Home-Opening Win Is All About the Run, 'Bout the Run

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/13/14)—Concordia offered their own version of Meghan Trainor's music hit "All About the Bass" in their home opener against Buena Vista. The Cobbers were "all about the run, 'bout the run" as they rushed for 309 yards and three touchdowns in their 30-9 win over the Beavers.

"We've got a lot of weapons on offense," commented junior running back Rick Hutchinson. "Anyone can get the ball and score. We've got great blocks and it's just a lot of fun."

The win keeps Concordia unbeaten on the year. The Cobbers are now 2-0 in 2014 and move to 13-1 in the 14 home openers under head coach Terry Horan. Buena Vista remains winless on the year and falls to 0-2 on the year.    

Hutchinson was one of five Concordia backs who rushed for at least 30 yards against Buena Vista. He finished the day with 50 rushing yards and had a pair of explosive TD runs. His first score was a 14-yard gash through the middle of the Beaver defense that put CC up 17-6 in the second quarter and his second scoring scamper went around end for 22 yards to finish off the scoring in the fourth quarter.

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Senior fullback Domenic Fraboni came away with a game-high 84 rushing yards and recorded the other ground score for the Cobbers. He plowed his way up the middle to open the scoring on the opening drive of the game. Fraboni routinely came up with clutch short yardage situation runs. He had a game-high 13 carries and most of those came up the middle. He was able to gained impressive yards after initial contact.

Alex McLean, Griffin Neal and Jason Montonye were the other three Concordia backs with over 30 rushing yards. McLean had four carries for 37 yards while both Neal and Montoyne finished with 34 yards.

Hutchinson explained the success of the Cobber run game by stating, "It's all a tribute to the linemen and the blocking on the corners." He went on to explain his second scoring, "(Brandon) Zylstra had a great block on the second touchdown. He pretty much sealed up the whole edge and I had a huge hole to run through."   

Neal combined with junior wide receiver Jon Baune for the only passing strike of the day for CC. Baune made another high-traffic, acrobatic catch to haul down a 34-yard strike at the start of the fourth quarter. The play finished off the win for Concordia. The Cobbers were facing a fourth-and-8 situation from the BVU 34-yard line when Neal unleashed the game-clinching throw to Baune. Baune finished the game with six catches for 63 yards.

The Cobber defense gave up a touchdown on Buena Vista's opening drive of the game but then buckled down and only allowed three points in the final 53:42 of play. The Beavers had four first downs and racked up 75 yards in the first drive and after that the CC "Black Shirts" only allowed nine more first downs and 170 offensive yards.

Concordia only conceded 30 rushing yards on the day and for the first two weeks of the year have only given up a combined 86 yards on the ground. Buena Vista had 245 total yards on the day. The Cobbers were also able to get pressure on All-IIAC quarterback Bobby Brown and come away with three sacks. Junior linebacker Levi Hintermeister had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Ryan Paulson had the other solo sack while All-American Nate Adams paired with Hintermeister for the final sack of the game. Junior cornerback Tyler Hansen recorded a team-high eight tackles and had a pair of pass break ups.   
The Cobbers will now step into conference play when they play at St. John's in the MIAC opener on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.