Fourth-Quarter Rally Falls Just Short At #6 St. John's

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (10/01/22)---Concordia shut down No.6-ranked St. John's in the first and fourth quarters, but it was the second quarter that proved to be the difference in the Cobbers' 35-28 loss to the Johnnies.

Concordia posted a 21-point rally in the fourth quarter to nearly negate the 35 consecutive points scored by St. John's in the 7-point loss. The Cobbers scored 21 unanswered points in the final 12-minutes of play, but fell just short as an onside kick in the final minute of play rolled just out of bounds.

Sophomore quarterback Cooper Mattern, who transferred to CC from St. John's, hooked up with Dawson Schaffer with 53-seconds remaining to pull the Cobbers within seven points, but then Damien Silus' onside kick slid just out of bounds to end the comeback trail.

Concordia (2-2, 0-2 MIAC) scored the only points of the first quarter when they marched 62 yards in 11 plays on their second possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Mattern opened the scoring with a 2-yard TD strike to Jake Evans.

The Cobbers Black Shirt defense held the SJU offense to a pair of punts and a missed field goal on their first three drives of the game. The Johnnies only recorded 49 yards of offense in the first three possessions.

St. John's (3-1, 1-1 MIAC) scored on its first possession of the second quarter after they took control of the ball on the Cobber 45-yard line after a punt sailed out of bounds.

The Johnnies scored on their next three possessions to take 28-7 lead at the half. They would add the eventual game-winning score on their third possession of the third quarter.

Concordia's comeback trail started in its first possession of the final period. CC took over at their own 42-yard line after freshman Eric Cockhill came through with a 20-yard punt return. The Cobbers then drove 38 yards in six plays to get to within 35-14. Senior Peyton Mortenson powered his way into the endzone from 5-yards out to post the first of his two TD runs.

The Black Shirts would force a pair of 3-and-outs, and the offense would take advantage on the second stop. CC took over at their own 16-yard line, and proceeded to go the distance in 12 plays with Mortenson plowing his way over the goal line from 1-yard out. Mortenson touched the ball on six of the 12 plays in the drive.

The Cobbers' defense came up big one more time – coming up with their second interception of the day when Mitchell Sullivan stepped in front of a Johnnie pass on 3rd-and-12 situation which gave the offense the ball at the SJU 35-yard line. Eight plays later, Mattern and Schaffer connected and the Cobbers were suddenly within seven points at 35-28.

Concordia held the advantage in first downs and time of possession for the game. CC had 19 first downs as compared to 16 for SJU. The Cobbers also held on to the ball for 31:47.

The big key for the Cobber Black Shirts was completely shutting down the St. John's running game. CC held the Johnnies to minus-8 rushing yards. That total is the lowest of the season for St. John's, and fewest rushing yards by an SJU team since the 2019 playoffs – a stretch of 16 games.

Concordia put up 280 total offensive yards as opposed to 352 for the Johnnies. The Cobbers had 87 rushing yards and 193 passing yards.

Both teams came away with a pair of interceptions, while CC recovered the only fumble in the game to win the turnover battle at +1.      

Mattern was 23-for-42 for 193 yards and two touchdowns. The 42 attempts are the most this season by Mattern. He also rushed 16 times for 35 yards.

Evans had a team-high six catches for 29 yards, while Owen Miller came through with a team-high 76 receiving yards on four catches.

Mortensen led the team in rushing with 57 yards on 24 carries. He also had fiver receptions for 31 yards.

Noah Jenson led the defense with 9.0 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss. He also forced a fumble and posted a sack. Sullivan had 6.0 tackles to go along with his INT.

Ty Moser, Isaac Stene, Collin Thompson and Preston Johnson were all credited with sacks as the CC defense pressured the SJU quarterback all game long.           

Marshal King recorded his third interception of the year which is tied for second in the MIAC.

MORE FOR MORTENSON: Peyton Mortenson added to his career rushing total and needs only 24 more yards to become the 27th player in program history to reach the 1000-yard milestone. Mortenson has 284 rushing yards this year which is fifth in the conference.

UP NEXT: Concordia will return home to host Macalester in the annual Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. The game will be the first time the Cobbers have hosted the Scots since 2000.