Winning The Battles But Not The Campaign

ST. PAUL, Minn. (11/01/14)—Concordia won the time of possession battle, claimed the second-half scoring battle and was even victorius in the turnover battle. Unfortunately those three battle wins didn't equate to a win in the overall struggle and they lost 35-32 in a conference heartbreaker at St. Thomas.

The loss severely damages Concordia's playoff hopes and ends their three-game winning streak. The Cobbers are now 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the MIAC and are now in third place in the league standings. St. Thomas is now 6-2 in all games and 4-2 in league play.

The game played out like a well-written orchestra piece – slow in the beginning but then coming down with a crescendo at the end. The teams scored seven points in the first quarter, then 14 in the second and 10 in the third before recording 36 in the final stanza. The fourth quarter featured four lead changes and three scoring plays that went for over 35 yards.

In the end it was a 59-yard TD pass that proved t be the margin of victory for the Tommies. The winning movement came one play after the Cobbers grabbed a 32-28 lead with 4:33 left in the game.

Concordia had a final chance to win the game in the final few bars of the game. CC drove down to the St. Thomas 47-yard line and had first-and-10 in UST territory but an acrobatic one-handed interception sealed the game and left the Cobbers looking for a national playoff reprise. 

Media Recaps

Fargo Forum Recap: Cobbers' playoff hopes dealt blow with loss to St. Thomas

Concordia's senior maestro Griffin Neal broke another school record during the 67-point symphony. Neal connected with Brandon Zylstra for a 36-yard scoring strike at the start of the fourth quarter to earn his 45th career touchdown pass. That marks breaks the old school record of 44 TD passes held by Ryan Hebrink from 2000-03.

Neal finished the game 12-for-21 for 145 passing yards and one TD. He also ran the ball a team-high 18 times and gained 82 yards. He had a rushing touchdown in the first quarter to open the scoring for Concordia and then added a second in the fourth frame to give CC their first lead of the game at 25-21 25-21 with 12:51 left to go in the game.

The Cobbers were able to gain big chunks of yards on the ground. Concordia had 87 rushing yards at the half but then exploded for 237 rushing yards in the final two quarters to finish with 324 yards. It is the third time this season that CC has rushed for over 300 yards in a single game.

Concordia had three players rush for over 80 yards in the game. Besides the 82 from Neal, senior fullback Domenic Fraboni had 89 on seven carries and Alex McLean rushed the ball 12 times for 84 yards. Fraboni put the Cobber crowd on their feet when he broke out a 61-yard TD run with 4:33 left to give CC a 32-28 lead. McLean also busted out a long run. He gashed the middle of the UST defense for 43 yards on a run in the fourth quarter to set up Neal's second score.

Zylstra led the Concordia receiving section. He had six catches for 100 yards including the record-setting 36-yard TD strike. It is Zylstra's first 100-yard receiving game of the season.

Concordia had 35:28 in time of possession which marks the first time since 2007 that CC has had more than 31:00 in time of possession against UST. It is also the first time since 2007 that the Cobbers have scored more points in the second half than the Tommies. Concordia held a 25-21 lead in the final two quarters of play.

Concordia had 469 total offensive yards for the game. The Cobbers have amassed over 400 total offensive yards in eight of the nine games this season and are averaging 459.2 yards per game.

The Cobber defense was able to force a pair of turnovers. Sophomore defensive back Matt Ahrndt had a breakout game as he was the catalyst for both Tommie miscues. He came up with a clutch interception in the CC end zone in the first quarter and then forced a fumble in the fourth quarter after Concordia had cut the lead to 21-18 on the Neal-to-Zylstra scoring strike. The INT was his first collegiate interception. His forced fumble was recovered by Dan Berdan and three plays later CC held a 25-21 lead.

Berdan led the Cobber defense with nine tackles.  Mitch Tauer had six tackles on the day and linebacker Erik Bye had the only tackle for a loss on the day.

Concordia will look to post their third straight 8-2/6-2 MIAC record when they finish off the regular season by hosting Gustavus on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m.