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Pioneer football ends season with another difficult loss

by Kevin Byrne

In the last game of a difficult season for the Grinnell College football team, the Pioneers fell to the visiting Beloit Buccaneers by a score of 55-7.

It was a wet and rainy Senior Day and after the fans and players thanked the seniors before the game, the Pioneers had a tough time getting their offense going and a tough time stopping the Beloit ground attack.

“Beloit played fast and aggressive, beating us to the point of attack at the goal line early in the game,” said senior offensive lineman Mike Maloney. “When we could not score inside their five, it gave them momentum and let them take control of the game.”

The Grinnell defense, led by senior linebacker Leo Martin and his 15 tackles on the day, gave up 581 yards of offense total, which included a 25-point second quarter for the Buccaneers. All but 50 of those yards came on the ground for Beloit, as their run blocking and option offense had the Pioneers on their heels for a better part of the afternoon.

On the offensive side of the football, Grinnell started Ben Remington ’08 at quarterback in place of injured quarterback Sean Pfalzer ’07. Remington and the offense were unable to dent the scoreboard until the fourth quarter.

“Defensively, they tried to put more men in the box than we could block, which effectively took us out of our running game,” said Coach Jeff Pedersen. “This did allow us to throw the ball some, but with the conditions it was tough to rely on the pass exclusively.”

Remington finished the game 19 of 41 for 211 yards and one touchdown, which came on a five-yard strike to Nick Merklin ‘08. Clarence ‘CJ’ Moore ’09 was Grinnell’s top-rusher on the day with 28 yards on eight carries. Lance Burkholder ‘08 finished the day as Grinnell’s top receiver with eight receptions for 93 yards. Kyle Perry ‘08 pulled in five catches for a total of 67 yards.

The loss ends Grinnell football’s disappointing season and leaves them with a record of 1-9 (0-9 MWC). In a season riddled with injuries and full of young players, the future clearly lies ahead for the returning players.

“This year was tough, but we are very optimistic for next year,” said Pedersen. “The two keys for success next year will be one, recruiting a large freshman class, and two, the returning players’ attitudes in the off-season. If they all make a commitment to work out hard and come back bigger and more athletic next year, we’ll be in good shape.”

As for the senior class, it was certainly a difficult note to go out on. It was a season with possibly more bad memories than good ones.

“Well, of course I would have liked to have won more games,” said senior linebacker Franklin Gilmore-Metz, “but I still had a great time and even though we only won one game during the season, I still have a lot of good memories. I try not to think on the negative but rather the positive. My fellow athletes, friends and coaches made the season good for me as much as actually playing football.”

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