sioux falls, s.d. - junior wide receiver calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) did everything in his power to bring concordia university (1-4, 1-3 nsic, 0-2 nsic south) back from behind on saturday, but in the end, the golden bears came up a touchdown short. Cu fell 30-23 at augustana college (4-1, 3-1 nsic, 1-0 nsic south) in the third game ever played at kirkeby-over stadium in front of an announced crowd of 4,514. Simon finished the game with 10 receptions, a new career-high, along with 153 yards and two touchdowns to bring cu back from a 14-0 deficit to a tie score at 20 in the third quarter. box score
while simon had the hot hands in the second half, the concordia defense didn't have an answer for augustana's running game as the vikings churned out 282 yards on the ground on 50 attempts. They were led by junior joe clark who rushed 23 times for 166 yards and three scores.
concordia came out with a solid offensive attack in the first quarter but a blocked field goal and a lost fumble allowed augustana to capitalize with a 14-0 lead at the break. In the first quarter, concordia had 105 yards of offense on 11 plays in the opening frame but augustana was able to convert their 109 yards of offense into a pair of touchdowns for the 14-0 lead at the quarter break.
sophomore sam campbell (cary, ill.) had a 45 yard run on cu's first possession and would finish the day with two carries for 53 yards, two receptions for 33 yards and two pass completions for 85 yards and a touchdown.
in the second quarter, concordia turned the tables, scoring twice while holding the vikings to just 15 yards of offense and forcing them to 0-2 on third downs in the quarter. But the concordia offense was only able to turn that into a pair of field goals by junior steven king (johnston, iowa) from 27 and 37 yards out. At the break, concordia held slim advantages in first downs (9-8) and total offense (172-124) while rushing 11 times for 68 yards compared to augustana's 71 yards on 22 attempts.
with momentum seemingly on their side heading into the second half, concordia wasted no time striking, as the offense started with the ball and for the second time ran an option play to campbell who found simon wide open down the right sideline near the 50 yard line. Simon hauled in the pass and dashed for the end zone for an 80 yard score to cut the score to 14-13 early in the second quarter.
the vikings responded with a 31 yard touchdown run by clark and on the ensuing drive by concordia, senior mitch brecke (maple grove, minn.) led the offense on a drive into augustana territory before he was intercepted by micah nordin at the 27 yard line.
augustana, with a 20-13 lead, marched down the field 11 plays, 64 yards to the one yard line where clark was stripped by the cu defense. Sophomore safety arnold doxie (chesakpeake, va.) picked the ball up and dashed down the right sideline 41 yards before he was finally brought down.
concordia capitalized on the turnover as brecke completed a 22 yard pass over the middle to simon before finding junior h-back hayden vavra (cambridge, minn.) for another 13 yard completion. After an eight yard run around the right end by campbell, brecke delivered a touchdown strike to simon from 10 yard out and the golden bears tied the score at 20 with 1:24 to play in the third.
augustana added a 27 yard field goal in the fourth quarter, concordia holding strong in the red zone courtesy a strong tackle around the left end by senior safety joey lehman (coon rapids, minn.) who finished by tying his career-high of 10 tackles.
the field goal put augie ahead 23-20 and the vikings responded by forcing concordia to a three and out series. When augustana took the ball back over at their own 20 yard line, they marched 80 yards on six plays capped by a 14 yard touchdown run by clark to make it a 10 point deficit midway through the final period.
after starting their next drive with a 30 yard screen pass from brecke to campbell, concordia stalled with four straight incompletions at the augustana 40 yard line, turning the ball over on downs.
concordia had one more rally with the ball, going 81 yards on 11 plays in just under three and a half minutes but were forced to settle for a 20 yard field goal by king, his third field goal of the day.
king tied the school record for field goals in a game for the second time in his short lived three week career on the gridiron. But his onside kick never bounced back up in the air as it went out of bounds, giving augustana the ball back with just over two minutes to play, allowing the vikings to run the clock out.
senior defensive end will brown (shoreview, minn.) continued his outstanding season with a career-high 12 tackles, 3.5 for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.
offensively, concordia threw the ball 47 times with 27 completions and a season-high 353 yards as a team. But the running game stalled in the second half, finishing with 76 yards on 20 attempts after gaining just eight yards on nine rushes in the second half.
concordia's passing totals came from three different arms as brecke came off the bench late in the second quarter when sophomore starter spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.) left the game with an injury. Brecke finished 16-28 for 182 yards and a touchdown while ohm was 9-16 for 86 yards before leaving the game. They each threw one interception and were sacked a total of three times.
campbell's 85 passing yards accounted for the rest of the aerial damage.
aside from simon, senior wide receiver jordan schultenover (minnetonka, minn.) added five receptions for 82 yards and six different golden bears had at least two receptions.
of concordia's 76 rushing yards on 20 attempts, only nine were handoffs to the running backs, who were able to dash for 66 yards on those nine totes between the three of them. Campbell's 53 yards led the way on just two attempts while sophomore jerry shaw (milwaukee, wis.) added 12 yards on five carries and redshirt freshman jeremy randle (minneapolis, minn.) had three carries for two yards.
concordia finished with more yards of total offense (429) than the vikings (419). Concordia out-passed augie by over 200 yards as the home team only attempted 16 passes to concordia's 47.
the golden bears loss at augustana was their first loss to the vikings on the road in three games. Augustana improves to 3-0 at their new kirkeby-over stadium. The golden bears are just 3-12 on the road in the last three seasons and this 1-4 start is the second such time they have carried the record through five weeks in the last three seasons.
concordia returns to their new home, sea foam stadium, next saturday, october 3 for their homecoming game against the university of mary at noon.
