Green Knights Roll Past Grinnell

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, September 22, 2018 | Football
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College capitalized on several Grinnell College mistakes and set a school record for points in the process with a 91-0 win over Grinnell College in a non-conference game at Schneider Stadium.

The Green Knights (2-1) scored four defensive touchdowns and one special teams touchdown while hectoring Grinnell into six turnovers. St. Norbert's point total surpassed the old mark of 79 set against Lawrence University on Oct. 13, 2012. The four defensive touchdowns matched a school record set on Oct. 15, 2005 against Carroll University.

St. Norbert took the opening kickoff and marched 66 yards in nine plays to score on a 1-yard run by Jadon Sackman. The Green Knights doubled their lead when Bright Boachie recovered a punt snap in the end zone 81 seconds later. Things escalated quickly when Nate Ihlenfeldt scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Drew Rhodes at the 6:03 mark. Matt Gurgone then had a 36-yard interception return at 5:02 and a 2-yard fumble return for a touchdown at 4:10. Gurgone is only the second player in St. Norbert history to return both a fumble and interception for a touchdown in the same game, joining Anthony Triner in the aforementioned Carroll game.

The Green Knights got a 1-yard touchdown run from Ben Styczynski, a 12-yard touchdown pass from Rhodes to Matt Galanopoulos and an 8-yard scamper by Sackman in the second quarter to lead 56-0 at halftime.

Lucas Van Deurzen recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown, Brandon Dudley broke off a 31-yard run, Luke Bero pounced on a fumble in the end zone and Styczynski had a 6-yard run in the third quarter. Matt Vanden Heuvel's 6-yard run in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring.

Spenser Thompson-Meyers was perfect on all 13 of his extra-point attempts, tying an NCAA Division III record for most PATs in a game. His mark tied Concordia-Moorhead's Kurt Christenson, who made 13 on Sept. 24, 1977. Thompson-Meyers is first to make that many without a miss, with Christenson going 13-for-14 in a game against Macalester.

St. Norbert outgained Grinnell 474-49 in total offense, the fifth-best effort in yardage ever by a Green Knights' defense. The Green Knights had 28 first downs to the Pioneers' four, while St. Norbert faced third down just four times. St. Norbert finished with 372 yards rushing and threw just one pass in the second half, coming on third down on the first series of the third quarter.

Dudley led St. Norbert on the ground with 98 yards on six carries, while Vanden Heuvel added 79 yards on 14 carries. Sackman finished with 61 yards on nine tries. Rhodes completed 8 of 10 passes for 102 yards.