Early-Morning Heat

STORY LINE: Concordia scored on its first three possessions of the game, bolted to a 48-0 lead at the start of the third quarter and beat Augsburg 54-7 in Minneapolis in the conference opener for both teams. The Cobbers scored on seven of their first nine possessions and racked up 473 yards of total offense in snapping its 1-game losing streak.

RECORDS: Concordia is now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC. Augsburg loses for the first time this season and falls to 2-1 in all games and 0-1 in league play.

STREAK STUFF: Concordia has now beaten the Auggies in nine straight games. The Cobbers also extended their win streak at Edor Nelson Field to nine games. The last time Concordia lost at Augsburg was back in 1997. The Cobbers also pushed their MIAC opener win streak to three games. CC has now won seven of their last eight league starters.

DAUNTING DEFENSE: The Cobbers held Augsburg to a total of 200 yards which is the second lowest total by a CC opponent this year (Neb. Wesleyan – 195). Of the 200 total yards allowed, only 49 came on the ground which is a season low.  

TURNOVER TALK: Concordia forced a pair of turnovers in the game and has now forced at least two miscues in all three games this year. The Cobber defense has forced nine turnovers this year which is tied for the most in the MIAC.  

RUN COBBERS RUN: Concordia totaled 473 offensive yards on the day with 433 of those coming on the ground. The Cobbers had two runners gain over 100 yards in the game. Senior Dane Ringquist rushed the ball seven times for 128 yards but was outdone by his Fergus Falls hometown teammate Rylie Sheridan who also had seven carries but gained 134 yards. Both Ringquist and Sheridan also had two rushing touchdowns.

100-YARD DUO: The last time Concordia had two runners gain over 100 yards on the ground was last year against Augsburg when Chad Johnson went for 153 yards and quarterback Blake Kragnes rambled for 116 yards.

OH RYLIE: Sophomore running back Rylie Sheridan has rushed for 284 yards on only 18 carries. His 15.8 yards per carry average leads the MIAC and is one of the top marks in Division III.

PASSING TD PROWESS: Concordia scored seven touchdowns with six coming on the ground and one from the arm of junior QB Blake Kragnes. Kragnes found Matt Bye for a 19-yard strike in the first quarter for his fourth TD throw of the season. The Cobbers had only three passing TDs in all of last season. For Bye it was his first career tuddy for the Cobbers.

SACK TIME: The Black Shirt defense had a season-high six sacks in the game. Senior tackle Noah Welsh had a career-high 2.5 sacks in the game. He now has an MIAC best 4.5 sacks this year after having only 3.0 total sacks in his career before this season.

PUNT BLOCK PROWESS: Concordia blocked a pair of punts against the Auggies. Sophomore Gavin Stanger blocked the first punt in the second quarter and then freshman Nolan Schmitz blocked the second punt in the fourth quarter.

TACKLE TOTALS: Noah Welsh ended up leading the CC defense with 7 total tackles. Will berning and Sam Michel had six each. Willie Julkes, Anfernee Hale and Gunnar Kollman all had a sack against the Auggies.

UP NEXT: The Cobbers will return home to host Hamline on Saturday, Sept. 22 in the first of their 2-game home stand. The Pipers are 0-3 on the season and lost their conference opener at St. Thomas on Saturday.   

CONCORDIA at AUGSBURG HIGHLIGHTS: