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Pioneers give up 517 yards in 49-14 defeat

Offense continues to rack up yards and points while defense struggles

Photo: Nick Hecker '08

BY MACAELA HOLMES & PATRICK RITTER

The Grinnell defense gave up 49 points to Carroll College last Saturday in a 49-14 loss at Rosenbloom Field, a defeat defensive lineman Matt "Tiny" Vigil '07 attributed to the defense being "one step off." The start of the game looked promising for the Grinnell team with a kickoff return to Carroll's 30-yard line, but things went downhill from there as Carroll scored 28 straight points in the first half.

Grinnell's offense moved the ball throughout the game, passing for 215 yards and running for 124, but was unable to convert the yardage into points as they went scoreless through the first three quarters.

They did post 14 points in the fourth quarter off of a 13-yard Sean Pfalzer '07 scramble and a 17-yard pass from Pfalzer to Kyle Perry '08. Perry leads the MWC in receptions through three games and Pfalzer leads in total offensive yards and is second in passing yards.

"[The team] is very close offensively," offensive lineman Jonathan Antrim '09 said. "We have all the weapons but we haven't put it together as a complete effort yet."

The Pioneers are tied for first in the MWC in offensive first downs and are fourth in total offense with 347 yards per game. But the defense is last in every major category, allowing 522 yards and 56 points per game. That is 140 yards and 23 points more than the second-to-last teams. They gave up 517 yards to Carroll.

Carroll running back Bryce Crocker finished with 141 of those yards rushing on 25 carries for two touchdowns. Starting quarterback Chris Rogers was 13-18 for 126 yards and two scores before being knocked out of the game in the second quarter by Brett Maloney '09.

Maloney led the Pioneer defense in tackles for the second time in three games with 11. John Hereford '10 recorded Grinnell's first interception of the year at the end of the first half.

Vigil believes the defense is getting better but needs to make fewer mistakes.

"We just missed a few steps that caused us to lose momentum," he said.

Tyler Schaeffer '09 agreed.

"Defensively, we have the talent. We're still young, but we're close," he said. "This was one of our best games, though the scoreboard did not reflect it."

The youth Schaeffer referred to is backed up by a glance at the team roster, which lists just eight seniors out of 42 players. There are 18 freshmen listed.

Those freshmen are part of a very close-knit team, according to some of the players, including Vigil and Antrim.

"There is much more unity than last year," Antrim said. "We [are] pretty close."

The Pioneers play at Lawrence College (1-2, 0-2 MWC) tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Lawrence lost to St. Norbert last week, 42-14.

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