st. Paul, minn. - with a third and one from the wsc 44 yard line and just over a minute left, trailing 26-21, concordia university senior quarterback mitch brecke (maple grove, minn.) was lined up in the shotgun. Things turned for the worse from there for the golden bears as the snap went wild with wayne state recovering nearly 20 yards downfield in the opposite direction and the wildcats were able to run the clock out to thwart the concordia comeback attempt. In a very competitive football game, concordia falls to 3-7 overall, 3-6 in the nsic while wayne state improves to 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the nsic. Cu finishes the year 2-4 in the south division while the wildcats move to 4-2 in divisional play. box score
concordia trailed 20-7 after three quarters but the golden bears continued to claw their way back into play as they scored on an 18 yard double-pass play from sophomore running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) to brecke, the quarterback, who caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage before dicing up the wildcat defense on his way to the end zone.
the touchdown and extra point brought the game back to a one score deficit with 14:50 to play in the contest. Concordia started that scoring drive in great field position on the wildcat 27 yard line after the cu special teams, led by senior jordan schultenover (wr, minnetonka, minn.) appeared poised to block randy weich's punt. Instead of punting the ball right into schultenover, weich pulled the ball down and was drilled by a host of golden bear specialists, led by schultenover and junior hayden vavra (cambridge, minn.).
it was the second time concordia stuffed a wayne state punt as they had a seven yard loss on a botched punt, which may have been a scripted fake, earlier in the game.
three plays later, cu was in the end zone after the trick play.
on the wildcats ensuing possession, they moved the ball well, starting on their own 40 before marching down to the cu 24 where they had a 1st and 10. But things unraveled for the wildcat offense, led by star quarterback silas fluellen. A two yard loss on the ground with a big stop by sophomore al quaye (champlin, minn.) and two incomplete passes had wsc reeling with a 4th and 12 at the cu 26. Ready to go for the first down, wayne was hit with a delay of game penalty, backing them up for a 4th and 17.
they continued their pursuit of a first down with fluellen throwing an errant post corner route inside the five as cu took over on downs.
with momentum on their side and buoyed by a rowdy crowd of 1,153 faithful fans at sea foam stadium, the offense rallied.
on 2nd and 7 from their own 34, brecke connected with junior receiver calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) for a 17 yard play crossing midfield. Another short three yard gain set-up another brecke-simon connection. This time, it was deep down the sideline and simon was well covered. But his 6-2 frame and athleticism allowed him to reach up over javal jones as he hauled in an outstanding reception for a 37 yard gain to the wsc 9 yard line.
campbell, concordia's newfound workhorse, was backed up for a one yard loss to the 10 yard line before taking a draw up the middle and dashing to the end zone for his second rushing score of the day. Junior kicker steven king (johnston, iowa) delivered the pat to give concordia their first lead, 21-20 with 6:21 to play. Concordia's drive was a six play, 69 yarder that took 3:15 off the clock.
campbell finished the day with 28 rushing yards on 12 attempts with the two scores, led the team with six receptions totaling 38 yards and was 1-2 passing for the 18 yard score, amassing 84 yards on his 20 plays and accounting for all three touchdowns in the process.
but the golden bears left the nsic's career total offense record holder, fluellen (who surpassed former cu great james mcnear two weeks ago) plenty of time to end cu's comeback.
and fluellen delivered, taking wayne state on an 11 play, 73 yard drive spanning over four minutes before they finally punched it in on a 3rd and goal from the one yard line, the second third down execution of the drive for the wildcats. Wayne state was unable to convert the two point conversion and led by five after the score.
concordia took over on their 36 yard line following a 16 yard return on a short kickoff by nick hope. With 2:06 to play and a timeout in their pocket, concordia started moving the ball with a four yard pass to campbell as he earned a few yards after contact before getting out of bounds.
after an incompletion to junior zach hovey (champlin, minn.), brecke converted a 3rd and six to vavra for seven yards over the middle. Another incompletion to hovey set up a nine yard strike to simon but it was on 3rd and 1 from the wsc 44 in the hurry-up when the snap sailed on the golden bears. Hovey did end up with four receptions on the day.
although brecke was statistically out-dueled by fluellen, he kept his team right in the game and recovered from a pair of first quarter interceptions, completing 29-47 for 272 yards on the day and was only sacked once. Fluellen, meanwhile, completed 31-48 for 369 and two scores and also threw a pair of int's. He also rushed for 65 yards on 12 attempts to lead wsc to 100 team rushing yards on 38 total carries.
brecke completed at least two passes to six different targets and nine different golden bears caught at least one pass, including brecke with his 18 yard score from campbell. Simon, schultenover and vavra all caught five balls with simon leading the team with 84 yards leaving him just 11 shy of 2,000 career receiving yards. Schultenover added 70 yards for cu. For wayne state, one of the top receivers in the nation, frederic bruno, had 10 catches for 111 yards and rushed four times for 36 yards while logan masters had six catches for 94 yards and a td.
concordia's return game also stepped up with senior christian even (little falls, minn.) producing a 38 yard run back while redshirt freshman jeremy randle (minneapolis, minn.) had a 31 yard sprint. Both solid kick returns along with hope's short kickoffs helped concordia maintain solid field position throughout.
defensively, concordia knew they would have their hands full entering the game. Although they gave up big yardage, they also made big plays, forcing three wildcat turnovers with interceptions from quaye and senior joey lehman (coon rapids, minn.). Junior linebacker tyler johnson (st. Paul, minn.) had four tackles, all behind the line of scrimmage, and forced a fumble which was scooped up by freshman alex helms (naperville, ill.). Junior linebacker trevor glomski (wabasha, minn.) had 10 of his career-high 13 tackles in the first half with 1.5 tfl's, two break-ups and two qb hurries.
in all, the cu defense had 10.0 tackles for loss as a unit, six quarterback hurries, five pass break-ups, a blocked extra point (senior joe butler from kansas city, mo.), the two int's a fumble recovery.
wayne state's leading tackler, another national leader, ryan reeves, produced 11 more for the wildcats, who made their mark in the secondary where they broke up 11 brecke pass attempts accounting for all but seven of his incompletions.
concordia's loss snaps back-to-back wins and sends them into their final game at sea foam stadium next saturday against bemidji state at 1:00 p.m. Seeking their first ever win in their new home. Wayne state revives playoff or at the very least, bowl hopes for the 2009 campaign.
