Third Quarter + Black Shirts = Keys To Cobber Success

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (10/05/24)---Third quarters have been very, very good to the Cobbers in 2024.

Concordia used a 14-point third quarter at Carleton to score 21 unanswered points and beat the Knights 31-6.

The Cobbers have outscored their opponents 42-0 in the third quarter of games this season.

In addition to the reoccurring third-quarter theme, the Cobber "Black Shirt" defense once again played a major role in the win. Concordia failed to surrender a touchdown, came away with a Pick 6 TD of their own and held Carleton to 211 total offensive yards.

Concordia hasn't allowed a touchdown in three consecutive games.

The victory is the third straight for Concordia, who moves to 3-1 in all games and 2-0 against MIAC opponents. Carleton has both their overall and conference marks evened up. The Knights are 2-2 in all games and 1-1 in league games.

The first half was a defensive affair. Concordia held a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on a Damien Silus 35-yard field goal. The Cobbers scored the only touchdown of the opening 30 minutes of play when Cooper Mattern connected with Jed Klang on a 5-yard TD pass at the start of the second quarter. The Knights would post a pair of field goals in the final 8 minutes of the half and Concordia would go to the locker room with a 10-6 lead.

The Black Shirts held Carleton to only six first downs and 123 yards in the first half. The Cobbers came away with 10 first downs and 105 offensive yards.

The second half was all Cobbers as they scored 14 points in a span of 56 seconds at the end of the period and then capped the scoring when Klang caught his second TD pass of the game. Once again it came from inside the 10-yard line as he hauled in a 4-yard scoring strike to push the lead to 31-6 with 1:55 left in the contest.

For the game, Concordia held a 274-211 advantage in total offensive yards and held the ball for 34:36 of the 60 minutes of play.

Both teams had one turnover, but it was the Cobber Black Shirts that came up with the most costly of the two.

Concordia grabbed a 17-6 lead on a Mattern 24-yard strike to Davion Henderson which capped an 11-play, 79 yard drive that took 5:50.

On Carleton's third play from scrimmage on the very next drive, junior Jaiden Musse picked off an ill-advised pass in the flat and raced 45 yards for the Pick 6.

Senior All-American Collin Thompson set up the touchdown as he pressured the Carleton quarterback on the 3rd-and-3 play. He nearly came away with the sack before the Knight's QB just threw the ball to the right side of the field as he was about to hit the ground.

Concordia's defense has only allowed an average of 7.5 points per game in their four games this year. That mark is tops in the MIAC and third in all of Division III.  

Senior linebacker Ryan Weber led the Cobber defense. He recorded a career-high 8.0 tackles.

PJ Parmelee had 7.0 tackles, while Thompson had the lone sack of the day for CC and Mason Swanson had a pair of tackles for a loss.

The Cobber offense posted their second straight 100-yard-plus rushing game. CC ran the ball 45 times for a total of 145 yards.

Jordan Summers had 16 carries for 54 yards, while Mason Hughes finished the day with 49 yards on 13 totes.

Mattern finished the day by going 11-for-15 for 125 yards and three TDs. He has now thrown for 11 touchdowns in the last three games.

Henderson and Klang both caught three passes on the day to lead the receiving corps.

The Cobbers will have their toughest test of the season next weekend when they host No.4-ranked St. John's on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m.