marshall, minn. - within hours after the top-ranked cu volleyball team swept the 15th-ranked team in the nation, the football team kept up the momentum on the campus of southwest minnesota state as the golden bears (2-6, 2-5 nsic) defeated the mustangs (3-5, 2-5 nsic) 29-17 in a dominating performance at the regional event center. Senior quarterback mitch brecke (maple grove, minn.) passed for 329 yards and a touchdown and rushed for two more scores. The golden bears stop their four game losing streak while extending smsu's to four games. box score
while the concordia offense was sparked through the air, they finished the game out strong on the ground in the fourth quarter while the defense held strong as they limited one of the top offenses in the nsic to just 255 total yards.
in fact, the defense was so good in the second half that the mustangs were only able muster 79 yards until their final desperation drive when they put up 78 yards with 47 of those yards coming on a final play as time ran out and smsu was forced to pitch the ball to keep their hopes alive.
the defense even put up a touchdown for concordia, their first of the 2009 season when junior linebacker trevor glomski (wabasha, minn.) took an interception back 39 yards. That score put concordia up 14-3 early in the second quarter.
concordia also won the turnover battle, forcing four mustang turnovers - two interceptions and two fumbles, along with a blocked kick by senior cornerback joe butler, who also had the other cu interception.
glomski finished the game tied for the team-high with seven tackles along with butler. Butler also had a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
senior defensive end will brown (shoreview, minn.) turned out five tackles including a pair of sacks which also count as tackles for loss as he continues his dominant season. In all, the cu defense racked up five sacks, teeing off on smsu quarterback ryan ratekin.
the fact that concordia's top three tacklers had seven, seven and five stops, speaks volumes to how well the defense actually played. While in most games a top tackler finishes in double-digits, concordia held smsu to just 52 total plays and under five yards per play. They had under 100 yards of offense in the first half and only two offensive scoring drives in the game - one being a field goal (the other score was an int td).
concordia's defense held smsu to seven drives with four plays or less with three of those being 3-and-outs (one was a 4-and-out).
while the defense dominated a high-powered offense all evening, the offense churned out a great day as well. Brecke's big 300 yard performance, the second of his career, was certainly aided by top target jordan schultenover (wr, sr., minnetonka, minn.) who came within a catch of the single game school record. He finished with 11 receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. It was schultenover's third 100 yard receiving performance of the season.
brecke also connected with sophomore running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) often, as the second year back provided 78 receiving yards on six receptions. He also bruised his way to an effective ground game in aiding cu run out the clock on the road. He finished with 61 yards on 17 carries on the ground and produced an impressive 139 all-purpose yards.
concordia's offense amassed 19 first downs while the defense limited smsu to 13. Concordia dominated the time of possession outcome by nearly 10 minutes, controlling the ball for 34:33. A problem for concordia last week was red zone effectiveness but tonight concordia reached the red zone six times, converting four (three touchdowns, one field goal).
senior wideout calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) continued his reception streak, extending it to 29 games.
zach wysong was the lone offensive bright spot for smsu with 176 all-purpose yards including eight receptions for 134 yards out of the backfield highlighted by a 48 yard touchdown. He also rushed 12 times for 42 yards.
concordia remains on the road next saturday when they travel to fayette, iowa for a 1:00 start against upper iowa on october 24.
