St. Norbert 58, Grinnell 14
DE PERE, Wis. - St. Norbert College moved back into a tie for
first place in the Midwest Conference football race with a 58-14
romp over Grinnell College at Kolstad Field at Schneider
Stadium.
Thanks to Illinois College 40-35 win over Ripon, the Green Knights
are now in a four-way tie for first place with those two teams and
Carroll. St. Norbert (5-3, 5-2 MWC) travels to Ripon next
Saturday.
St. Norbert dominated from start to finish, jumping out to a 37-0
lead in the second quarter before settling on a 37-7 halftime
lead.
Rob Berger found Joe Green on touchdown passes of 25 and 20 yards
in the first half and also scrambled for a 13-yard touchdown on the
first play of the second quarter. Berger finished with four
touchdown passes, completing 15 of 26 passes for 170 yards. Green
caught seven passes for 96 yards and two scores, while Scott Hemans
caught two touchdowns in the second half of 15 and 3 yards.
St. Norbert's ground game rushed for an average of six yards per
carry, netting 246 yards on 41 attempts. Berger had 116 yards on
eight carries, while John Weninger added 94 yards on 19 carries and
one touchdown. Austin Williams added 15 yards on six carries and
one touchdown.
St. Norbert posted 488 yards of total offense and had 22 first
downs, with 21 coming in the first three quarters. The Green
Knights had an average starting field position of the 50-yard
line.
St. Norbert forced Grinnell into an average starting field position
of its own 19-yard line thanks to a record-setting afternoon from
Adam Gruett. Gruett set a St. Norbert mark with a 50.8 yard average
on four punts, the best average in a game with at least three
punts. Three of Gruett's punts were inside the 20-yard line and one
was a touchback.
Grinnell finished with 375 yards of total offense, with only 120
coming in the first half. Mike McCabe completed 18 of 36 passes for
244 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. The
Pioneers, who also lost two fumbles, had 131 yards rushing. McCabe
had 70 net yards on the ground on 12 carries. Robert Seer caught
nine passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.
The Green Knights have won 12 straight games over Grinnell and is
now 12-0 on homecoming under Jim Purtill.
