GALESBURG, Illinois—In an exciting offensive outburst, the Prairie Fire football team took down the Beloit College Buccaneers by a final score of 45-21 on Saturday afternoon at the Knosher Bowl. The win pushes Knox’s overall record to 2-1.
Knox started out the game in a rather sloppy fashion, fumbling the ball at midfield on their first possession, and then muffing a punt towards the end of the first quarter that resulted in Beloit receiving excellent field position. The Buccaneers used these turnovers to take an early 14-7 lead, despite strong rushing from Ty Straw.
The second quarter saw Knox’s offense cut down on mistakes while also providing several explosive plays. A nine-play Prairie Fire drive was capped off by a one-yard Joey Auger rush to tie the game up at 14-14. After that, the offensive dam burst, as Knox scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter, with more powerful running from Straw proving to be too much for the Buccaneers to handle. This allowed the Prairie Fire to enter the half up 35-14.
The second half saw a slowdown in scoring. Several penalties for Knox slowed their opening drives, and Beloit was unable to move the ball against the tough Prairie Fire defense. The Knox defense was so tough that Garrett Rau was able to record his second interception return for a touchdown in as many games. A late third quarter touchdown for Beloit did little to quell the Prairie Fire’s momentum, and a Knox field goal in the fourth quarter became the final points put on the board. Several clock draining drives later, the game was over, and Knox had secured the victory.
The stars of the game for the Prairie Fire were Ty Straw, who gained 127 yards rushing to go along with a touchdown, and Garrett Rau, who had seven tackles, a pick six, and a pass breakup. Grant Graham also had a nice day, throwing for 211 yards and three touchdowns.
“Our guys showed great resilience today after giving away two turnovers in the first quarter,” said head coach Damon Tomeo. “We fought back and took a 35-14 lead into halftime. It was a great team win. The Bowl was once again rocking, our home crowd gives us such an advantage.”
The Prairie Fire look to keep the good times rolling with an away game next Saturday against Lake Forest College at 2:00 p.m.
