GALESBURG, Illinois – A fourth quarter touchdown was the difference in a 28-21 Prairie Fire loss to Beloit College in the season finale for both teams Saturday at the Knosher Bowl.

Junior wide receiver Ilir Emini (Yorkville, IL, Yorkville) caught eight passes for 63 yards and set a new single-season Knox football record for receptions in a season with 88.  He broke the previous all-time mark of 87 receptions by Vince Annel in 1999.

Beloit (3-7) snapped a 21-all tie on a 1-yard pass reception with 9:12 left in the game to cap a 12-play, 57-yard drive took nearly six minutes off the clock.  Knox was unable to put points on the board on its only possession of the fourth quarter and gave the ball back to the Buccaneers on downs.  Beloit ran out the remaining 5:20 in the game with an 11-play drive that sealed the win.

The Prairie Fire (2-8), trailing 21-14, tied the score on an 11-yard run by first-year quarterback Matt Mc Caffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) with one second remaining in the third quarter.

Knox opened the scoring with a 1-yard TD run by first-year Terry White (Hillsdale, IL, Riverdale) at the 5:04 mark of the first quarter.

Beloit responded with a pair of second quarter touchdowns and led 14-7 at halftime.  A 2-yard run by White with a little over nine minutes remaining in the third quarter tied the contest, 14-14.  The Bucs reclaimed the lead on a 17-yard pass reception about five-and-a-half minutes later.

The game was virtually even statistically, and neither team committed a turnover.  Knox finished with 324 total yards, including 209 yards rushing.  The Fire averaged seven yards per carry and converted seven of 10 third down attempts.

White finished with 95 rushing yards and Mc Caffrey had 85, including a 68-yard run in the first half.  Mc Caffrey was also efficient passing the football, completing 16-of-24 passes for 115 yards.  He finished the season completing 60.3 percent of his passes, which is the third-highest single-season percentage in Knox football history.  His 188 completions in a season also rank third all-time.

Sophomore defensive lineman Jacob Paul (Quincy, IL, Quincy) led the Prairie Fire defense with a career-high 10 tackles.

Knox honored 11 seniors before the game as part of Senior Day.  Suiting up for last time were: Chaz Benton (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg), Nick Bock (Twin Lakes, WI, Antioch), Adam Brooking (Oswego, IL, Oswego), Rob Compton (Dunlap, IL, Dunlap), Austin Finley (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg), Andrew Paul (Quincy, IL, Quincy), Will Ruzicka (St. Louis, MO, St. Mary's), Ryan Schulz (Abingdon, IL, Abingdon), Nick Sienkiewicz (Naperville, IL, Neuqua Valley), Armand Stricklin (Lee's Summit, MO, Lee's Summit West), and Angel Zuaznabal (Hialeah, FL, Doral Academy Charter).