The Grinnell Pioneers football team shut out the Lawrence Vikings this past Saturday 42-0, the first shut out the program has seen in its past 11 years. It was also the first win of the season and the team currently stands at 1-3.
“This has been a long time coming,” Team Captain Curtis McCoy ’10 said. “It’s great to make great strides as a program. It’s an ode to how much this program has come along.”
The team accomplished many of their season goals in one game by shutting and blowing a team out.
“When we have a great game, it’s because everyone does their job,” McCoy said. “It’s a team effort. The defining characteristic of this team is that we don’t have one superstar.”
It was truly a breakout day for the team. Offense had many players step up, going without a single turnover and putting up a total of 410 yards, while defense gave up a record low for the season of 186 yards.
Quarterback Mike Bogard ’12 commanded the offense, having a hand in a total of five touchdowns.
“Bogard had his best game of the year,” Head Coach Max Hawsey said.
Bogard had three touchdown passes in addition to his two touchdown runs, throwing a total of 200 yards and 55 rushing.
The only stat that seemed to be not in the Pioneer’s favor was time of possession. Lawrence held on to the ball for 33:02 to Grinnell’s 26:58, but even this held good news.
“It means the offense was executing,” Captain Marquis Bradley ’10 said. “They were getting on the field, getting the job done and getting off.”
After putting up only one touchdown in the first quarter, the team forged ahead in the second quarter scoring three touchdowns.
“We started having fun,” Bradley said. “In the second quarter, we shut them down right off the bat. And that’s when we thought, ‘We can play with them.’ Our offense got rolling, and there was no stopping them.”
Special teams also came through with some big plays, protecting Lawrence’s 0 on the scoreboard. In the fourth quarter, Lawrence drove to within field goal range, jeopardizing Grinnell’s chance to accomplish their season goal of shutting a team away. However, this was the play in which Matt John ’12 earned the special teams player of the week award. John moved in to block the field goal, forcing Lawrence to end their drive empty-handed.
“We were all praying for a miracle,” Bradley said. “And Matt John just comes out of nowhere.”
In the last half of the game, the second team was brought in, with great success. Running back T.J. Schaid ’13 played notably well, scoring his first collegiate touchdown, and hurdling a defender late in the fourth.
“[It was] like something out of a video game,” Brian Taylor ’13 said.
“We’ve been waiting for him to have a breakout game,” Hawsey said. “He’s going to be one of our top skills guys.”
Quarterback Mike McCabe ’13 led the team in rushing with 71 yards while only playing for a quarter and a half.
It’s been a rough season so far, but the program has taken immense strides.
“We could have easily been 4-0,” Schaid said. “The games we’ve lost were heartbreakers.”
Those three losses were only by a total of 17 points, and after last week’s win, Grinnell have actually outscored their opponents 95 to 70. The team sees the game against Lawrence as turnaround for the program.
“All the hard work we’ve put in, coming off three hard losses—it made a statement in the conference,” Taylor said.
This coming Saturday, Grinnell will play Monmouth College in Monmouth, Ill. at 1:00 p.m. While it will be a challenge—Monmouth won the Midwest Conference Championship last season and is ranked 11th according to the popular website D3football.com—last week’s victory gives the team the confidence to hold their head high.
“Our biggest thing is we’re not going to be afraid,” Bradley said.
