st. Paul, minn. -- for the first time since week three, concordia university (4-5, 3-5 nsic) was able to put up over 100 rushing yards while limiting their opponent to under 100. The result for the host golden bears was a 23-14 win over upper iowa (1-8, 1-7 nsic) for cu's first-ever nsic south division win to improve them to 1-4 in the division on saturday afternoon at griffin stadium. box score
concordia amassed 196 rushing yards on 45 rushes while holding uiu to 91 yards on 25 carries. The peacocks came into today's game averaging 155.2 on the ground while cu was putting up just 70.0 per contest. Concordia had 29 first downs while holding upper iowa to 10 and had a 36:41 to 23:19 edge in time of possession.
the golden bears run game was a three-headed freshman attack led by true freshman sam campbell (rb, cary, ill.) who carried 13 times for 80 yards including a first quarter one yard touchdown plunge that tied the score at seven early on cu's first drive of the game. On that drive, campbell burst free for a 43 yard run down the sideline to set up cu in scoring position.
another key run on the drive came from the legs of the quarterback, redshirt freshman spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.)who had a nine yard run on fourth and two from the 10 yard line. The run was initially ruled a touchdown before the officials converged and ruled it down on the one, setting up the campbell score.
ohm finished the day with 15 rushes for 74 yards on the ground while completing 22-37 for 197 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked only once and threw one interception.
cu's second touchdown came early in the second quarter and was a two yard leaping score by jerry shaw (r-fr., rb, milwaukee, wis.) who catapulted himself over the line of scrimmage into the end zone. Shaw's touchdown capped a masterful 14 play drive that went 80 yards in over six minutes and gave cu a 13-7 lead early in the second quarter.
on the point after attempt, junior kicker stephan bjerke (stillwater, minn.) saw his streak of consecutive point after's end at 21.
shaw finished the day with 13 carries for 60 yards. He also added four receptions for 17 yards while campbell had two catches for 15 yards out of the backfield. Campbell, shaw and ohm all had career-high rushing performances.
defensively, cu run defense was keyed by linebacker rojeer wright (so., minneapolis, minn.) who once again broke loose for 10 tackles with a sack, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
upper iowa started the game hot, scoring on the game's second play when ben curran connected with kyle hosch for a 68 yard score.
the two connected again late in the third quarter when curran found hosch for a 39 yard touchdown. Hosch's second touchdown put the peacocks ahead 14-13 at the end of three quarters. Hosch finished with four receptions for 129 yards while curran was 14-31 for 186.
but on upper iowa's only two touchdowns of the day, they accounted for 107 of their 277 yards of total offense.
trailing by a point, concordia went on another long drive, this time 13 plays, 50 yards over 5:47 before bjerke delivered a 26 yard field goal to put cu back in front, 16-14 with 9:23 to play.
strong defense by cu held the peacocks and the golden bears went on one last marathon drive, a 10 play, 72 yard drive over 5:34 that was capped off by a touchdown pass from ohm to senior tyrone ruffin (wr, plymouth, minn.) from 10 yards out to put the game nearly out of reach, 23-14.
ruffin led cu's receiving corp with five catches for 78 yards and his 31st touchdown reception. The five catches vaulted him into second on the career reception list at cu, moving ahead of antwon williams (2004-07) who had 176. Ruffin now has 179 career catches, which is 21 short of joseph mapson's (2001-03) record of 200. The 78 yards put ruffin with 12 yards of mapson's career receiving yardage record of 2,953 with two games remaining on concordia's schedule.
the golden bear defense held uiu to just 3-15 on third downs and 2-4 on fourth downs and never allowed the peacocks into the red zone. Meanwhile, the offense was an efficient 8-16 on third down, 3-5 on fourth down and 4-5 in the red zone.
aside from r.wright, senior duy huynh (lb, apple valley, minn.) had seven tackles but no one else had more than four in what was a well-rounded defensive effort. Junior travis meyer (db, champlin, minn.) broke up three passes in the secondary and senior tim oachs (de, mankato, minn.) had four quarterback hurries while junior will brown (shoreview, minn.) had four tackles and a sack.
cu maintained control of the ball for 36:41 to uiu's 23:19.
concordia will look to carry their momentum and dominant effort at the line of scrimmage into their last two games which will be on the road. Next saturday, november 1, they travel to wayne, neb. To face wayne state in their final nsic south contest before heading north november 8 to face bemidji state to close out the season.
all photos courtesy justin oakman photography
