Killer B's Help Cobbers Buzz Buena Vista
STORM LAKE, IOWA (9/10/11)— It was an afternoon for Concordia's killer B's in Storm Lake, Iowa on Saturday. Brett, Bryce, the Blackshirts and a Big-Time Back propelled Concordia to a 35-14 win at Buena Vista. The win is the second straight to start the season for the Cobbers and CC moves to 2-0 for the third time in the past five years.
The Cobber rushing game did the majority of the damage against the Beavers. Concordia ran for 294 yards and scored four of their five TD's on the ground. The two red-hot rushers for CC were Brett Baune and Trent Johnson. Baune plowed his way for three TD's while Johnson had a career-high 151 rushing yards. Baune scored the first three touchdowns for Concordia, helping the Cobbers build a 21-0 lead with 3:25 to play in the third quarter. Baune had scoring romps of 3 yards, 1 yard and 5 yards and now has five TD's on the year. Johnson went over the 100-yard rushing mark in his career, carrying the ball 14 times and averaging 10.8 yards per carry. His biggest contribution to the win came with 9:30 to play in the fourth quarter. After Buena Vista cut the lead to 21-14, Johnson took a handoff and bolted past the BVU defense and galloped his way to a 58-yard touchdown. For Johnson it was his second scoring run of over 50 yards this season.
Not to be outdone by the offense, the Concordia "black shirt" defense also came up with a solid outing. The Cobbers allowed only 14 rushing yards for the entire game and gave up less than 270 total yards for the second straight week. CC allowed the BVU offense to gain only 244 offensive yards and held the Beavers to 4-of-12 on third down conversions. Bryce Hentges, who missed CC's season opener, stepped into the spotlight for the defense. He picked off two passes, including a 68-yard "pick six" which put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. After Johnson had put Concordia up 28-14, Hentges stepped in front of a would-be receiver, picked off the pass and then sprinted 68 yards for the final score of the day. He also had 6.0 tackles in the game.
Brent Rysdahl also got into the theme of the Killer B's, leading the Cobber defense in tackles. He came away with 3.0 solo tackles and assisted on 4.0 others and finished with 7.0 on the day. Matt Moenkedick had 5.0 tackles and now leads the team with 13.0 tackles in the team's first two games.
Overall, Concordia outgained Buena Vista 437-244. Besides the 294 rushing yards, CC came away with 143 passing yards. The 294 rushing yards is the most for a Cobber team in a single game since penultimate game of the 2008 campaign. Concordia quarterback Michael Dunham was 14-for-25 for 139 yards. He had eight of his 14 completions and 74 of his 139 total passing yards in the first quarter alone. The Cobbers ran the ball 13 times and had 13 pass plays in the opening period but then went to their traditional ground attack for the final three quarters. CC rushed the ball 41 times and threw just 13 more times in the final 45 minutes of play.
The Cobbers held a decided edge in time of possession. Concordia held the ball for 37:46 as compared to just 22:14 for the Beavers. CC had 80 offensive plays while BVU ran 58 total offensive plays. The Cobbers also won the turnover battle for the second straight week. Concordia fumbled the ball once in the game and came up with the two INT's from Hentges.
Concordia will now turn their attention to the MIAC. The Cobbers will open conference play on Saturday, Sept. 17 when they host St. John's at 1 p.m. The Johnnies are 1-1 on the year after falling 47-19 at home against UW-Eau Claire.
