GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire had the upper hand for 50 minutes in their Midwest Conference South Division game against Grinnell College on Saturday.

The Pioneers, however, had their way over the last 10 minutes of the contest, scoring 21 points over stretch of less than five minutes to come from behind and defeat Knox 21-18.

The Prairie Fire led 10-0 in the fourth quarter when the Pioneers got on the board with a 7-yard run by quarterback Sam Poulos and the kick for the extra point to trim the deficit 10-7 with 7:39 to play.

Grinnell (2-5, 1-2 MWC South) benefitted from a bad snap by Knox on a punt and took possession of the football at the Prairie Fire 19 yard line.  The Pioneers scored on the third play of the drive, a 1-yard run by Jacob Bernholtz, to take their first lead, 13-10, with 5:57 remaining.

Knox first-year quarterback Matt Mc Caffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) completed passes to junior Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) and first-year Michael Moss (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) on the ensuing possession to move the ball near midfield.  On the next play Mc Caffrey rolled to his left and fired a pass that was picked off by Grinnell linebacker David Ternes, who raced 48 yards for a touchdown to put Grinnell on top 21-10 after a successful two-point conversion with 3:41 left.

The Prairie Fire (2-5, 0-3 MWC South) answered with a six-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass from Mc Caffrey to Emini.  Knox added a two-point conversion of their own on another pass from Mc Caffrey to Emini to make it a one possession game, 21-18, with 2:17 to go.

The Knox defense held and forced a punt on Grinnell's next possession.  A 40-yard boot pinned the Prairie Fire on their own 4 yard line to begin the drive.

Knox moved the ball to their own 41 yard line on passes from Mc Caffrey to Emini and junior Mathew Hemmingsen (Galesburg, IL, Carl Sandburg College).  Mc Caffrey connected with Moss on a third down play, but a fumble gave the ball back to the Pioneers – who ran out the clock and escaped with the victory.

Knox forced three Grinnell turnovers in the first half: an interception by first-year linebacker Cody Hipp (Crown Point, IN, Crown Point) and fumble recoveries by senior cornerback Chaz Benton (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) and junior linebacker Sam Coffey (Winnetka, IL, New Trier).  The Prairie Fire were unable to fully capitalize on the mistakes by the Pioneers, netting just a 20-yard field goal by first-year Drake Sykes (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) at the 3:14 mark of the second quarter.

Grinnell turned the ball over for the fourth time in the game when first-year linebacker Trent Wooten (Paxton, IL, Paxton-Buckley-Loda) picked off a pass by Poulos on the first Pioneer drive of the third quarter.  Grinnell moved the ball to the Knox 22 yard line before senior Austin Finley (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) and sophomore Jacob Paul (Quincy, IL, Quincy) teamed up to sack Poulos for a seven yard loss, setting up a third down and 17 play that ended with the pass interception.

The Prairie Fire drove to the Pioneer 26 yard line but the drive stalled on a fourth down and six pass play that netted only four years.

Knox grabbed a 7-0 lead when Mc Caffrey ran into the end zone from 1-yard to cap a 13-play, 85-yard drive, followed by a successful kick for the extra point by Sykes, with 6:46 left in the first quarter.

The Prairie Fire gained 400 total yards of offense and allowed 273.  Knox did most of its damage through the air.  Mc Caffrey completed 32-of-42 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown.  His 32 completions rank fifth on the all-time single game list and his completion percentage (76.2) is tied for seventh.

Emini had a big game with a Knox single-game record of 16 receptions for 160 yards.  Emini broke the previous all-time mark of 15 receptions that he shared with John Durocher, who originally set the record in 1981.

Hemmingsen also topped the 100 yard receiving mark with career-bests of nine catches for 106.

First-year running back Terry White (Hillsdale, IL, Riverdale) led the Prairie Fire ground game with 89 yards on 22 carries.

Hipp was the top tackler for Knox with eight.  Senior safety Will Ruzicka (St. Louis, MO, St. Mary's) added seven stops, including one for a loss, and forced a fumble.  Coffey also finished with seven tackles and forced a fumble that he recovered.

The Prairie Fire return to action at home against Illinois College on November 1 at 1:00 p.m.  The Blueboys (5-2, 3-0 MWC South) lead the South Division after rolling past Lake Forest College 49-6 at home on Saturday.