Memories Of The 1981 Title Game

Article reprinted courtesy of Fargo Forum and reporter Eric Peterson. 

Moorhead---One football team celebrated and one was in shock, but both left the field that day in Sherman, Texas, with a share of a national championship.

Austin College (Texas) kicker Gene Branum made a kick for the ages, hitting a 57-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter of the 1981 NAIA Division II championship game. The boot hit the crossbar and went through to secure a 24-24 tie with Concordia, a game the Cobbers led by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter.

"When it hit the crossbar and bounced over it was like 'You've got to be kidding me,' " said Dwight Hintermeister, a senior nose guard on that Cobbers team. "We were just in shock."

The Cobbers shared the national championship that season after winning one outright in 1978. The program also shared a national title in 1964. That 1981 team is the last from Concordia to win a national championship as the program celebrates its 100th season of football this fall.

"It's a championship regardless, even though you share it," said Jim Christopherson, who was the head coach for both the 1981 and 1978 championship teams.

The No. 16-ranked Cobbers (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) host Gustavus (3-1, 2-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play for homecoming.

The 1981 Cobbers finished the season without a loss, posting an 11-0-2 record, including a 3-3 tie against Moorhead State in the second game of the regular season.

Concordia built a 24-14 lead against Austin College after running back Mark Davies scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal that capped an 87-yard drive in the third quarter. The Kangaroos rallied to score the game's final 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Branum capped the rally with a playoff record 57-yard field goal with 1 minute, 12 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. A grainy video of the kick posted on YouTube shows the ball hitting the middle of the crossbar and bouncing over to tie the game at 24-24. Concordia senior cornerback Rich Lorenz raced around the edge to rush the kick, but his diving block attempt was late.

"Our main concern was just to make sure it wasn't a fake," said Hintermeister, who now farms near Fergus Falls, Minn.

After the long field goal went through, the Kangaroos jumped around the field in excitement, while the Cobbers walked off the field shocked and in disbelief.

"I think we were somewhat deflated when it happened," Christopherson said. "We wandered around the field."

On the ensuing drive, the Cobbers nearly hit a long pass play on second down-and-5 that a Kangaroos defensive back broke up at the last second near the Austin College 35-yard line with around 40 seconds remaining. The Cobbers ran the ball on the third down for the game's final play.

"It was one of those surreal moments," said Craig Samuelson, a senior quarterback on the 1981 team and is now a senior vice president for Bell Bank in Fargo. "We walked off not really knowing what to feel. It almost felt like a loss."

Samuelson said the players on the team didn't know the game would end in a tie until that moment. Games earlier in the playoffs didn't end in ties because one team had to advance.

"I don't remember celebrating," Samuelson said. "I was almost disappointed."

Hintermeister added: "It doesn't sting as bad as it did that day. We had so much success at Concordia in those years. Now, you realize how hard it really was to have as good a run as good as we did."

Cobbers senior fullback Jim Klug rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown on 30 attempts in the national title game against Austin College. Hintermeister was named the game's top defensive player. He also started on the 1978 Concordia national championship team.

Klug and Cobbers senior defensive end Dave Rosengren were named to the NAIA Division II All-American second team in 1981.

"We did have a good balance of offense, defense and special teams," said Christopherson, who was involved in 42 of the 100 Concordia seasons as either a player, assistant coach or head coach. "We probably weren't as powerful as we were in '78, but we were more balanced."

Samuelson took over at quarterback for the final three games of the 1981 regular season and the playoffs after starter Ron Rasmus got injured. Cobbers running backs Dave Blaske and Greg Richardson were lost to knee injuries around midseason. All-MIAC offensive lineman Bob Vangerud didn't play in the national championship game due to injury.

Freshman running back Reid Christopherson, Jim's son, helped offset some of those backfield injuries. Reid rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-13 victory against St. Olaf in the regular season.

"It was a true team," Hintermeister said. "You had a lot of guys who stepped up and contributed every week. Everybody did their job and relied on their buddies next to them to do theirs."

Rosengren addressed an overflow audience on the Concordia campus after the team had returned home from Texas, according to a Forum article.

"There was some disappointment after the game," Rosengren told the crowd, "but it's still a championship."