fayette, iowa - after losing a 19 point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the concordia university football team (3-7, 3-6 nsic, 2-3 nsic south) saw their fortunes reverse in a thrilling 57-56 double overtime victory over upper iowa university (2-7, 1-7 nsic, 0-5 nsic south) on saturday afternoon at eb eischeid stadium. Concordia's road win gives them two straight as they close out the year 3-3 away from home. They finish the season with a pair of home games at sea foam stadium seeking their first win at their new home. box score

in the second overtime, upper iowa scored first when sam epsteen plowed in from a yard out to put uiu ahead 56-50. Their reliable kicker, jason price, was on for his 72nd career extra point, having never missed. In his eighth pat attempt of the game, price was unable to convert but the peacocks still clung to a six point lead.

concordia went right back to their hot hand, sophomore running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) and campbell went right for the end zone. On first down, campbell was stuffed for a two yard reception but on the next play, he took the hand off and dashed up the middle before bouncing the run outside to the right as he sprinted for the right corner of the end zone to tie the game at 56.

concordia's kicker, junior steven king (johnston, iowa), sealed the win by delivering the point after for a 57-56 final. King finished with a 15 point scoring effort.

campbell had all 50 yards for the golden bears in overtime, needing only four touches. On concordia's first ot possession, campbell had a 15 yard reception which set up his 10 yard touchdown run.

he finished the day with a career-high 100 rushing yards on 19 attempts and three scores on the ground while adding six receptions for 59 yards through the air.

but how did this game get to overtime?

concordia was in control, leading 40-21 after senior quarterback mitch brecke (maple grove, minn.) connected on a 22 yard scoring strike to junior receiver zach hovey (champlin, minn.).

that score came with 12:08 to play and gave concordia all the momentum in the world.

but, in college football, no lead is safe.

the defense responded, forcing upper iowa to three consecutive incompletions.

the offense stalled when brecke lost his footing dropping back on a 3rd and 7 from the uiu 36, losing nine yards back to their own 27. Concordia brought out the 12th-leading punter in the nation, junior t.g. Schoenberg (woodbury, minn.) for his second punt of the game. Instead of punting, however, schoenberg lofted a well thrown ball deep down the right sideline to gunner joe butler (cb, sr., kansas city, mo.) who was well covered by his peacock defender. He couldn't come up with the catch and upper iowa took over at the cu 27 yard line.

"we weren't slowing them down at all and backed up inside your own 30 is when you creep up and catch a team in fake situations," head coach mark mauer explained. "we just didn't execute the play and credit upper iowa for hanging in there on it."

after the fake, upper iowa scored four plays and just over a minute later, pulling within 12 at 40-28 with 8:01 to play.

the peacocks onside kicked, but concordia recovered on the uiu 45 yard line. On the first play of the drive, brecke fired his third interception of the day at the upper iowa 39.

uiu marched to the end zone on a five play, 61 yard drive in just under a minute and a half and just like that, they were within five points, 40-35 with just under six and a half minutes remaining.

concordia's offense took over after a 20 yard return out to the cu 47 yard line by senior jordan schultenover (minnetonka, minn.). It was time for a steady dose of campbell on the ground. Cu gave him five carries for 30 yards on a drive that took concordia down to the peacock seven yard line where they were stopped to a 4th and 1.

insert king, cu's kicker. King delivered a 24 yard field goal to break the single-season field goal record in just his seventh game of the year. King's three-pointer put concordia ahead by eight points, 43-35, after a workman-like nine play, 46 yard drive that siphoned four and a half minutes off of the clock. King's field goal was also his third of the day, the third time he has converted three field goals in a game this year, once again tying the single-game fg record.

but upper iowa's offense was rolling and they drove down and scored with eight second remaining, converting the two point conversion to tie the score at 43.

prior to the late rally by upper iowa, it was a game that was seemingly dominated by concordia throughout.

upper iowa took the lead first, scoring just over four minutes into play when mike moser took in his first of four scores from 10 yards out. He finished with three rushing touchdowns while carrying 11 times for 60 yards along with three receptions for 27 yards and another score.

just 18 seconds later, brecke connected with junior wide receiver calvin simon for a 56 yard bomb down the left sideline. Simon hauled in the pass at the 10, made a move and broke a tackle before sprinting the final 10 yards to the end zone. Simon would later add an explosive 75 yard touchdown where he caught a simple slant over the middle 10-15 yards downfield before outrunning the defense.

the touchdown catch extended his reception streak to 30 games.

simon finished with a career-high 200 yard receiving day on six receptions with two touchdowns.

brecke had his second straight 300 yard passing effort with 386 on 24-41 completions with three touchdown strikes. He also added a 16 yard rushing score as well.

it was the most productive offensive output for the golden bears of the season as they produced 519 yards on 79 plays in the game. They allowed upper iowa to tally 450 yards of offense as well but on 89 plays. Concordia ended up winning the time of possession battle handily, controlling the ball for 34:06 compared to uiu's 25:51. Cu was 7-16 on third downs and 2-4 on fourth while converting five of six times in the red zone.

while moser led uiu in rushing and scoring on the day, sam epsteen was the go-to guy in overtime, scoring both peacock touchdowns. He carried 18 times for 51 yards in the game while quarterback ben curran added 25 on the ground with a sixth uiu team rushing score. Through the air, curran completed 25-44 for 301 with two touchdowns and an interception.

curran's int was picked off by junior linebacker trevor glomski (wabasha, minn.) who picked up his second int in as many weeks. Glomski finished with 11 tackles and a tackle for loss.

concordia's defense was led by freshman linebacker alex helms (naperville, ill.) with a career-high 14 tackles, 1.5 for loss, forcing a fumble and breaking up a pass. Junior safety karl pope (washington, d.c.) also had 11 tackles with 2.0 for loss. Junior linebacker tyler johnson (st. Paul, minn.) and sophomore safety arnold doxie (chesapeake, va.) each had nine tackles. Johnson had a pair of tfl's while doxie forced a fumble and recovered a fumble in the game.

senior defensive end will brown (shoreview, minn.), one of the nation's leaders in tackles for loss, added two more to his season total, keeping pace with his average. He now has 18.0 on the season, a league-high and top-five in division ii football.

concordia's special teams had solid return efforts all day but none bigger than senior christian even's (little falls, minn.) 61 yarder. In the game, cu returned six kickoffs for 116 yards and returned two punts for 37 yards. Even also added a 19 yard punt return while butler had an 18 yarder.

after staving off the peacocks, concordia is now 4-0 all-time against uiu picking up their second win in fayette. Concordia closes out their road schedule with back-to-back wins after beating southwest minnesota state last saturday, 29-17 in marshall, minn.

the 2009 season will conclude at home with concordia hosting #22 wayne state and bemidji state on october 31 and november 7 at 1:00 p.m. At sea foam stadium. Both wayne state and bemidji state suffered close heartbreaking losses today on their home fields, providing a huge setback to their playoff hopes. The two teams should come to st. Paul hungry for wins as the season winds down.