st. Paul, minn. -- the concordia university football team got off to a slow start as they were shutout 40-0 in their 2008 season opener by #22 minnesota duluth on saturday evening at griffin stadium. The golden bears' streak of 90 consecutive games without being shutout came to a close, and it was the first time they failed to score under head coach mark mauer (46 games). box score
not since november 5, 1999 when cu fell 44-0 at southwest state in marshall, minn. Were the golden bears blanked. In a slight twist of irony, on concordia's first home game of their 10th year of ncaa division ii and northern sun membership, cu was shutout for just the second time in that 10 year span. It's also the 25th time they have been shutout in 367 games in a football history that dates back to 1969.
concordia started on the right note, however, as umd's kickoff went out of bounds, giving the golden bears the ball on their own 40 to start things off. On the first play from scrimmage, junior quarterback mitch brecke (plymouth, minn.) connected on a 14 yard out pattern to sophomore calvin simon (shakopee, minn.).
it was just one of 10 first downs in the game, however and the opening drive stalled after the next three plays, resulting in the first of five punts in the game.
concordia's longest drive of the game was a 14 play, 41 yard drive that ended on a fourth and 13 interception at the umd 21 yard line. It was one of three drives that ended in umd territory.
the bulldogs, meanwhile, were sparked by big plays from d.j. Winfield, who scored the first points of the game on a 15 yard reception from ted schlafke with 1:34 to play in the first quarter.
after a defensive touchdown less than a minute later, winfield struck again late in the second quarter. On a third and one play at the cu 48, winfield took a backwards pass from schlafke, who was drilled on the play, and took off for the end zone. Winfield was credited with a 48 yard touchdown run on the play and gave umd their halftime lead of 20-0.
winfield finished the game with seven receptions for 137 yards and had a 65 yard long. His 48 rushing yards gave him 185 all-purpose yards in the game.
the golden bear offense was led by simon, who hauled in six passes for 50 yards in the loss.
as a team, cu passed for 127 yards, completing 16 of 31 but threw three interceptions. Brecke was 12-21 for 87 yards and was sacked five times. He was replaced by redshirt freshman spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.) in the middle of the third quarter.
after completing his first career pass attempt to simon, ohm was under the same pressure brecke faced and finished the game 4-9 for 40 yards. Brecke was hit with two interceptions while ohm threw the third.
umd rushed for 231 yards and four touchdowns as a team, while no individual rushed for more than the 66 yards issaic odim posted on 10 attempts. Brad foss added 11 attempts for 65 yards and two touchdowns as well.
concordia, meanwhile, struggled on the ground, rushing for -15 yards as a team on 28 attempts. Sophomore hayden vavra (cambridge, minn.) rushed for 13 yards on seven attempts to lead the team on the ground.
defensively, concordia was paced by sophomore linebacker rojeer wright (minneapolis, minn.) with a team-high seven tackles. He also added a sack. Junior defensive back joey lehman (coon rapids, minn.) added six tackles, an interception and recovered a fumble. Each of lehman's turnovers happened in the umd red zone, giving concordia added life in the game.
the concordia quarterbacks were sacked six times by the bulldogs, while umd also had 11 tackles for loss to go with their three interceptions. They also were credited with seven quarterback hurries.
concordia looks to get in the win column, and on the scoreboard, next saturday, september 6, when they host minot state at 1:00 p.m. At griffin stadium.
photos courtesy justin oakman photography
