Beloit College Buccaneers (1-1)
at Grinnell College Pioneers (0-2)
Saturday, September 17, 2016, 1:00 p.m.
Rosenbloom Field, Grinnell, Iowa
The Buccaneers open Midwest Conference play on the road as they travel to Grinnell College, fresh off a home-opening win last Saturday…
The Series: The Buccaneers and Pioneers are meeting for the 56th time in a series Beloit leads 28-27. Beloit has won two straight in the series though GC has still won four of the last six meetings. The Bucs are 3-7 in their last 10 visits to Rosenbloom. The teams first met during the 1915 season, a 23-0 Pioneer win. GC shut out Beloit again in 1916 (28-0) before a 23-season break in the series. It resumed in 1939 with a 26-19 Buccaneer win, the first win in a four victories in five meetings streak for Beloit, stretching from 1939 to 1959…
Bucs Most Recent Game: The Beloit College Football team definitely put together a team effort as they topped Knox College 42-32 at Strong Stadium Saturday in the 2016 home opener last Saturday. Joey Werner got Beloit going in the right direction with a three-yard TD run 3:30 into the game before the Prairie Fire tied it up six minutes later. Kam Sallee put the Bucs on top for good just over a minute into the second quarter with a 52-yard field goal, tying the Beloit record for the longest in program history. Mike Nolden then caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Danny May to make it a 16-6 game heading into halftime. Knox pulled a little closer with a field goal five minutes into the second half but May responded two minutes later with a 30-yard scoring run. Sallee tacked on another field goal, this one from 37 yards away, to make it 25-9 but KC closed the gap again with a scoring run at 2:59 of the third to make it 25-17 heading into the fourth quarter. Sallee kicked his third field goal of the game 1:23 into the final quarter before the Prairie Fire got within three points just over a minute later on a 46-yard scoring pass. The Buccaneers took control with back-to-back short scoring runs from Werner to up the score to 42-25 with four minutes remaining. Knox closed out the scoring with a nine-yard run inside the final minute but Beloit recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock. The teams combined for 920 yards in offense, with the Buccaneers finishing with 425. May had 160 yards passing and 114 rushing for a 274-yard total offense day. Werner rushed for 86 yards on the way to his three TDs. Nolden caught four passes for 82 yards to lead the receivers. Defensively Quin Dixon had 15 tackles plus a sack and a forced fumble while Danny Quijas had 12 tackles and Henry Jacobson and David Lafayette had nine, Lafayette also with a sack. Xavier Haynes grabbed his first career interception and also had three pass breakups…
Bucs' Last Time vs. the Pioneers: Beloit, fresh off a 50-point outburst in their season opener, kept putting up yards and points in a 41-31 win at Grinnell College on September 12, 2015. Mason Dixon got Beloit rolling with a one-yard scoring run just over three minutes into the game, capping a nine-play, 76-yard drive. Grinnell tied it up three minutes later with a short scoring pass before Dixon struck again, this time from six yards out, to make it 14-7, Beloit, after one quarter. Dixon increased the lead to two TDs with his third rushing score of the game one minute into the second quarter but the Pioneers had back-to-back scoring passes to tie it up again at 21-all with 7:49 left in the half. GC took a 24-21 lead on a 49-yard field goal at the 4:38 mark before Danny May gave the Buccaneers the lead for good 1:39 before halftime on a six-yard TD run, making it 28-24 at the break. Dixon tied a Beloit record with his fourth rushing touchdown of the game midway through the third quarter, the only scoring of the quarter, to put Beloit up 34-24 heading to the fourth. Mike Nolden closed out the Buccaneer scoring on a six-yard pass from May seven seconds into the final quarter, making it 41-24. Grinnell pulled to within 41-31 on a short TD pass with under three minutes remaining before the Bucs ran out the final 2:55 for the win. Dixon finished with 228 rushing yards, the third 200-yard game of his career, the second straight at Grinnell, on 31 carries. May threw for 188 yards while Ryan Sughroue caught nine passes for 60 yards and Kam Sallee six for 60. Beloit finished with 468 yards of offense, 280 on the ground, while holding Grinnell to 109 rushing yards. Defensively Brenden Endrina had 16 tackles, 10 solo, with a sack while Quin Dixon had 10 tackles. Danny Quijas, Michael Koch and George Jacobsen also had sacks while Riley Pearson and Jacob Grams shared one. Antonio Jones made the game's lone interception, with his 34-yard return setting up Dixon's second TD…
MWC Openers: The Buccaneers are 3-7 in their last 10 Midwest Conference openers, having snapped a four-game losing streak in such games last season with a 49-34 win over Lawrence University on September 19, 2015. They last won two straight MWC openers in 2009 and 2010…
Notes & Notables: Kam Sallee's first field goal Saturday - from 52 yards - against Knox tied a Beloit record that was first set in 1924 with a dropkick by Athletic Hall of Honor member Pat Dawson. Andrew Reich was the first to tie the record, doing it at Lake Forest on October 4, 2008. He now has 21 career field goals, just one short of tying the all-time record of 22 set by Greg Dummer from 1982-85. His 81 career point-afters are third on the career list…WR Mike Nolden loved in to fourth on the career receiving yards list with his 82 Saturday. He now has 1,855 on 142 catches with 23 TDs…Beloit has now won three straight home openers, their best streak since they won eight straight from 1984 to 1991…
Up Ahead for the Bucs: It's Homecoming time at Beloit College when they host Cornell College at Strong Stadium on September 24. After that it's back on the road to begin October, playing at Lawrence University in Appleton on the 1st.