st. Paul, minn. -- sophomore running back hayden vavra (cambridge, minn.) had a rushing touchdown and a passing score to lead concordia university to a 27-23 come from behind win over minnesota state moorhead on saturday afternoon at rainy griffin stadium. Concordia outscored msum 27-3 from 2:02 in the second quarter to 1:00 in the third, a span of 16:02 of football to take control of the game.
the golden bear defense held the dragons late in the game as msum misfired on fourth and one with bruce green dropping what would have been a first down reception over the middle. The dragons had one last chance, taking over with 18 seconds remaining on their own 34, but they wouldn't even cross midfield as concordia held on for the tight win.
the golden bears fell behind the dragons early with msum scoring first on a one yard plunge by quarterback craig kutz. His td run was set up by his arm, connecting with nick scharpf down the right sideline for 50 yards to the three yard line.
despite trailing 7-0 after a quarter, concordia was in relative control on the field with 10:47 of time of possession in the opening 15 minutes while doubling up the dragons in total offense, 126-61. But three drives stalled in msum territory, their opening drive was ended by an interception at the dragon 31 after marching 14 plays, 50 yards over 7:36 to consume over half the first quarter.
their second drive was a six play, 51 yard chart down to the 13 yard line, but a missed 30 yard field goal by junior stephan bjerke (stillwater, minn.) resulted in zero points for the host golden bears. On their third drive, cu failed on downs at the dragon 17 yard line despite being set up with excellent field position at the msum 37.
the dragons had the ball only twice in the opening quarter, but on their third possession they struck again, as kutz found tyrone small for an 80 yard touchdown and suddenly the dragons were ahead 14-0 with 12:11 to play in the half despite controlling the ball for less than half the time that the golden bears.
after punting on their first two drives of the second quarter, concordia got things going offensively as vavra bowled through the moorhead defensive front into the end zone for a one yard score. Redshirt freshman running back jerry shaw (milwaukee, wis.) had the key play on the drive, bursting for a 20 yard gain on the second play of the drive before taking a screen pass nine yards setting up runs by mitch brecke (jr., qb, maple grove, minn.) of seven and 12 yards to put cu on the one yard line.
on the ensuing drive, kutz misfired on an out play 20 yards downfield. His pass, thrown into double coverage, went off the receiver's hands and up into the air when junior safety joey lehman (coon rapids, minn.) picked off the pass and stormed 40 yards to the end zone to bring concordia within a point going into halftime.
at the half, concordia had already netted 133 rushing yards on 26 attempts and had rolled for 250 yards of total offense and 19:47 of 30 minutes of time of possession.
in the third quarter, the dragons started the scoring with a logan johnson 33 yard field goal early in the quarter.
with 4:35 to play, vavra took a running back option play and found sophomore calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) wide open in the end zone for a 19 yard touchdown to take concordia's first lead, 20-17. Brecke found senior tyrone ruffin (plymouth, minn.) for a two yard touchdown three and a half minutes later to take a commanding 27-17 lead with 16 minutes remaining in the game.
msu moorhead's big play machine struck again in the fourth quarter with 5:34 when kutz connected with jabari taylor for a 64 yard touchdown pass.
that would be the only score in a fourth quarter that was marred by down pour conditions.
concordia was led on offense by senior tight end josh harrison (st. Martin, minn.), who produced his first career 100 yard receiving performance by posting career-highs in receptions (6), yards (102) and long reception (55).
as a team, cu produced their first 200 yard rushing performance of the season, rushing 45 times for 211 yards. They were led by brecke who rushed 16 times for a career-high 69 yards while vavra added 61 yards on 13 attempts. Shaw had 10 carries for 33 yards as well, but with 59 receiving yards on two catches, shaw finished with 92 all-purpose yards on 12 touches.
through the air, the team completed 18-33 for 235 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Brecke completed 15-28 for 202 with one touchdown and two interceptions to lead the passing attack.
vavra added the 19 yard touchdown pass in his only passing attempt and a four yard reception to his 61 rushing yards, proving again that he is a threat to run, pass or catch on any given play, along with his frame giving him the ability to throw a block in pass protection or downfield.
concordia's defense was solid once again, despite giving up the big plays. With the three long passes of 80, 64 and 50 removed from the stats, the "dark side" held the dragons to just 104 passing yards on 31 attempts. The run defense surrendered 92 rushing yards on 29 dragon carries.
sophomore linebacker rojeer wright (minneapolis, minn.) led the defense with 12 tackles, nine solo and one for loss.
as a team, the defense produced nine tackles for loss, two sacks, two interceptions, six pass breakups and four quarterback hurries.
junior defensive lineman donny severs (burlington, iowa) had three tackles for loss and a sack while senior linebacker mike kudick (denmark, wis.) had six tackles, two for loss, a sack and two hurries.
while lehman had his first career touchdown on the 40 yard interception return, he also had four tackles, 0.5 for loss, a pass breakup and blocked msum's extra point in the fourth quater that made it a four point cu lead, taking msum out of the option to kick a game tying field goal.
concordia's other interception came from sophomore linebacker tyler johnson (st. Paul, minn.), his second career interception.
concordia concludes their three game homestand to start the season with a 2-1 record and faces their first road action next saturday, september 20 when they face winona state university.
