BELOIT, Wis. ­— Sophomore Fernando Torres, after having his game-tying PAT blocked at the end of the third quarter, split the uprights on a 21-yard field goal with 7:35 to play, and the Knox College defense made sure it held up as the Prairie Fire (1-2, 1-1 Midwest Conference) earned a 16-14 victory at Beloit (0-3, 0-2 MWC) on Saturday night. Sophomore cornerback Colin Finnigsmier secured the victory with an interception in the final minute of play.

A quick glance at the statistics makes it look as if Knox ran away with the victory, holding the host Buccaneers to just 142 yards of offense while piling up 322 of its own (284 on the ground). But a pair of turnovers sabotaged the Prairie Fire at inopportune times, including a fumble in the third quarter that led to a Beloit touchdown for a 14-7 lead.

But junior Mario Byrd sparked the Fire by returning the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to the Buccaneer 38. Junior Taylor McAdams made up for the fumble by taking the ball on six of the seven plays on the drive, eventually burrowing his way into the end zone on a 1-yard dive on the final play of the third quarter. But Knox was left trailing by a point when Amani Floyd came off the edge and blocked the PAT for Beloit.

Floyd then one-upped Byrd by returning the kickoff 65 yards to the Prairie Fire 28, only to have the Knox defense deny a first down to reclaim possession at the Beloit 19. The Buccaneer defense, which was on the field for nearly 39 minutes of the contest, was worn down by the relentless rushing attack as the Prairie Fire marched inside the Beloit 10. Although Knox was unable to push into the end zone, Torres provided the go-ahead kick.

Beloit had three chances to move the ball down the field, but fumbled the ball away on a Chase Caldwell sack, punted away from deep in its own territory, then was picked off by Finnigsmier to finally seal the deal.

• Knox got off to a strong start, holding the Buccaneers to a three-and-out, then traversing 61 yards in 11 plays, capped by sophomore Chase Lucas's first career touchdown on a 5-yard run.
• Beloit immediately tied the game on the ensuing possession on a 25-yard scoring strike from Jared Torres to A.J. Williams.
• McAdams finished the game with 159 yards (second career 100-yard game) and a touchdown on 33 carries (4.8 average), the most rushing attempts by a Prairie Fire player since quarterback Kaile Williams ran the ball 39 times in a 14-7 win over Grinnell on Oct. 21, 2023.
• With Knox's top two quarterbacks unavailable, senior wide receiver Reese Miller stepped behind center and ran the offense effectively, even completing 6-of-9 passes for a modest 38 yards with one interception.
• Caldwell led the Prairie Fire defense with nine tackles, two for a loss, which includes his sack and forced fumble.
• Knox has won the last seven meetings with Beloit, the longest unbeaten streak for either team in the series.

After the bye week, the Prairie Fire will host Midwest Conference foe University of Chicago (2-1, 2-0 MWC) at the Knosher Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 4. The Maroons knocked off Illinois College at home today, 24-21, and has won the last six meetings. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live with live stats available through the official website of Knox College Athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.