Early And Often To Keep The Troll

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/27/14)—No.19-ranked Concordia raced to a 28-0 lead, racked up a season-high 52 points and held the ball for over 35 minutes for the fourth straight game of the season as they beat St. Olaf 52-14 to keep possession of the Troll Trophy.

The Cobbers set the tone for the game on the opening kickoff when freshman Jason Montonye sped down the left sideline and went 75 yards before being tackles at the Ole 10-yard line. Griffin Neal put the Cobbers on the board three plays later when he plunged over from two yards out.

Concordia would then score on four of their next five possessions in the first half to grab a 31-17 halftime lead. The Cobbers outscored St. Olaf 21-7 in the second half of play to earn their fourth win of the season. CC remains perfect on the year and moves to 4-0 in all games and 2-0 in conference play. The Oles are still looking for their first win of the season and fall to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the MIAC.

The ability to score early and then hang on to the ball for the remainder of the game have been the trademarks of the Cobber four wins this year. Concordia has received the opening kickoff in all four games this year and has scored on all four opening drives. CC has three touchdowns and one field goal on their first drives and has yet to trail in 2014.

"We want to get that ball and take it down and score and make them dig out of a hole right away," commented sophomore left tackle Josh Berg.

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That plan has worked in 2014 as the Cobbers are outscoring their opponents 31-6 in the first quarter alone.

 Concordia has also been able to hold on to the ball for long chunks of time and are averaging a league-best 37:24 time of possession this year. The Cobbers held the ball for 36:43 against the Oles which included 10:42 in the first quarter alone.

The longest play of the game came towards the end of the second quarter when junior Brandon Zylstra took the handoff on a reverse and zig-zagged his way up the field for 61 yards and his first TD of the year. The long athletic run signaled the return of Zylstra to the team's offense. Zylstra had played sparingly in the first three weeks after suffering an injury during the summer.

Zylstra explained his long touchdown run by saying, "there was a huge gap and I had Bergy (Josh Berg) out block for me and that was big." He finished the analysis of the run by saying, "I saw green field and then saw two guys pursuing so I thought I would cut back to make sure they couldn't get me."

Zylstra was the game's leading rusher with that one play. He also caught four passes for 40 yards.

Concordia vs. St. Olaf Highlights

Senior fullback Alex McLean scored on two short-yardage plays and finished with nine carries for 48 yards.

Concordia quarterback Griffin Neal scored on the opening drive with his legs and then threw for a pair of TD's later in the game. He was an efficient 22-for-29 for 272 passing yards. The 272 yards is a season high for the senior. He now has 4,521 career passing yards and needs 715 passing yards to break the school's all-time record held by Michael Dunham who racked up 5,235 passing yards from 2008-11.

Both of Neal's touchdown passes against St. Olaf came in the third quarter and came after short completions and then long runs from the receiver. Senior Zach Southwick grabbed a short shovel pass from Neal and then bolted through the line, around right end and 42 yards later had his first touchdown of the season. Junior Jon Baune finished off the third quarter by hauling in a screen pass on third-and-10 and plowing through the Ole defense before diving into the end zone for a 29-yard strike.

Concordia outgained the Oles 494-212 for the game. The Cobbers offense has racked over 400 total offensive yards in all four games this year. CC also held a 26-12 edge in first downs and a 73-52 advantage in total plays.  

The Cobber Black Shirt defense held St. Olaf to 34 rushing yards. The Oles tried to get back into the game by throwing the ball for most of the final three quarters. St. Olaf rushed the ball a total of 13 times and had 39 passing attempts. Concordia has not allowed an opponent to gain over 100 rushing yards in a game and leads the MIAC in rushing yards allowed per game (53.8 yds/game).

Junior linebacker led the Cobbers in tackles. He finished with eight total tackles. Carl Nelson had the lone solo sack of the game. Ryan Paulson and Connor Froehlich combined for the other CC sack.

Concordia will face another top test on the road next week when they travel to Arden Hills to take on No.20-ranked Bethel. The Royals are also 2-0 in the MIAC this year and own a 2-1 overall record.

Brandon Zylstra and Josh Berg Postgame Interviews