GALESBURG, Illinois— A hard-fought 17 yard kickoff return by Dalton James (Homer, IL, Heritage) to open up the contest today went for naught as the Fire were unable to convert in the red zone. Knox (1-7, 1-5 MWC) took on Lawrence University (3-5, 2-3 MWC) in their final home game before Senior Day against Monmouth next week.
 
Knox had an impressive first drive, bringing them to the fringe of the Lawrence red zone. They were unable to convert on third down, however, and attempted to settle for a field goal but missed wide left. On the ensuing drive, Lawrence picked up big chunks of yards and eventually found the end zone for the first points of the game. The following drive was of the same substance for Knox as they missed another mid-range field goal on 4th down. Two plays after the turnover on downs, Quinn Sharp (Beaumont, CA, Beaumont) intercepted a swing pass from the Lawrence quarterback and took it all the way back for a touchdown to tie the score at 7-7 with 90 seconds left in the 1st quarter.
 
A last minute surge put Lawrence just short of the Knox goal line at the end of the 1st quarter, and they capitalized just seconds into the 2nd quarter to make the score 14-7 Lawrence. Knox would not go down without a fight as they strung together a few long runs and quality passing plays to put themselves within 12 yards of another score. A penalty and a sack put the Fire out of reach of the end zone on 4th down, so they settled for a field goal by Wes Koerber (Norco, CA, Norco Senior) to put the score at 14-10.
 
A quick three-and-out by the Vikings put the Fire in good field position and they capitalized. A short pass to James turned into a big gain as he hurdled a Lawrence defender for a first down. Two plays later Joey Auger caught a screen pass at the 20, followed his blockers and hurdled another defender en route to the end zone to make the score 16-14 in favor of the Fire heading into halftime.
 
After a back and forth beginning to the second half, Knox drove down the field and set themselves up for a 40-yard field goal by Koerber to extend the Fire's lead to 19-14 with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Knox started firing on all cylinders after that as they forced a Lawrence punt and finished off a 13-play, 81-yard drive with a rushing touchdown by Matt McCaffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) to make the score 26-14.
 
A touchdown drive by Lawrence to start the final quarter made the score 26-21, though the Fire still had the lead. Knox was determined to conserve their lead, however, as Braeden Westfall (Rock Falls, IL, Rock Falls) picked up big chunks of yardage before McCaffrey found Malik Hamilton (Chicago, IL, Lane Tech) wide open for a touchdown to make the score 33-21 Knox.
 
After a long drive by Lawrence, the score became 33-27 Knox with just over two and a half minutes left. Lawrence attempted an onside kick following their score, but it was recovered by Isaiah Smith. Knox was unable to run out the clock on the ensuing drive, but ran Lawrence out of timeouts. With just over two minutes left the Knox defense held strong as Garrett Rau (Abbotsford, WI, Abbotsford) came up with an interception to seal the win for the Fire.
 
The Knox offense played exceptionally well in the victory. Westfall rushed for 176 yards on 29 attempts to carry the workload and making the most of his rushing game. McCaffrey passed for 180 yards on the day, his top receivers were James (46 yards), Joey Auger (Rye, NH, Portsmouth) (42 yards and 1 touchdown), and Hamilton (30 yards and 1 touchdown).
 
The win would not have been possible without the play of the Fire defense. Evan Economos (Urbandale, IA, Urbandale) and Donnye Sommerville (Clayton, MO, Clayton) held the Lawrence passing attack at bay with 8 tackles and 7 tackles respectively. The Fire defense also forced 2 turnovers and 2 sacks. Interceptions came by Rau and Sharp and sacks came by Brock Gabel (Bourbonnais, IL, Bishop McNamara) and a split by Beau Gabel (Bourbonnais, IL, Bishop McNamara) and Jordan Anderson (Paxton, IL, Paxton-Buckley-Loda).
 
The Fire will close out their season on November 12 at home against Monmouth College for the Turkey Bowl and Senior Day.