Buccaneers Travel to Grinnell for Showdown of 2-1 MWC Teams
Beloit College Buccaneers (2-2, 2-1 MWC)
at Grinnell College Pioneers (3-1, 2-1 MWC)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Rosenbloom Field, Grinnell, Iowa
The Teams: The Bucs defeated Knox College 42-7 in the annual Homecoming Game at Strong Stadium last Saturday. The Pioneers topped Lake Forest College 41-20 in Lake Forest last Saturday.
The Coaches: Chris Brann is in his fifth season as head coach of the Buccaneers. He is 3-1 against the Pioneers, 1-1 at Rosenbloom Field. Jeff Pedersen is in his first season as interim head coach of the Pioneers.
The Series: The Buccaneers and Pioneers are meeting for the 50th time in a series Beloit leads 26-23. Beloit has won three straight in the series and four of the last six. This is the first season since 2002 the teams aren't meeting in the season finale. The teams first met in 1915, a 23-0 Grinnell win. The Pioneers won the first two meetings with shutouts. After the 28-0 GC win in 1916, the teams did not meet again until 1939, a 26-19 Beloit victory.
Buccaneers Last Time Out: It was a happy Homecoming as the Bucs treated 1,250 mostly Buccaneer fans with a 42-7 win over Knox College at Strong Stadium last Saturday. Senior linebacker Tony Baratti had his fourth straight double-figure tackle game with ten and in the process became Beloit's all-time leader in total tackles. The Bucs struck first at 7:30 of the opening quarter when Dillon Hess scored from four yards away, the first of his three touchdowns on the day. Andrew Christensen made it 14-0 when he and quarterback Brian Maughn connected for an eight-yard scoring pass at 3:40 of the first quarter Raymond Thomas scored on a two-yard at 3:06 of the second quarter to put the Buccaneers up 21-0 at the break. Hess scored back-to-back TDs in the third quarter - one at 7:51 and one with 55 seconds left in the quarter - both from one yard away to make it a 35-0 game heading into the final quarter. Nolan Byrom scored his first collegiate touchdown to close out the Beloit scoring at 3:51 of the fourth quarter to put the Bucs up 42-0. Knox finally got themselves on the scoreboard with 2:23 left in the game on a 65-yard scoring pass from Drew Diaz to Zach Belk. The Buccaneers finished with a 473-112 advantage in total yardage for the game, including 157-21 rushing the ball, and won the clock 37:15 to 22:45. Thomas finished with 69 yards rushing on 11 carries to lead the running attack. Maughn was 16-23 with two interceptions for 203 yards while Hess was 8-13 for 113 yards. Hess also rushed for 37 yards. Derek Carrier had 92 yards receiving on six catches followed by Christensen with 80 yards, also on six receptions. Defensively, besides Baratti, who also recorded three tackles for loss, Matt Fogerty recorded two sacks totaling 17 yards in losses and finished with six tackles, four solo. Michael Underwood had the Bucs' lone interception, returning it 25 yards.
Last Time vs. the Pioneers: The Beloit College Football team sent their 11 seniors away with a big win in the final game of the 2009 season, topping Grinnell College 41-7 at Strong Stadium last November 7. The Bucs got things going with a one-yard run by Dillon Hess at the 5:33 mark of the opening quarter, capping a seven-play, 82-yard drive. They made it 12-0 two minutes into the second quarter when Brian Maughn hit Julian Ross from 15 yards out. Matthew Kahl added a 35-yard field goal with 1:00 minute remaining before halftime before the Pioneers got their only points of the game with 29 seconds left on a short run, making it 15-7 at the break. The Buccaneers then dominated the second half. Derek Carrier caught a 14-yard Maughn pass at 6:43 of the third quarter to make it 21-0 and then Quentin Layne picked off a pass and returned it 29 yards for a score to increase the lead to 27-7 48 seconds later. Ross caught his second TD of the day from Maughn with 1:21 left in the third quarter to make it 34-7 entering the fourth. Matt Davis closed out the scoring in the final quarter of the season, scoring from one yard out to make the final score. Beloit controlled the clock for a whopping 40 minutes of the contest, putting up 555 yards of offense in the process while holding GC to 162. Maughn finished with 297 yards passing to end the season with 2,622. His three TD tosses tied the single-season record while he broke the season record for completions with 169. Ross had nine catches for 188 yards and two scores, finishing the season with 56 catches for a season record 1,042 yards and a record-tying eight TDs. Carrier also had five catches for 107 yards and a score as eight Bucs caught a pass. On defense, Tony Baratti finished his second straight season with 100-plus tackles while Matt Fogerty led the way with ten stops. Kyle Hansgen recorded two sacks to end up with 9.5 this season and 15.5 for his career.
Individual Accolades: It seems nearly every week another current Buccaneer breaks into the Beloit Record Book. This time is was linebacker Tony Baratti, who became Beloit's all-time leader in total tackles, surpassing David Bilek's mark of 367 (2003-06). Baratti heads into the Grinnell game with 372…Dillon Hess only carried the ball eight times against Knox College last Saturday but came away with three TDs (4, 1, 1). In his short career, Hess has 58 carries and has scored eight touchdowns…After struggling in the season opener against Chicago, Mat Kahl has rebounded to make his last 13 PAT's, including 6-6 against Knox, one short of tying the single-game record…
Up Ahead for the Bucs: The Bucs travel to Lake Forest College on October 9 to complete a two-game road trip. They return to Strong Stadium for back-to-back home games on October 16 and 23, hosting Ripon College on the 16th and Monmouth College on the 23rd.
