GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire football team fell 20-10 to Illinois College on Saturday afternoon for Homecoming.
Knox scored first when Preston Lade hit a short field goal to take a 3-0 lead through one quarter. The Blueboys shook off a slow start and scored two touchdowns in the second quarter. They tacked on field goal as the clock expired to head into halftime with a 17-3 lead.
The Prairie Fire broke through with a touchdown when Jason Clark got a goal line carry and barreled into the end zone untouched. Owen Beaver made a spectacular catch the play before to save an interception and set up the score.
Illinois College added another field goal with 14 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Clark led Knox with 34 yards on seven carries and the score. Tyrell Pierce reeled in two catches for 34 yards.
Ean Rau followed his record-tying performance from last week with another 14 solo tackles, once again tying the school record for solo tackles in a game. He had 15 tackles total, including 1.5 sacks. Jonathan Sarich added two sacks, while Liam Gallagher and Arthur Anthony, Jr. each grabbed an interception.
Lade had six punts for 231 yards, including a long punt of 49 yards. He put the ball within the 20 on three of his six punts.
“We didn’t get much going on offense today, but we fought the whole game,” said head coach Aaron Willits. “We played a pretty solid game on the defensive end except for a few lapses. We should have had a touchdown in the first quarter that ended in a field goal and other than that one of the only other sustained drives we had on offense was the one we scored the touchdown. We just didn’t establish a running or passing game to put ourselves in a position to score.”
Knox returns to action as they travel to Lawrence on October 29.
***Recap and photo courtesy of Knox College Athletics***
