1-of-13 on third down conversions.

Photos from this football game and the 2013 season are online at the Knox College Flickr channel

The Prairie Fire host Ripon College on October 5 at the Knosher Bowl at 1:00.  The Red Hawks lost Illinois College 44-28 at home in their week four game.  Ripon has dropped two straight games after beginning the season 2-0.

Live streaming of the Knox football game against Ripon will be available online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#/

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