GRINNELL, Iowa – The Prairie Fire football team defeated Grinnell 14-7 in a conference game on Saturday afternoon.
The teams played through a scoreless first quarter, despite seven first downs from Knox. The Prairie Fire broke through for a score by Kierre Turner in the opening seconds of the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
The Pioneers scored a touchdown late in the third quarter to tie the game, but Knox responded when Hunter Anderson punched it in from six yards out to give Knox the 14-7 lead.
The Prairie Fire racked up 348 rushing yards and 26 first downs on the day. The Knox defense allowed 91 rushing yards and 151 passing yards. The Prairie Fire also won the time of possession battle 39:12 to 20:40.
Knox quarterback Kaile Williams led the rushing attack with 261 rushing yards on 39 attempts. His performance shattered his own school record of 177 yards rushing by a quarterback and ranks number two all-time for rushing yards in a game for the Prairie Fire.
Anderson and Turner each scored for Knox, while Izayiah Hawes racked up 64 rushing yards.
Jon Sarich led the Prairie Fire with nine tackles, including a sack. Colin Finnigsmier added eight tackles and TJ Nehls picked up a sack.
“This was a good team win for us,” said head coach Aaron Willits. “We were coming off a rough stretch of games, but did what we needed to do to win today. We had a great ground attack today and really could have scored quite a bit more. We’ll need to convert more of our drives next week, but a win and a return home will give us some momentum as we enter the back stretch of the season.”
Knox will return to action as they host Cornell on October 28 for Homecoming.
***Recap and photo courtesy of Knox College Athletics***
