By: Illinois College forced five turnovers and racked up more than 500 yards of total offense to defeat the Prairie Fire on Saturday.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – In the final home game of the season for the Illinois College football team, the Blueboys bid farewell to their 16 seniors in the best way possible in a 59-13 victory over Knox College. IC forced five turnovers from the Knox offense and piled up more than 500 total yards of offense in the game. With the win, Head Coach
Garrett Campbell earned his 50th career win in his time on The Hilltop.
It's a hard task to pinpoint one or two star performers for IC on Saturday. The Blueboys had 293 yards through the air and another 243 yards on the ground, picking up first downs at will against an overmatched Knox defense.
Brady Huber made the most of his last home start, throwing for 225 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Dyllan Bailey racked up 75 yards and a touchdown on nine carries and
Bo Davis had 51 yards and a touchdown on six rushing attempts, as well as six catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.
The defense had five different players come up with a turnover.
Dinari Ellis, fresh off winning co-Defensive Performer of the Week honors in the Midwest Conference, had an interception that he returned 49 yards for a score.
Austin Ellsworth had an interception in the end zone to end a Knox possession and
Dylan Schuler added one as well. Of the four Knox fumbles in the game,
Rob Peters III forced one and
Matt Graef and
Papa Sagna each recovered one.
It was the defense that got things rolling for Illinois College midway through the first quarter. On Knox's second drive, the Prairie Fire were facing a fourth-and-short from their own 42. Ellsworth and
Nick Tadie stuffed Knox's Nick Edlund for a one-yard gain when he needed two, giving IC the ball. On the first play from scrimmage, Huber handed off to
Greg Cross, who threw back to Huber, who went deep to
Andy Webb for 42 yards and the Blueboy touchdown. IC then grew the lead to 8-0 as Huber connected with
Logan Uyetake for the two-point conversion.
The Schuler interception set up the Blueboys with the ball at the Knox 34-yard line as clock rolled near the end of the third quarter.
Jason Barbour gained 17 yards to reach the red zone and Uyetake took the ball in on an end around for the final six yards, then kicked the extra point to make it 15-0. A big Knox kickoff return from Ilir Emini followed, but Ellsworth ended the opportunity for the Prairie Fire with an acrobatic interception in the end zone.
Taking over on their own 20 after the touchback, Huber drove the Blueboys down the field in nine plays, completing his first five throws on the series before letting the ground game take over. Davis converted on a third down with an 11-yard carry, then scored from nine yards out on the next play to up the lead to 22-0.
Knox quarterback Matt McCaffrey stemmed the tide briefly for the Prairie Fire, making a nice dash down the left side on a 40-yard run. Schuler burst up the gut on the extra point to block the kick however, leaving the score at 22-6. IC wasted little time in answering.
Daniel Modelski entered the game at quarterback and quickly advanced the Blueboys down the field. Bailey picked up the first 19 yards of the drive on two carries to enter Knox territory and the final 13 yards came on a pass into the flat to Davis, who found a small seam down the sideline and then catapulted into the end zone to make it 29-6.
It got worse for Knox on its next possession. The Prairie Fire picked up one first down to edge close to midfield, but Ellis jumped a passing lane near midfield and ran 49 yards untouched to the end zone, upping the lead to 36-6 with five minutes remaining until halftime. To their credit, the Prairie Fire put together a nice drive to end the first half, going 65 yards in 11 plays and milking the clock inside of 30 seconds before scoring on a seven-yard score from McCaffrey to Matt Hemmingsen, making it 36-13 at the break.
The Illinois College offense continued to click in the second half. The Blueboys scored on their second possession when
Kyle Obertino outfought a Knox defensive back to snare a 28-yard pass from Huber to make it 43-13. Penalties that followed actually resulted in IC kicking off from the Knox 35-yard line and the Prairie Fire started their next drive from their own four-yard line. On the second play, Peters III knocked the ball free from Jared Zanger and Sagna recovered at the Knox 14. Making a brief appearance behind center,
Blake Matson hit
Nathan Randall with a 10-yard pass and Bailey finished off the short field with a four-yard run as the Blueboys hit the 50-point mark for a third week running.
Before the third quarter was over, Illinois College would add a safety after Knox had a bad snap on a punt attempt from its end zone. In the fourth quarter, the Blueboys added their final touchdown of the game on a five-yard scamper from
Tyrelle Hinton to close the scoring.
Illinois College now has sole possession of second place in the MWC South with its record of 4-4 (3-1). The Cornell Rams (3-5, 2-2) were knocked off earlier in the day on Saturday by Lake Forest, but will try to defend their home turf on Nov. 7 when the Blueboys pay a visit to Mount Vernon, Iowa for a 1 p.m. kick.
