Box Score GRINNELL, Iowa – For the second year in a row, the Grinnell College football team gave one of the top teams in the Midwest Conference a scare.

But in the end, the St. Norbert College Green Knights emerged with a 20-12 victory Saturday afternoon at Rosenbloom Field.

St. Norbert, a 30-28 winner over the Pioneers a season ago, scored 13 points in the final period to rally for the victory. The win kept the Green Knights in contention to win at least a share of the league title as they moved to 7-1 in the MWC and 7-2 overall.

Grinnell, 2-6 in the MWC and 2-7 overall, had a stellar defensive effort Saturday while holding the Green Knights to 10 points under their season average and forcing three fumbles. In fact, Grinnell's lone touchdown of the game came on a 22-yard fumble recovery return by Kevin Hwang '14, who also blocked a punt in the game.

David Ternes '15 again led Grinnell in tackles with a game-high 15, while Drew Blumberg '13 had 12 in celebration of Senior Day. Tom Brinkman '13 added 11 stops, Colton Feller '14 had 10 and Brian Taylor '13 had eight including two tackles for loss.

Offensively, Aamir Walton '15 had seven catches for 69 yards and Sam Poulos '16 completed 15-of-36 aerials for 127 yards. TJ Schaid '13 and Max Jacobson '14 had three catches apiece.

Graham Fisher '16 booted a pair of field goals, including a 40-yarder.

The Pioneers began the scoring at the 6:07 mark of the first period when St. Norbert completed a pass, only to have Grinnell's Feller force a fumble. Hwang picked it up and raced 22-yards for the score. The extra point was no good.

St. Norbert got a touchdown late in the second period for a 7-6 halftime lead.

Grinnell used 10 plays to drive 52 yards on its first possession of the third period, a series that included a 19-yard pass from Poulos to Schaid, a 12-yard toss to Jacobson and 10-yarder to Walton. The drive stalled and Fisher booted a 40-yard field goal to put the hosts ahead 9-7 with 8:11 to go.

St. Norbert's next drive resulted in a punt, which was blocked by Hwang. After seven plays resulted in just 15 yards, Fisher came in and kicked a 22-yard field goal to make it 12-7 with 6:15 left in the period.

The score remained the same until St. Norbert scored a touchdown early in the fourth period. The extra point was no good, making it 13-12 in favor of the Green Knights.

Grinnell's next three drives ended with punts before St. Norbert scored a touchdown with 2:58 to play to take a 20-12 lead. The Pioneers' next drive ended on downs, as did St. Norbert's. Grinnell was then able to run one more play before time expired.
The Pioneers conclude their 2012 campaign next Saturday at Cornell College in Mount Vernon. Game time is noon.