senior quarterback kole goodchild followed his blocking for an 11 yard touchdown on a designed draw play with 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter to score the eventual game-winning touchdown run to give concordia-st. Paul (3-5, 2-4 nsic) a 20-17 comeback victory over upper iowa (3-5, 2-4 nsic) on saturday afternoon at griffin stadium in st. Paul, minn.

junior linebacker duy huynh (apple valley, minn.) had one of four concordia interceptions with :21 remaining in the game, stepping in front of the 4th and 16 pass at concordia's 33 yard line to seal the victory.

the golden bears trailed 17-10 heading into the fourth quarter after the peacocks scored 14 unanswered points in the third after going into the locker room with a 10-3 halftime lead thanks in part to a 77 yard interception return for touchdown in the first quarter by dario moore (jr., db, st. Paul, minn.). It was concordia's fifth defensive touchdown of the season, the first for moore on his fourth interception.

in the fourth quarter, sophomore kicker stephan bjerke (stillwater, minn.) booted his second field goal of the day with 5:35 to play in the game to pull concordia within four, 17-13.

on the ensuing drive, the concordia defense held the peacocks to a three and out, shutting down the nation's fifth leading rusher, tc hicks, to a -1 yard carry on first down. The peacocks then threw deep on second down, but backup quarterback kevin linnell under threw his open receiver, allen conrad. On 3rd and 11 on their own 34, ben schumacher (sr., de, oskaloosa, iowa) ripped down linnell for a five yard loss, recording the first of his two sacks on the day to stop the drive.

the golden bears took over with 4:12 to play and goodchild executed, bringing concordia downfield in 10 plays, going 68 yards before he took the ball in himself.

the key play on the drive was when goodchild found tyrone ruffin (jr., wr, plymouth, minn.) over the middle for a 19 yard gain, converting a 4th and 8 on their own 48 yard line. Concordia also caught a break when the peacocks were flagged for a personal foul penalty on the following play.

while goodchild was able to execute late in the fourth quarter to put the golden bears in scoring position, it was the defense that came up with four interceptions and a defensive score that kept the golden bears in the game.

their dominant run defense held hicks to just 52 yards on the ground on 25 attempts, a 2.1 average. The peacocks rushed for 48 yards on 38 attempts as a team. Concordia registered 14 tackles for loss for a total of 46 yards. jordan frain (sr., lb, treynor, iowa) led the defense with 13 tackles, two for loss while huynh had 3.5 tackles for loss and eight tackles along with his interception.

concordia finished the game with a 305-294 edge in total offense and had 19 first downs, just one more than uiu. Concordia finished with just six yards rushing as a team on 21 attempts but passed for 299 yards, completing 31-48 between the four players who attempted a pass.

goodchild led the way in the passing game, completing 28-45 with 262 yards. He was sacked three times and threw a first quarter interception that was off of a deflection over the middle of the field. He completed passes to eight different receivers, five with at least two receptions.

for just the second time this season, the golden bears failed to register a 100 yard receiver, although antwon williams, pictured below, (sr., wr, key west, fla.) was close with eight receptions for 87 yards. eric tonkin (sr., te, ft. Collins, colo.) and calvin simon (r-fr., wr, shakopee, minn.) had nearly identical numbers - each with seven receptions while tonkin's 62 yards edged out simon by two, with 60. Ruffin finished with four receptions for 56 yards on the afternoon.



jay lehman led the uiu passing attack until he was removed from the game in the fourth quarter after completing 18-27 for 237 yards. He did not throw a touchdown and threw three interceptions. Linnell finished 1-5 for nine yards and an interception and was sacked twice.

dwayne croker was the lone bright spot offensively for the peacocks, hauling in seven receptions for 109 yards including a long of 39.

concordia, now the winners of two straight northern sun contests, will close out their three game homestand next saturday, oct. 27 when they host wayne state at 1 p.m.

box score - csp 20, upper iowa 17

all photos by whitney pitra