A Royal Pain In The Side

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (10/04/14)—For the third straight season Concordia entered its game with Bethel riding a four-game win streak to start the year and for the third straight season the Cobbers' win streak ended against the Royals.

On Saturday No.19-ranked Concordia turned the ball over twice, conceded a 94-yard kickoff return and couldn't come up with consecutive key defensive stops in a 27-17 loss at No.19-ranked Bethel. The loss is the first of the year for the Cobbers and marks the first time all season they have been held to under 400 yards of total offense.

The game hinged on a pair of big plays in the second quarter. The first pivotal play occurred after the Cobbers marched 75 yards in 17 plays and took their only lead of the game at 7-6 on a Jon Baune 8-yard touchdown pass from Griffin Neal. The 17-play drive marked the 10th time in 2014 that CC has put together a scoring drive of 12 or more plays.

Media Recaps

Fargo Forum Recap: Bethel tops undefeated Concordia in MIAC football

Forum Feature: Kevin Schnepf - Cobbers program runs deep in family for Neal, Offutt

Mpls. Star & Tribune: Patrick Reusse - Brothers Return Favor in Win Over Concordia

St. Paul Pioneer Press:  Bethel tops Concordia with opportunistic play

Unfortunately for Concordia the lead would only last for 14-seconds. The Royals took the ensuing kickoff on their own 6-yard line and ran 94 yards to retake the lead at 13-7.     

The Royals added a third TD with just over 5-minutes to play in the first half. CC then took the ball and drove 61 yards in 10 plays to get to the Bethel 15-yard line. The Cobbers took a timeout with 35-seconds left in the second quarter but the very next play results in an interception and the Royals were able to get out of the first half with the momentum and a 14-point lead.

The Cobber Black Shirt defense would stiffen in the second half. CC didn't allow a point in the third quarter and held Bethel to two first downs and a total of 32 yards. The toughness on defense allowed Concordia to cut the lead to just three points at 20-17.

Concordia scored their only TD of the second half after the special teams unit blocked a Bethel punt deep in Royal territory. Tyler Ziegler blocked the punt and Ben Schacht fell on the ball at the Bethel 9-yard line to give CC a first-and-goal situation.

Neal would push the ball into the end zone on the very next play with a 9-yard scoring run.

The defense would then force a 3-and-out after the kickoff and Concordia was able to drive the ball down to the BU 19-yard line. The Cobber offense would stall out after a 1-yard run and two incomplete passes before senior kicker Ben Wagner connected on a 35-yard field goal attempt.

Concordia got the ball back after the defense held on a fourth-and-10 situation from CC's own 29-yard line. A potential go-ahead drive was cut short after only three plays and then the Royals would score on the very next drive to put the game out of reach.

The two teams were almost identical in the statistics category. The Cobbers once again dominated the time of possession column – holding the ball for 34:48. They were just 12-seconds shy of putting up their fifth straight 35-minute time of possession game.

The only other statistic that was in favor of one team was turnovers. CC turned the ball over twice while Bethel did not have a single miscue. The Royals have had only one turnover in the past five games against the Cobbers. Concordia has now lost six straight to Bethel. During that six-game stretch CC has turned the ball over 22 more times than BU.

Concordia had a 17-15 edge in first downs while Bethel owned a slim 262-249 advantage in total offense. The Cobber defense held Bethel's running game to 94 yards marking the fifth straight game that the Black Shirts have not given up 100 rushing yards to an opponent.

Neal led the team in rushing. He had 25 yards on 13 carries. He was also 19-for-31 for 158 passing yards.

Baune had team highs in catches and receiving yards.  He caught eight passes for 61 yards.

Junior linebacker Levi Hintermeister had his best game of the season. He had a career-high 16 tackles including 3.5 tackles for a loss. Nose guard Carl Nelson came away with six total tackles while senior Nate Adams had the only sack of the game for CC.

Concordia will look to start another winning streak when they host Carleton on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. The game will be a part of the annual Homecoming celebration.