Green Knights Move Into First-Place Tie With Rout of Grinnell

From Sports Information Director, October 23, 2010 | Football
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College moved back into a tie for first place in the Midwest Conference football race with a 58-14 romp over Grinnell College at Kolstad Field at Schneider Stadium.

Thanks to Illinois College 40-35 win over Ripon, the Green Knights are now in a four-way tie for first place with those two teams and Carroll. St. Norbert (5-3, 5-2 MWC) travels to Ripon next Saturday.

St. Norbert dominated from start to finish, jumping out to a 37-0 lead in the second quarter before settling on a 37-7 halftime lead.

Rob Berger found Joe Green on touchdown passes of 25 and 20 yards in the first half and also scrambled for a 13-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. Berger finished with four touchdown passes, completing 15 of 26 passes for 170 yards. Green caught seven passes for 96 yards and two scores, while Scott Hemans caught two touchdowns in the second half of 15 and 3 yards.

St. Norbert's ground game rushed for an average of six yards per carry, netting 246 yards on 41 attempts. Berger had 116 yards on eight carries, while John Weninger added 94 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown. Austin Williams added 15 yards on six carries and one touchdown.

St. Norbert posted 488 yards of total offense and had 22 first downs, with 21 coming in the first three quarters. The Green Knights had an average starting field position of the 50-yard line.

St. Norbert forced Grinnell into an average starting field position of its own 19-yard line thanks to a record-setting afternoon from Adam Gruett. Gruett set a St. Norbert mark with a 50.8 yard average on four punts, the best average in a game with at least three punts. Three of Gruett's punts were inside the 20-yard line and one was a touchback.

Grinnell finished with 375 yards of total offense, with only 120 coming in the first half. Mike McCabe completed 18 of 36 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. The Pioneers, who also lost two fumbles, had 131 yards rushing. McCabe had 70 net yards on the ground on 12 carries. Robert Seer caught nine passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.

The Green Knights have won 12 straight games over Grinnell and is now 12-0 on homecoming under Jim Purtill.