Box Score BELOIT, Wis. – Beloit College clipped the Grinnell College football team 27-23 in the Pioneers' 2014 season opener Saturday afternoon.
Grinnell quarterback
Sam Poulos '16 completed 18-of-36 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns.
Aamir Walton '15 had five catches for 84 yards, while
Jacob Meixler '15 added five catches for 81 yards and
Greg Ruzich '16 four receptions for 50 yards.
Jacob Bernholtz '17 was the leading rusher, gaining 66 yards and scoring a touchdown.
Defensively,
David Ternes '15 led the way with 10 tackles.
Richard Renteria '15 added nine stops,
Daniel Munger '15 had eight tackles and
Jacob Beecher '16 had seven stops and a fumble recovery.
Beloit opened the scoring in the first period, but Grinnell countered with a nine-play, 91-yard drive to tie things up. Poulos hit Meixler on a 39-yard pass during the series before completing it with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Meixler at the 9:55 mark of the first period.
Graham Fisher's '15 extra point tied things at 7-all.
Beloit added a touchdown at the start of the second period, but again Grinnell tied it on a six-play, 60-yard drive. Poulos hit
Zach McGriff '18 with a 35-yard pass to start the series and Bernholtz rushed for 10 yards to highlight the drive, which was capped by Bernholtz's 2-yard run with 1:55 to go in the half. Fisher's extra point tied things at 14-all.
However, Beloit erupted for 10 points after that, scoring a touchdown and then capitalizing on an interception to kick a field goal to make it 24-14 at intermission.
Grinnell closed the gap to 24-17 in the third period when Fisher booted a 35-yard field goal with :50 left. Beloit kicked a field goal early in the fourth period to stretch its lead to 27-17.
Beloit drove to Grinnell's 8-yard line late in the game when Renteria forced a fumble that Beecher recovered. That began a seven-play drive that included a 49-yard pass to Walton and was capped by Poulos' 6-yard TD pass to McGriff with 1:11 to go. The extra point was no good.
Beloit recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock from there.
Beloit is now 1-1 on the season, while Grinnell dipped to 0-1. The Pioneers play at Luther College next Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
