A Picture Perfect Historic Night Of Football

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/06/25)---When you look up the term "a perfect night for football" in the dictionary you will now find a picture of Concordia's first-ever night game in program history.

The first Saturday night of the 2025 season had it all. Cobber NFL legends were celebrated before the game, Concordia overcame a halftime deficit and scored 10 unanswered points to beat Mayville State 17-6 during the game and then the current team celebrated after the game. And to make the entire scene even more of a "postcard" night, the game was witnessed by the largest crowd in recent history.

Concordia couldn't get their offense started in the first half and trailed 3-0 at the break. The second half was a 180-degree turn for the offense as they put up 17 points, put up 156 of their 244 total offensive yards in the game and methodically pulled away from the Comets in the fourth quarter.

The Cobber Black Shirt defense was able to contain the Mayville triple option offense the entire game, didn't give up a touchdown and only allowed 162 yards of total offense against a team that had run for almost 500 yards in last week's season opener.

After a no-TD first half, Concordia found the end zone on its first two possessions of the second half. CC took the lead when they went 62 yards in eight plays with Davion Henderson capping the drive by catching a short pass and turning it into an 11-yard scoring strike.

The Cobbers got the ball back with 2:16 left in the third quarter, drove the ball 63 yards in seven plays and scored on a Mason Hughes 1-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter.

Concordia put a cherry on top of the historic night game cake by baking up a 14-play, 53-yard drive that was capped by a Mitchell Druley 17-yard field goal.

The key for the Black Shirt defense was getting up the field and putting bodies in the Comet backfield. The Cobber defense posted 9.0 tackles for a loss which put a stop to the unconventional triple option attack of the Comets. The domination on the line of scrimmage started from the opening kickoff as CC didn't allow a first down in the first quarter, gave up only 11 total yards in the first 15 minutes of play and held Mayville to only 98 yards of offense for the first half.

Senior linebacker Jaiden Musse led the Black Shirts with 10 total tackles, six solo tackles and 2.0 tackles for a loss.       

Senior defensive end Mason Swanson had 7.0 tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss, while Ethan Larson had a team-high 2.5 tackles for a loss and 5.0 total tackles.

The offensive start for the game was Hughes. The sophomore running back carried the ball 22 times and put up 118 rushing yards – the first 100-yard rushing game of his career.

Griffin Babolian had 48 rushing yards on 16 carries.

Senior quarterback, who was making his first career start, shook off the nerves from the first half and went 4-for-5 with a touchdown in the second 30 minutes of play.

OPENER OPINES: Concordia is now 13-5 in its last 18 home openers, while head coach Terry Horan ran his home-opener record to 20-5. The very first win of his career came at home when the Cobbers posted an 18-10 win over MSU Moorhead in the Power Bowl in 2001.

THANKS CAPTAIN OBVIOUS: Concordia is now 1-0 in night games played at home.

BLACK SHIRT BUSINESS: The 162 total yards allowed by the Cobber defense is the fewest since the 2022 season when Hamline was only able to come up with 52 yards of total offense.

100-YARD RUSHERS: The last Cobber to rush for over 100 yards in a game was Griffin Babolian, who put up 126 yards on 19 tackles in Concordia's win over Hamline last season.

THERE'S A NEW KICKER IN TOWN: For the first time in four seasons, someone not named Damien Silus handles the kicking duties for the Cobbers. Like the night, junior Mitchell Druley was picture perfect. He went 2-for-2 on extra points and made his only field goal attempt. He even had one kickoff for a touchback.  

THROWBACK SATURDAY: The two teams combined for a grand total of 130 passing yards and nine total completed passes. The passing stat lines are reminiscent of the days when former Minnesota Viking Purple People Eater legend Gary Larsen roamed the playing fields in the last 1960's.

UP NEXT: Concordia will have a bye week before reigniting the Lefse Bowl/Troll Game against St. Olaf. The Cobbers will travel to Northfield to take on the Oles on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.