For a week, it was Cobber Country
It’s a kick that can dash dreams, halt winning streaks, erase history and cause unbridled jubilation.
It did that and more in Collegeville on Saturday as Concordia-Moorhead nipped St. John's 21-20 on Brian Halverson’s 30-yard field goal with 24 seconds to play.
For the Cobbers, it marked the first win in Collegeville since 1988 and the first win at all against the Johnnies since 1990. For St. John’s, it snapped an MIAC record 28-game conference winning streak and essentially knocked the defending national champions out of the Division III playoffs for the first time since 1997.
At 5-0, Concordia brought a raucous and confident crowd to Collegeville. A handful of Cobber fans led the team onto the field, running bare back carrying Concordia flags blowing in the brisk wind. They hung banners on the front of their bleachers of a Manifest Destiny variety, “This is COBBER COUNTRY.” For one afternoon, it was.
The Cobbers dominated St. John’s in time of possession holding a 40:58 to 19:02 advantage. They out gained the Johnnies in total offense and converted on three of five chances in the red zone. The Cobbers had more third down conversions (13) than the Johnnies attempted (11). St. John’s scored on plays of 78, 94 and 32 yards. Concordia took the “grind them down” approach and scored on two touchdowns, two field goals and a safety.
“We dug down deep and we found something and we got it done,” Concordia quarterback Brian Schumacher said after making his first start in Collegeville. The junior is now 6-0 as a starter at Concordia.
On Saturday, he ran the option to the tune of 114 yards rushing but it was no day at the beach for the gritty play caller. The Johnnie defense sacked him six times and hit him hard on nearly every play.
 Concordia-Moorhead photo by Jim Cella Concordia-Moorhead fans make a bold statement that their team lived up to. |
While the Johnnies focused on league leading receiver Andrew Passanante, Schumacher was able to find teammate Shawn Reile for a 14-yard touchdown.
“The last few games we’ve grown as a team,” Reile said following the game. “And right now, we’re all pumped”
One of the few people on the Concordia sideline who knew anything about beating St. John’s was head coach Terry Horan. He was a senior wide receiver on the last Concordia team to beat the Johnnies in 1990.
“The teams that are successful do it together,” Horan said. “We won this football game today because we were a team and all three phases (offense, defense, special teams) came together when they needed to.”
With the victory Concordia took the inside track on claiming their first MIAC football championship since 1995.
“Everybody knows to win an MIAC championship you have to go through St. John’s.” Horan said.
On Saturday, Concordia went through and claimed it as Cobber Country.
49 straight
With its 56-34 victory against Southern Oregon on Saturday, Linfield extended two significant streaks. It was their 29th straight regular season win (just 71 behind Mount Union) and it extended their national all-divisions record of consecutive winning seasons to 49. The last year they experienced a losing season was 1955. To put it in perspective, that is the same year the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Illinois.
Another ministreak ended for Linfield when quarterback Brett Elliott experienced his first game without throwing five touchdowns. He had thrown at least five per game in his first four starts since transferring from Utah after last season.
Auggies air it out
Ben Bothun caught nine passes for 157 yards and a school-record-tying four touchdowns, leading Augsburg to a 40-6 victory over Hamline. Bothun's four touchdown catches of 51, 30, 3 and 6 yards tied a single-game school record for touchdowns in a game, set four times earlier — by Marcus LeVessseur (rushing) in Augsburg's 42-10 win over Carleton on Oct. 2, by Karl Sneider (receiving) in a 1966 game against Macalester, by Scott Hvistendahl (receiving) in a 1998 game against Mayville State and by Mark Johnson (receiving) in a 2001 game against Carleton. On defense, Bothun blocked a punt by Hamline's Ryan Laube to set up another touchdown from the Pipers’ 12-yard line.
Luther comes back
After blowing a 31-point lead five weeks ago to St. Olaf in a non conference game, Luther got to be the spoiler on Saturday in a come-from-behind, double-overtime win against Central. Luther rallied from 10 points down with less than three minutes remaining and pulled out a 30-24 double overtime victory over the Dutch. It was their first victory over Central in 24 years.
We must protect this house
MIAC home teams didn’t protect their houses on Saturday as they went a combined 0-4 including the first loss by St. John’s in 28 games and a Homecoming loss for Bethel in front of 6,200 fans.
We’ll spot you 20
After building a 20-0 lead with 13:34 remaining in the first quarter, Carleton had scored as many or more points in the opening 1:26 against Macalester than eight other teams in the west region scored in their entire games. The Knights returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown at the 14:45 mark. After the Scots punted, Carleton scored on a 56-yard touchdown with 13:43 to go but missed the PAT. The Scots fumbled on their next possession and Carleton converted nine seconds later on a 23-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-0 in just 1:26. The Knights would go on to win 55-14.
Rush committee
In Willamette’s 55-6 victory against Lewis and Clark, the Bearcats had 14 players run the ball in totaling 310 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. No individual had more than 62 yards rushing.
Quick start
In his first career start, St. Thomas senior running back Peter Ridley rushed 32 times for 155 yards and three touchdown runs of one, 11, and two yards, including the game-winning points with 1:16 remaining, in a 28-21 road win over Bethel. Ridley had 67 rushing yards in the fourth quarter as the Tommies outscored the Royals 14-0 over the last 13:00.
GET to the GAME!!
Bethel at Concordia, 1:00 p.m. Moorhead, Minn.: Bethel comes into this game in a slump dropping two straight to St. John’s and St. Thomas. The Cobbers are coming off the biggest win in their recent history after knocking off St. John’s 21-20. On paper, the Cobbers are a huge favorite but the Royals have a tendency to play spoiler in Moorhead where they won 48-14 in 2001 and 36-19 last season. Cobbers will look to get Passanante started early after he was kept in check against St. John’s. Bethel will likely keep it on the ground with Porta but new quarterback Ben Wetzell could go to the air where he throws an exceptional ball.
Occidental at Redlands, 1:00 p.m. Redlands, Calif.: Last year these two teams, er, well, didn’t play due to the California wildfires. The teams finished 1-2 in the conference and some felt the Redlands playoff trip should have an asterisk next to it. This year the two teams are 2-0 in the SCIAC and the winner of this game should win the league. Occidental hasn’t lost since quarterback Justin Elway quit the team. Redlands has won three in a row after dropping two out of the gate.