APPLETON, Wis. — The Grinnell College football team hung on for a 34-27 win over Lawrence University on Saturday at the Banta Bowl.
The game was part of the Midwest Conference Championship Weekend that pitted teams in intra-divisional contests.
Grinnell (2-8) made a pair of stands deep in its own territory in the final three minutes to preserve the win. The Pioneers won despite giving up more than 500 yards of offense to Lawrence (1-9).
Lawrence quarterback Ryan Butterfield became the first Viking to rush for more than 200 yards in a game since Justin Berrens did it against Ripon College in 2002. Butterfield ran 24 times for 243 yards and three touchdowns. Butterfield also completed 15-of-37 passes for 191 yards.
Lawrence piled up 319 yards on the ground and averaged 7.8 yards per carry. Donnel Haley chipped with nine carries for 65 yards for Lawrence. The Vikings finished with 510 yards of offense.
Grinnell quarterback Sam Poulos was 22-of-36 for 269 yards and five touchdowns. Henry Cummings and Emmi Sandoval each caught five passes, including two touchdowns catches apiece, for the Pioneers.
After a wild first half that saw the teams combine for 61 points, both teams went scoreless in the second half.
Lawrence had a pair of great scoring chances late in the contest. Butterfield connected with Terrence Simon on a 24-yard pass play to the Grinnell 29-yard line with seven minutes left. Simon then made a fourth-down catch for a short gain to give Lawrence a first down at the Grinnell 17. After a pair of short running plays, Butterfield was unable to connect with Simon on the next two plays and Lawrence turned it over on downs with 2:55 remaining.
The Vikings defense forced a three-and-out and Lawrence got the ball back at the Lawrence 43 with 1:47 left. Butterfield raced for 13 yards and a first down and was hit late out of bounds so 15 more yards were tacked on, giving the Vikings a first down at the Grinnell 32.
On third-and-10, Cole Erickson caught a pass from Butterfield and raced 18 yards to the Grinnell 14. After Butterfield ran to the Grinnell 10, the Vikings were hit with two penalties to move the ball back to the 20.
Out of timeouts, Butterfield went for Simon in the end zone, and despite the fact the defender appeared to hit Simon before the ball arrived, no penalty was called. This came on the heels of the officials picking up a flag for looked to be pass interference in the end zone earlier in the drive.
Facing third down, Butterfield hit Dante Reese for a gain to the Grinnell 10, but the Vikings were unable to run another play before time expired.
Defensive end Jake Gostisha recorded a game-high 12 tackles and had an interception in the end zone for the Vikings. Linebackers Jacob Lueck and Dan Rothbauer had 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, for Lawrence.
The teams traded touchdowns in the first half and combined for 47 points in the second quarter.
Butterfield had a 22-yard scoring run to tie the game at 7-7 and then ripped off a career-long 79 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 13-13. Butterfield then ran 31 yards to put the Vikings up 20-19.
Simon had a two-yard scoring run to put Lawrence up 27-19, but Grinnell scored two touchdowns in the final 3:02 of the half to grab a 34-27 lead at the break.