BY RICH PALZEWIC
SPORTS EDITOR
DE PERE – To say that the St. Norbert College football team gave those in attendance plenty to cheer about on SNC Day Sept. 22, is an understatement.
The Green Knights scored early and often in a 91-0 Midwest Conference shellacking over Grinnell College at Donald J. Schneider Stadium in De Pere.
St. Norbert (2-1 overall, 1-0 MWC) led 35-0 after the first quarter and 56-0 at the half in beating the Pioneers (1-2, 0-1) for the 17th straight time.
The Green Knights scored four defensive touchdowns, blocked two punts and also scored on special teams in the biggest rout in school history.
The video-game numbers that St. Norbert put up came despite playing its second- and third-string players for the entire second half.
“I’m proud of the effort,” said St. Norbert head coach Dan McCarty. “We focused on getting back to details since our last game two weeks ago. There was more we wanted to do offensively, but out of respect with how the game went, there was only so much we could do. We threw the ball once in the second half, played our backups and worked on our run game. It helps when you get defensive and special-team scores.”
McCarty mentioned that in a situation like this, you look at the first half as a time to run anything you want offensively in your normal game plan, but after intermission is another story.
“We took the starters out and basically ran the same four plays in the second half,” he added. “We just wanted to keep the ball on the ground and keep that clock moving.”
St. Norbert’s previous high for points in a game was 79 against Lawrence in 2012.
Senior linebacker Matt Gurgone had an interception return and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, while Jadon Sackman, Bright Boachie and Nate Ihlenfeldt also scored in the opening quarter.
Ben Styczynski, Matt Galanopoulos and Sackman scored in the second quarter to end the first-half scoring.
The Green Knights held a 272-20 edge in total yards during the first 30 minutes.
Ethan Vanden Plas blocked a Grinnell punt a few minutes into the third quarter, and Lucas Van Deurzen fell on the loose ball in the end zone to make it 63-0.
Brandon Dudley rumbled 31 yards for a score on the Green Knights’ next possession to push the lead to 70.
Halfway through the third, Luke Bero pounced on a Pioneers’ fumble in the end zone for St. Norbert’s fourth defensive touchdown of the day.
Styczynski, a 2017 Bay Port graduate, tallied his second of the day a few minutes later to make it 84-0.
“Everything is going well for me,” said Styczynski, who had just 21 yards rushing. “The offensive line did a great job blocking and we just kept the running the ball. We work as a team, so you play every game the same, no matter the score.”
Matt Vanden Heuvel ended the scoring for the Knights.
St. Norbert totaled a 474 to 49 advantage in offensive output.
Dudley led the Knights with 98 yards rushing on only six carries, while Samuel Staehling had three receptions for 38 yards.
Quarterback Drew Rhodes was 8-10 for 102 yards and two touchdown passes.
St. Norbert will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Knox, before returning home Oct. 6 in hosting Ripon.
Boxscore
Grinnell: 0, 0, 0, 0 – 0
St. Norbert: 35, 21, 28, 7 – 91
