EUREKA, Ill. — After building up a 13-0 halftime lead in the Lincoln Bowl at Eureka College on Saturday evening, the Knox College football team was unable to fend off the host Red Devils in the final minutes as Eureka (1-0) avenged a one-point loss to the Prairie Fire (7-6) in Galesburg last year with a 14-13 victory.
Trailing 13-6 at the two-minute warning, Eureka reached the end zone on the very next play, a 7-yard fade pass into the right back corner of the end zone to Keyshawn Cone. Having missed a two-point conversion after its first touchdown of he game, the Red Devils went for broke by lining up for two again. This time, quarterback Daryus Warren called his own number and just broke the plane of the end zone to give Eureka the 14-13 lead.
But Knox still had 1:54 to move down the field, and with a little help from the Red Devils and 20 yards of penalties, the Prairie Fire marched down to the Eureka 20 with still more than a minute on the clock. But on 2nd-and-7, Jovon Gibson stepped in front of a Knox pass and picked it off at the 15, though another Red Devil penalty pushed them back to their own 7. That became moot thanks to a 50-yard run on Eureka's first play, and two kneel downs later, the Red Devils had snapped their first win since Sept. 23, 2023, snapping a 16-game slide.
The first half belonged to Knox, beginning with a career-long 38-yard field goal by sophomore Fernando Torres in the opening quarter to cap the 11-play drive, its longest on the evening. Midway through the second quarter, first-year Jahprece Joseph intercepted a Eureka pass at the Red Devil 41, and the Prairie Fire didn't burn away the opportunity. Sophomore quarterback Clay McClelland (6-of-10 passing for 79 yards) hit junior Mario Byrd on a deep route for a 35-yard touchdown pass, the first Knox score through the air since its second game of the 2023 season.
But the Fire weren't done before intermission, tacking on another field goal by Torres, this time from 24 yards for a 13-0 lead at the break.
The Eureka defense kept Knox off the scoreboard the rest of the way, though the Prairie Fire did attempt a pair of field goals that were both off the mark, one from 30 yards, the other from 41 right before the Red Devils' game-winning drive.
- Knox finished the game with 273 yards of offense, 194 on the ground, while Eureka put up 341 yards, 201 through the air.
- Junior Taylor McAdams (80 yards on 18 carries) and McClelland (71 yards on 14 carries) led the Prairie Fire rushing attack.
- Byrd caught three passes for 50 yards and his first career receiving touchdown.
- First-year Aaron Estes led the Knox defense with eight tackles with a sack, while another first-year, Benji Hopper, had the other sack (the Prairie Fire are comprised of nearly 60 percent first-year players).
- Eureka reclaimed the Lincoln Bowl Trophy and are now 8-3 since the inception of the rivalry game in 2012.
Knox jumps right into Midwest Conference play next week in its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 13 when Ripon College (0-1) comes to Stisser Field at the Knosher Bowl for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The game will be streamed live with live stats also available through the official website of Knox College Athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.
