Happy Halloween!

Every year on Halloween, the coaches dress up for practice and today's outfits were some of the best in recent memory.  The coaches took to mocking some of the players in some interesting ways.  Photos by Brieauna Bradley!

The "Twins" Andrew Clark #32 and Seth Gustafson #25 with Coach Ben Cooprider and Manny the Mannequin

Graham Fisher, Palo Alto native and rabid Stanford fan, and Coach Nate Smith

Coach Tim Hollibaugh as Daniel Ryerson, who once wore a bathrobe to a team meeting

Head Coach Jeff Pedersen as Roland Roger, Ben Cooprider as Andrew Clark and Seth Gustafson, Jason Martinez as John "Minnesota Prepster" Mertes, Darien Bell and Nick Plato as "Beach Boys" Sam Poulos and TJ Schaid, Nate Smith as Graham Fisher, and Tim Hollibaugh as Daniel Ryerson

Photos From Lawrence Game

Official Pioneer Football Photographer Alysia Horcher '15 was on hand Saturday to capture the action, here are some of her best.  As usual, you can see all of Alysia's pictures on her Flickr page.

Pioneers During the National Anthem

Coach Pedersen leads the celebration on the sideline

Clayton Desjardin '15 protects punter Graham Fisher '16

Seth Gustafson attempts to break up a pass

Offensive Huddle

Sam Poulos lets loose on a 68-yard TD pass to Jake Meixler

Coach Hollibaugh and some of the defense watch closely from the sideline

Aamir Walton '15 with a circus catch

Pioneers Lose to Lawrence

One of the beautiful aspects of the Midwest Conference is that any team can win any game no matter the opponent.  And despite having beaten common opponent Monmouth, who Lawrence lost to 56-20, the Pioneers fell at home on Saturday, 24-14.

Sam Poulos '16 and Jacob Meixler '15 accounted for both of Grinnell's touchdowns on passes of 11 and 68 yards.  Poulos completed 12-of-27 passes for 156 yards, while Meixler had 113 yards on seven receptions. TJ Schaid '13 had his second 100-plus yard rushing game in the last three outings as he gained 111 yards on 25 carries.Defensively, David Ternes '15 had a game-high 15 stops and a sack while Drew Blumberg '13 had 11 tackles and Richard Renteria '15 nine.

Final home game is this Saturday against St. Norbert at 1pm.  It's also Senior Day!

Play of the Week

Seth Gustafson's 25-yard interception return for a touchdown got the Pioneers off to a 13-0 start at Carroll this past Saturday and today, it's our Pioneer Football Play of the Week.  Video taken by Lorejune Fernandez.

Enjoy!

Photos From Carroll Game

As usual, Official Pioneer Photographer Alysia Horcher '15 was on hand to take pictures of the big game at Carroll on Saturday.  The following are some of her best.  You can see all her photos on her Flickr page.

Dalton Davies and Sam Poulos congratulate TJ Schaid after his 1st quarter TD 

Seth Gustafson has a convoy of both healthy and injured teammates escorting him to the endzone

Jake Meixler outruns a couple Carroll defenders for a long gain

Jayson Campos jumps into Dalton Davies' arms after Davies TD grab

TJ Schaid gets a nice running lane provided by (L-R) Quinn Rosenthal, Roland Roger, Pierce Gustafson and Morgan Kinsinger

Graham Fisher lets a punt fly against a perfect fall backdrop

Rich Renteria forces a 2nd half fumble which he also recovered

Drew Blumberg sends a Carroll ballcarrier horizontal while Tom Brinkman looks on

Pioneers Fall Just Short at Carroll

Pioneer Kick-Off team set to start the game

After jumping out to a quick start, the Grinnell Pioneers fell short on Saturday afternoon to Carroll's version of the Pioneers by a heart-breaking final score of 21-20.

In what can only be classified as a strange game, Carroll out-gained the visiting Pioneers by more than a 2:1 ratio but after losing the halftime lead, the Scarlet & Black still had chances to get out of Wisconsin victorious but failed to capitalize on a couple scoring chances late in the 4th quarter.

After two tough road losses, the Pioneers will be back at Rosenbloom hosting Lawrence this Saturday at 1pm!  GC Pride!

Full box score here.  Photos and videos to follow later in the week.

Players of the Game:
Special Teams:  Barrett Morrissette - 2 tackles on Punt and Jake Beecher - 3 tackles on Kickoff
Defense:  Rich Renteria - 5 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
Offense:  Jake Meixler - 5 catches for 74 yards

Play of the Week

This week's Play of the Week is the incredible leap for a 2-point conversion by senior running back TJ Schaid.  Great footage by our filmer Brieauna Bradley, capturing the emotion as the Pioneers cut the Ripon lead early in the 3rd quarter to 24-14!

Photos From Ripon Game

Courtesy of Official Pioneer Football Photographer Alysia Horcher '15!  Visit her Flickr page for all of her photos.

Andrew Clark averaged almost 30 yards per kick return

Colton Feller wraps up a Ripon ball carrier

Graham Fisher was 2-for-2 on FG attempts

Harnak Mann celebrates his first career TD reception

Jake Meixler hauls in his first TD catch

Sam Poulos tiptoes the sideline

Rich Renteria celebrates a Pioneer touchdown

TJ Schaid leaps over the pile for a crucial 2-point conversion

Ripon Runs Down Pioneers

TJ Schaid turns the corner

Heading on the road for only the second time all season, the Pioneers fell to the Ripon Red Hawks 37-21 on Saturday.  In a battle of two ball-control offenses, the hosts were able to turn early drives into touchdowns while the Scarlet & Black settled for two early field goals.  After cutting the lead to 24-14 early in the third quarter, Ripon pulled away after stopping the Pioneers on two separate 4th-downs inside Red Hawk territory.

Next week, it's back on the road to Wisconsin to take on Carroll University!

Players of the Week
Special Teams:  Dalton Davies - blocked FG, 2 special teams tackles
Offense:  TJ Schaid - 109 yards on 22 carries and a 2-pt conversion
Defense:  Daniel Munger  - led defense with 7 tackles
Rookie:    Barrett Morrissette - exceptional lead blocking in the run game
Practice:   Jake Meixler - 2 catches for 37 yards and 1 TD, was Scout Team QB all week in practice

Coach Pedersen and Sam Poulos On KGRN Radio Tonight!

Head Coach Jeff Pedersen and quarterback Sam Poulos '16 will be at the Grinnell Pizza Ranch tonight at 6:30pm to participate in 1410 KGRN's Extra Point Sports Talk show hosted by Chris Varney.  They'll talk about preparing for Ripon College and gearing up for the second half of the season.

You can listen live online here.

D3Football.com Honors Pioneers Twice!

Grinnell's 21-7 victory over Monmouth College on Saturday proved to be twice as nice for the Pioneers when it came to weekly awards from D3football.com.

Wide receiver Cody Weber '13 (left) was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week, while a second-quarter touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Poulos '16 (right) to Weber was tabbed Play of the Week.

The Play of the Week officially covered only 12 yards, but in reality was much more as Poulos scrambled and evaded Fighting Scot defenders before throwing against his body to find Weber in the back of the end zone for a score that would put the Pioneers ahead to stay.

By the time the play was completed, nearly 10 seconds had rolled off the clock.

Weber was named to the Team of the Week after catching 15 passes and scoring twice in the victory. He finished with a game-high 165 receiving yards and, as of last week, ranked fifth nationally in receptions per game and 12th in receiving yards a contest. 

Cody Weber Named MWC Player of the Week

Senior wide receiver Cody Weber was named the Midwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the 21-7 win over Monmouth on Saturday.

Weber hauled in 15 catches for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns.  For the year, he leads the MWC in receptions per game (8.8) and receiving yards per game (112.8).  Those stats are also good for 5th and 12th, respectively, in the entire NCAA Division III rankings.

See the full MWC release here.

Pioneers Raise $1,124 for Prostate Cancer Research!

Through the month of September, the Pioneer football team grew out their beards to help raise money for prostate cancer research through the national foundation called Septembeard.  The foundation has raised over $250,000 this past month alone and we are proud to say that as a group (players, coaches, parents, friends, alumni) raised $1,124 for the cause!

Thank you to all who donated and supported this great cause!

Of course, we are still taking donations, please click the link above to donate.

And we grew some great beards in the process, but none better than Head Coach Jeff Pedersen!

Pioneers Beat Monmouth!

On a brisk fall day at Rosenbloom Field, the Pioneers defeated the pre-season MWC favorite Monmouth Scots 21-7.

The defense and special teams created great field position all day for the Scarlet & Black, but the play of the game was made by quarterback Sam Poulos and receiver Cody Weber.  Sometimes improvisation is the best play call!



Players of the week:
Practice:             Brendan Ramirez and Nate George - first-year conerbacks that have improved rapidly
Rookie:              Sam Poulos - 28-35 for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns
Special Teams:   Jake Beecher - mistake-free play and 2 tackles playing on 5 of 6 units
Defense:             Colton Feller and David Ternes - combined for 25 tackles and 3.0 TFL
Offense:              Morgan Kinsinger - only one "minus" play and Cody Weber - 15 catches for 165 yards and 2 TDs.

Photos and more stories to come.