Coach Pedersen is 2010 MWC Coach of the Year! Pioneers Garner 7 All-MWC Honors!

The Grinnell College football team had an amazing run in the 2010 season, and that success has been reflected in the All-MWC selections.

Head Coach Jeff Pedersen ’02 (top, left) has been named MWC Coach of the Year, and linebacker Marquis Bradley ’11 (top, second from left), wide receiver Robert Seer ’12 (top, second from right) and returner Logan Granera ’13 (top, right) have been named to the All-MWC first team in voting by the league’s coaches.

Granera was also a second-team pick - at the wide receiver position - and was joined on that team by linebacker Ryan Fletcher ’11 (bottom, left), safety Marc Heronemus ’11 (bottom, second from left) and running back TJ Schaid ’13 (bottom, second from right). Offensive tackle Jake McVeigh ’11 (bottom, right) was an honorable mention pick for a team that won as many games in 2010 as the three previous Grinnell squads combined.

Under Pedersen’s guidance, the Pioneers achieved success not seen at Grinnell in quite a few years. Among them were beating Monmouth College for the first time since 2000, winning four of their first five games for Grinnell’s best start since 1999 and finishing at 6-4 for the team’s best record since 2004.

See the entire Grinnell release here.  See the entire 2010 All-MWC team here.

2010 Season Recap

 The 2010 Grinnell Pioneers finished the season with a record of 6-4, which is the school's best record since 2004.  After 5 consecutive seasons of 3 wins or less, the 2010 version of the Pioneers broke out in a big way.  They won 4 of their 5 home games and despite having the smallest roster size in the conference, went on the road and defeated the two-time defending conference champions Monmouth Scots in Week 2.

Under first-year head coach Jeff Pedersen, the 2010 Pioneers were an attacking, fast, and intelligent team that bought into the three tenors of Coach Pedersen's Pioneering Spirit:  VISION, COURAGE, AND CONVICTION.

There were numerous individual standout seasons, as the Pioneers had two receivers finish in the top 5 in the MWC in both receptions per game and receiving yards per game (Logan Granera '12 and Robert Seer '12).  Seer also finished 2nd in the conference in scoring with 14 TDs.  Granera led the MWC in All-Purpose yardage, racking up 900 return yards and 1 TD.

Defensively, the Pioneers were led by 3 seniors.  Linebackers Marquis Bradley '10 and Ryan Fletcher '10 were all over the field, both finishing in the top 6 of the MWC in tackles.  Bradley had 103 total, 3 sacks, and 3 INTs.  Fletcher had 87 tackles, 10.5 of which were TFL.  Marc Heronemus '10 led the Pioneers' secondary with 59 tackles and 10 passes defended, which was good for 5th in the MWC.

Coach Pedersen and company are already excited for the 2011 season and bringing in the next batch of Pioneers to help continue the winning at Grinnell College!

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!

Two-Sport Athletes

One of the many advantages to Division III athletics is the opportunity for more student-athletes to enjoy competing in more than one sport at the collegiate level.  We had 11 guys on last fall's roster that are playing two-sports this year.  Four are currently playing baseball while 7 others are members of the track and field team.  Today we'll highlight those four football-baseball guys, and later in the week we'll focus on the track and field athletes.

Chad Christoff '10, Ryan Fletcher '11, Mike Bogard '12, and Brian Taylor '13 are all enjoying huge success this spring with the Pioneer baseball team jumping out to an 8-0 start in MWC play and 17-11 overall.

Christoff is a relief pitcher and has the second most appearances on the team and has held opposing hitters to a .213 average.  Only giving up 10 hits, he has 2 saves and 4 strikeouts.

Fletcher has been rotating in and out of the starting lineup as a first baseman/designated hitter starting 13 of the team's 28 games.  Currently he has the 6th highest batting average on the team at .326, while driving in 7 runs, stealing 2 bases and only committing 2 errors in 116 chances at first base.

Bogard has just been cleared to resume full activity after rupturing 3 ligaments in his knee in a football game this fall.  He is slowly working himself back into pitching shape, and might be able to pitch for the Pioneers down the stretch.

Taylor serves as both a pitcher and back-up catcher for the baseball squad.  He leads the team in ERA, with a spot-free 0.00 and is allowing opposing hitters only a .200 batting average.

The opportunity for these guys to play two sports at the collegiate level is an experience they'll never forget.  Bogard says "There is absolutely no substitute for the camaraderie and friendships developed through sports, and being involved with multiple teams facilitates these one-of-a-kind interactions."  Sharing similar sentiments about his teammates, Christoff said, "The benefits of playing two sports at the next level extend beyond the fact that I didn't have to give up playing one of the games I loved, but manifest themselves off the field in a way that I could never have imagined."

Ryan Fletcher Named MWC Player of the Week

After a dazzling defensive performance, Grinnell junior linebacker, Ryan Fletcher was named this week's Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week!

Fletcher's stat line on Saturday vs. St. Norbert:
7 total tackles, 3.0 TFL (including 2.5 sacks), 1 forced fumble, and 2 pass break-ups

Read the MWC press release here.

Pioneer Summer Internships

Every summer, Pioneer football players disperse across the country for their exciting summer internships. Throughout the course of the summer, they will share their experiences here. Today's entry comes from linebacker Ryan Fletcher '11:

This summer I am working an internship in Dubuque, Iowa. I am working for Heartland Investments, a firm that offers financial advising and sells life insurance, among other things. My job, technically, is to sell life insurance, which is interesting for me, being an economics major. In terms of my daily activities, I am reviewing old clients for my boss and attempting to update their policies. I am in charge of setting up appointments and gathering as much information on the clients as possible. Along with my internship, I am also playing in a summer baseball league in Dubuque, as I am also on the team here at Grinnell. The combination of a job and baseball, to go along with football workouts, ensures no day is uneventful.

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