No More Tears

Article reprinted courtesy of Fargo Forum and reporter Eric Peterson.

MOORHEAD – Concordia senior Erik Bye was brought to tears during one of his earliest football memories. Then a fourth-grader playing fullback on a youth team, Bye fumbled near his team's own end zone late in the game with his team ahead by a few points.

"I walked off the field and stood behind my dad and cried," said Erik Bye, whose father, Rob Bye, coached that youth team.

"He took it so hard," Rob Bye recalled.

An injury gave Erik a chance to return to the field on defense soon after his lost fumble. He made three tackles behind the line of scrimmage to help keep the other team from scoring, preserving the victory.

"It was a big deal for him to do his best," Rob said. "That defined how he was going play."

Keeping the opponent out of the end zone is still important for Erik Bye, who starts at inside linebacker for the Cobbers. Concordia opens its season at 1 p.m. today at Jake Christiansen Stadium against the University of Jamestown.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Bye had 54 tackles in 10 games last season, tying him for the team lead.
"He's a backbone to our defense," Cobbers head coach Terry Horan said. "He's one of those silent giants for us. He goes about his business and leads by example. You don't worry about him at all. He's going to help everyone else around him."

Bye, a Moorhead High School graduate, comes from a football family. Rob Bye was a freshman on the 1981 Cobbers team, which won an NAIA national championship. Erik's older brother, John Bye, used to play cornerback for Concordia. His younger brother, Matt Bye, is the starting quarterback at Moorhead High School.

"I think I've got a really good feel for the game," Erik Bye said. "I'm not the fastest guy, not the biggest, strongest guy, but I really can understand what an offense is trying to do and where I fit in our defense."

Even before he started playing youth football, Erik Bye remembers learning how to long snap a football. Rob was the starting long snapper in his final few seasons with the Cobbers.

Erik is expected to handle all long snapping duties for Concordia this fall for a second consecutive season.

"My first memories of playing was long snapping and kicking and punting in the back yard," Erik said.

"I got on the (team) bus because I long snapped," Rob said of being able to play at Concordia. "I told all three of my boys if you want to be on the bus, this might be your way on. ... They all liked it and did it early."

The Cobbers are coming off three consecutive 8-2 seasons, but haven't been able to advance to the NCAA Division III playoffs during that stretch. Similar to his early youth football memory, Erik is taking that personally, particularly last year. A late-season, three-point loss at perennial power St. Thomas knocked Concordia from the postseason picture last fall.

"I took a lot of responsibility," Bye said. "I felt I should have been in a position of leadership."