September 7, 2018 By Chris Varney
The Grinnell Tigers are back at T.T. Cranny Field tonight as they host the Tigers of A-D-M, coverage on 1410 KGRN and myiowainfo.com, kickoff at 7:30 pm.
Grinnell is 1-1 after a 39-14 loss last week at North Polk. The Tigers dug themselves into a 25-0 hole thanks to an offense that did not get a first down until midway in the 2nd quarter. Grinnell went 3 and out in their first 6 drives and the worst field position for the Comets was starting their 2nd drive on their own 45. In Week One, GHS started slowly but were able to overcome it — not so last Friday.
Senior QB Drew Coffman struggled early, going 0 for his first 11 passes and 2 interceptions but he did recover to throw for 180 yards, including a 90 yard strike to Tanner Strand and also ran for 63 yards. Coffman needs the confidence to play strong early in games and Grinnell Head Coach Brian Sauser says that has been a point of emphasis this week in practice.
Sophomores Wyatt Hunter and Cole McGriff each had 6 catches last week, Hunter had 86 total yards of offense combined rushing and receiving and he had a fumble recovery on defense. Sauser said that Hunter and Eli Rose have both been like rocks at inside linebacker for the Tigers. Seniors Wyatt Dillon and Gavin McFarland have been solid on the outside at LB as well. Grinnell’s defense played as well as can be expected last week, dealing with many short fields.
ADM comes in with a 2-0 record winning low scoring games over Bondurant-Farrar (17-7) and Perry (13-10). Sauser says the ADM Tigers are a straight forward, not very flashy type of team. Their defense has been solid led by Sophomore Nathan Pfiffner (15.5 tackles) and Senior Nicholas Bradshaw (15.0 tackles) but they have 5 other players in double figures in tackles.
Sophomores start at the key offensive positions for ADM — Sophomore QB Tate Stine-Smith has thrown for 328 yards in the first 2 games with 2 TD and 3 INT. Sophomore Justice Paulsen is a load at tailback and leads the running with 252 yards, averaging over 7 yards a carry. Senior Lucas Heitz is the leading receiver with 17 catches for 206 yards and a 1 TD.
It will up to Grinnell’s front to win the battle at the line of scrimmage tonight — they can keep ADM off balance with short quick passes but yards after the catch may be difficult against a good tackling defense. Grinnell’s defense will have to gang up on Paulsen but the secondary will be tested with ADM’s passing game. It will be interesting to see how Grinnell rebounds after last week. It will also be interesting to see if the passing game for both teams will be affected by the wet field conditions. Grinnell will need to move the football with short passes and ADM will look to move the sticks with Paulsen powering it inside.
The Band Boosters will have a pre-game barbeque beginning at 5 pm and the 1998 Grinnell High team that were runners up will be honored at halftime.