Thursday, September 30, 2010

Marquis Bradley Named to D3Football.com's Team of the Week!

With Saturday’s impressive defensive performance against Lake Forest College, Grinnell College’s Marquis Bradley ’11 has earned national attention.

Bradley, a 5-foot-11, 202-pound linebacker from Wichita, Kan. (Independence HS), was named to the D3football.com national Team of the Week. He recorded a team-high 11 tackles, including two sacks, and an interception in Grinnell’s 41-20 victory over the Foresters.

For the season, Bradley leads the Pioneers, and is second in the MWC, with 45 tackles (11.2 per game), he also has two sacks, 4.5 TFL, 1 INT, 2 PBU, 3 passes defended, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery.

Saturday's victory pushed Grinnell to 3-1 on the season, the Pioneers’ best start since the 2000 season.

See the entire D3Football.com Team of the Week here.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mike Bogard Named MWC Player of the Week

For the second week in a row, the Grinnell College football team has had the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the Week.


Mike Bogard ’12, a 6-foot, 196-pound quarterback from Brookfield, Wis. (Brookfield Central HS), earned the honor this week.

Bogard completed 26-of-37 passes for 394 yards and four touchdowns in Grinnell’s 41-20 victory over Lake Forest College. Grinnell’s 478 total passing yards (Mike McCabe also had 84 yards) is the most by the Pioneers since a 510-yard effort against Lawrence University in 1994, and their 570 yards of total offense is the most since a 2003 game against Macalester College.

Read the MWC release here.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Pioneers Win Big Road Game!

Posting Grinnell's highest total offensive output since 2003 and the school's highest passing yardage since 1994, the Pioneers rolled to a 41-20 win on the road Saturday against conference rival Lake Forest.  Grinnell improves to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in MWC play. 
Mike Bogard '12
Grinnell out gained the Foresters by almost 200 yards and had 478 yards of their 570 through the air.  Quarterback Mike Bogard '12 led the way throwing for 390 yards on 26-37 passing and threw for 4 touchdowns.  Receivers Logan Granera '12, 8 catches for 170 yards and 2 TDs, and Robert Seer '12, 9 catches 112 yards and 2 TDs, were the favorite targets of the Pioneer quarterbacks.  Rookies Jason Peters '14 and Augustus Karisch '11 also recorded their first career touchdowns.

Marquis Bradley '11
 Defensively, the Pioneers were led by senior captain Marquis Bradley '11 who had 11 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 INT, and 1 pass break-up.  First-year Colton Feller '14 also had 9 tackles, .5 for a loss, and a fumble recovery.  As a unit the Black Swarm had 10 TFL, 3 sacks, got 2 turnovers and held Lake Forest to 6-for-19 combined on 3rd and 4th down conversion attempts.

The Pioneers are back at home this Saturday to take on Beloit College (2-2, 2-1 MWC) in a big conference battle.

Go Pioneers!

Read the Lake Forest game story here.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Game Photos!

Local photographer Cory Hall took some pictures at our game against Ripon this past Saturday.  Here are some of the best!

Jake McVeigh '11 prepares for the snap

Logan Granera '12 runs away from the Ripon defense
Marquis Bradley (#21) '11 and the Pioneer defense
Mike Bogard '12
Seth Gustafson '14 returns a kick off

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

PIONEER FOOTBALL IN ESPN.COM ARTICLE!

ESPN.com blogger Ryan McGee highlighted the Pioneers upset over the Monmouth Scots in a recent blog post. 

After last week's blog when I wondered aloud where James Madison's win over Virginia Tech ranked among the all-time greatest upsets, I received an e-mail from reader Brian Taylor, who made a pretty good argument that the Dukes might not have even had the biggest upset that weekend.

On Sept. 11 Grinnell (Iowa) College knocked off fellow NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) foe Monmouth (Ill.) College 17-15. That doesn't seem like a big deal until you consider that in their previous three meetings the Pioneers had been beaten by the Fighting Scots by a combined score of 170-0 (2007: 42-0, 2008: 69-0, 2009: 59-0). According to Taylor, Grinnell sports a 48-man roster, multiple two-way players, and carried a preseason ranking of 214th out of 238 D3 schools. Monmouth, led by the '09 D3 Player of the Year, QB Alex Tanney, was ranked 17th. I don't care what game you're playing, if you beat a guy ranked 197 spots ahead of you, that is a pretty nice upset.

Read McGee's whole post here.

Jump on board the Pioneer train because we are starting to roll!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Logan Granera Named MWC Player of the Week

Wide Receiver Logan Granera '12 was named the Midwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week today after grabbing 9 balls for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns in Saturday's game versus Ripon College.  Granera also had 140 kick return yards and leads the Pioneers on the season with 19 catches for 350 yards and has the second-most touchdowns with 3.   

Read the MWC Release here.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pioneers Fall to Ripon RedHawks

A battle of unbeatens between Grinnell and Ripon on Saturday led to one of the more interesting gameday experiences witnessed at Rosenbloom Field.  First, Head Coach Jeff Pedersen left campus shortly after the team breakfast to be with his wife who had gone into labor and later delievered their second child, a girl Nora Jane.  Obviously, a big congratulations is in order for the Pedersen family!

Without their leader, the Pioneers struggled in the first half falling behind 27-0 before halftime.  As soon as the 2nd quarter ended, a storm system rolled into the area and the game was delayed for over 2 and 1/2 hours.  When we finally got the third quarter started it was almost 5:00pm and we quickly regained our composure and fought back into the game with three touchdowns in the 3rd quarter before eventually falling 48-21. 

Individual highlights include wide receiver and return specialist Logan Granera '12 racking up 336 all-purpose yards (195 of those were of the receiving variety) and 2 touchdowns.  Quarterback Mike McCabe '13 came in in the second half and threw for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 15 completions.  He also ran for 41 yards and a TD on 7 carries.  Defensively, linebacker Marquis Bradley '11 had 13 tackles and fellow linebacker Jeremy Wiles '14 had 11, 8 of which were solo.  Cornerback Andrew Clark '14 also added an INT.

Game story is here.

The Pioneers head to Lake Forest College this weekend for a tough road test and look to stay in the hunt for a conference championship.

Go Pioneers!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Pioneers beat Monmouth!

After opening the 2010 seasons with a win over Macalester, the Pioneers got another big win this past weekend!  We played two-time defending conference champion Monmouth and beat them 17-15 at their place.  We hadn’t beaten them since 2000, and they had won 21 straight conference games!

We took the opening kickoff and put together a 15 play touchdown drive that used up 6:40 of the first quarter.  Our next score came in the second quarter on a one-yard run by Nick Hinojosa.  The run capped a 5 play, 70 yard drive.  The big play of the drive was 41 yard pass from Mike Bogard to Robert Seer.  The score gave us a 14-0 lead, which we took into halftime.

Coming out of the half, our defense forced a three and out, and the offense launched a 13 play drive that used up another 6:32 of game time.  Unfortunately we were only able to get a field goal out of the drive, but that would prove to be enough.

The defense came up huge the entire game.  On Monmouth’s first drive of the game we stopped them twice for short gains on running plays.  On third down Coach Martinez called the perfect blitz and senior Ryan Fletcher was able to get the big hit on their quarterback.  He ended up coming out of the game after that play, and he never returned.  Monmouth’s offense took a while to adjust to a new quarterback, and our defense kept bringing the pressure all game.


Marquis Bradley and Ryan Fletcher

Monmouth eventually closed the gap to 17-15 late in the fourth quarter, and had the ball with a chance to win the game.  The defense came up clutch again however, when Marquis Bradley forced a fumble with under five minutes, and on the next drive they stopped  Monmouth on fourth down with less than one minute remaining.

This was a great victory for our program and for our players.  All the hard work of the past few years has begun to pay off, but nobody is satisfied with our 2-0 start.  We know that we have the potential to win every game left on our schedule, but we have the potential to lose them all as well.  There are no guarantees for this team, so we’ll just keep working hard and try to make our own breaks!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Game Photos!

Some action photos taken on Saturday by Grinnell College student Ben Brewer '11.  Thanks Ben!

Kelsey Davis '12 makes a running catch for a big gain



Coach Pedersen is fired up


Logan Granera '12 kicks off the 2010 season

Mike McCabe '13 throws a TD
Robert Seer '12 caught 4 TDs on the day, tying the school record.
Marquis Bradley '11 takes a breather

Monday, September 6, 2010

Chris Jarmon on D3Football.com

Pioneer Offensive Lineman Chris Jarmon was interviewed by D3Football.com about his experiences as a student-athlete, life at Grinnell College, and his own personal blog (www.thed3experience.com)Read the entire interview below.  The feature was published in D3Football.com's Kickoff 2010 available here.

D3: Is the D-III experience all you expected?
CJ:
The D-III experience is everything I could have hoped for and more. I know I've certainly had a little bit of a bumpier ride than some of the other athletes out there, but it's been an amazing learning and growing experience. The relationships and leadership skills I've developed while playing Division III football are invaluable, and I'm lucky to have been allowed to play the game I love at such a competitive level while still getting an excellent education.

D3: You've played one year at Colorado College and one at Grinnell. How do the programs compare?
CJ:
For me, both the programs at Colorado College and at Grinnell have had a wonderful family atmosphere with a great support system among teammates, coaches and parents. Both programs also put a competitive squad on the field, even though I've experienced only losing seasons so far. Where I feel the programs tend to differ is institutional support. At Colorado College, I feel that the College did not provide us with adequate tools and support to succeed, and I was shown how poorly they support intercollegiate athletics when they decided to cut the football program. I admire Grinnell as an institution for supporting their football program in every aspect, and for standing behind us no matter how tough things get on or off the field. I've found that it's much easier to carry out my daily life as a D-III football player when I don't have to worry about what's going on behind closed doors.

D3: I notice you said 'athletes' instead of 'student-athletes.' Do you think players care about the buzzwords and labels from the NCAA and media?
CJ:
I do think players care, to an extent. However, at Grinnell we don't get too wrapped up in making sure people know we're students first, because people in this community already know that. Grinnell is an intense academic environment, so there's no question that our education comes first. I suppose at this point I'm used to referring to myself as an athlete since my presence here infers that I'm looking to get an education. I think some other D-III players might agree that those buzzwords and labels are meant more for players in higher NCAA divisions where there is a greater emphasis on preparing for professional sports.

D3: Having seen almost 20 different teams up close the past two years, what does Grinnell need to do to contend for conference titles?
CJ:
I could hide behind my previous answer and say that our difficulty in finding athletes who are also academically and socially suitable for this particular environment is what holds us back from being a top team in the Midwest Conference. Having competed against almost 20 different teams, including D3football.com top 10 and top 5 teams, I've found that depth helps quite a bit, and we don't have much of it. However, our head coach Jeff Pedersen won a MWC championship here in his freshman year (1998) without much depth, and I don't think the environment at Grinnell or in the MWC as a whole has changed too much since then. All we need is a group of players and coaches like that 1998 team that collectively buys into the head coach's philosophy and believes that winning consistently is possible despite whatever disadvantages we think we may have. It's an incredibly simple, yet incredibly difficult thing to do.


Chris Jarmon's summer job blends football and media.
D3: What's the most unique facet of game day on Grinnell's campus?
CJ:
The most unique facet of our game day is our seating. We don't have a track surrounding our field, so all of our fans are very close to the action. In addition to filling the bleachers, we have rowdy students covering the grass along the sidelines, about 2 yards from the field itself, which makes for a very fun and intense game atmosphere.

D3: Is there a game the fans or players get up for more than any other?
CJ:
Because of the way our conference is set up, there aren't too many big rivalries among our member schools. The games we get fired up for the most tend to be Knox and Lake Forest, because we've had very competitive games with them in recent years.

D3: What made you decide to write a blog about your time in Division III?
CJ:
I've been focused on pursuing a career in sports media since a young age, and I was the sports editor for my high school paper. I noticed that no other players were really doing anything quite like it, and I thought that with my training and career aspirations I could put out decent quality content on a semi-regular basis and have some fun with it. Being a Division III football player is -- in my opinion -- an experience unlike anything else in college, so I figured other people might like to read about what it's like. I thought it might be something that would give me a little bit of a niche, and so far I believe it has.

D3: Has anyone at either school ever asked you to stop, or stop using Twitter?
CJ:
Surprisingly, no one has ever asked me to stop, or to retract any content I've published. During my freshman year, I was terrified of writing about something that should be kept out, but I realized that I tend to have a pretty good filter for what shouldn't be on the internet. As the years have gone by, I've started to loosen up and enjoy it a little more, and the coaches and players have responded in kind. Especially here at Grinnell, everyone seems to embrace the uniqueness of it, and my teammates like it whenever they get a "shout-out" on the blog or on Twitter.

D3: What's the most interesting interaction you've had with a fan or reader online?
CJ:
I actually get a lot of questions from high school kids and their parents about everything from training to recruiting. It surprises me how personal their questions are, since to them I'm essentially a complete stranger. The most interesting email I've ever gotten was probably one from the mother of a high school football player. Her son had been kicked off the team, and she wanted to know what he should do to get back on the team. I thought it was strange that the parent asked me about this and not the player, but I found it especially strange that she thought I would be an expert on the situation. I wrote a long and thoughtful response but I never heard back, so it must have been the wrong kind of advice.

D3: What has it been like working at NFL Films the past two summers?
CJ:
Working at NFL Films the past two summers has been truly amazing. In addition to doing a lot of hands-on work for the NFL Network, I've gotten the chance to meet plenty of high-profile players, coaches and members of the media, which is important for my career path. It's been a blessing to have had such a great summer job.

D3: Did you pick up anything football-wise?
CJ:
The show I work for, "NFL Playbook," is a very technical football show, so I've definitely learned a lot more about the nuts and bolts of the game from editing segments for the show.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Pioneers Open 2010 With Win!

On a terrific afternoon for college football, the Grinnell College Pioneers filled the stands across from their new $90 million athletic facility and promptly went out and beat the Macalester Scots 45-35.  The game started off with a bang when the Pioneer defense stymied the Scots on a 4th and 1 from the Grinnell 37.  Junior receiver Logan Granera and the Pioneer offense weren't to be out done though, with Granera taking a screen 63 yards for a touchdown on the very next play and the lead was never relinquished.

Game highlights included the defense getting 4 turnovers (one INT, one fumble, and 2 on downs) while the offense didn't turn the ball over once all afternoon.  Wide Receiver Robert Seer '12 tied a school record with 4 touchdowns, three of which came from fellow junior quarterback Mike Bogard.  The 45 points scored is the most scored by a Grinnell team since 2004 and the most in a season opener since the MWC Championship season of 1998. 

Read the game story here and access the box score here.