MOUNT VERNON, Iowa—The Prairie Fire football team suffered defeat at the hands of Cornell on Saturday afternoon.

Knox (1-6, 1-4 MWC) jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead thanks to a blocked punt and touchdown by Martwain Holmes (Lansing, IL, Urban Prep Academy) and a Braeden Westfall (Rock Falls, IL, Rock Falls) rushing touchdown. The Rams responded with two touchdowns of their own in the second quarter to knot the score up at 14-14 going into the half. The Prairie Fire scored first in the second half as well when Matt McCaffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) found an open Tallen McWilliams (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) for a 27-yard touchdown. Wes Koerber (Norco, CA, Norco Senior) hit a field goal with 3:04 to play in the third quarter to give Knox a 24-14 lead. Cornell battled back with a score on their next possession and then earned the lone touchdown of the fourth quarter to come out on top.

McCaffrey completed 20-of-40 passes for 229 yards and gained 124 yards on the ground. Westfall added 65 yards rushing and a score. Holmes led the Prairie Fire with four receptions for 61 yards.

Brock Gabel (Bourbonnais, IL, Bishop McNamara) finished with 11 total tackles while Logan Hollis (Toulon, IL, Stark County) added 10 tackles. Quinn Sharp (Beaumont, CA, Beaumont) and Evan Economos (Urbandale, IA, Urbandale) each grabbed an interception and Trent Wooten (Paxton, IL, Paxton-Buckley-Loda) picked up two sacks.

Knox returns to action at Lake Forest on October 29.