st. Paul, minn. - concordia university football (4-2, 3-2 nsic) rushed for a season high 227 yards on 46 carries as they were able to hold off bemidji state (3-3, 2-3 nsic) for a 20-14 victory in front of 1,323 fans at sea foam stadium on saturday evening. Junior running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) led the team with his second career 100-yard rushing performance with a career high 137 yards and two touchdowns on 20 attempts. box score | photo gallery
it was an impressive performance for concordia against a bemidji state run defense that was only allowing 90 yards per game on the ground. The golden bears were able to surpass that total by halftime with 95 yards on 17 carries and more than doubled that total in the second half with 132 yards after the break.
the run game became highly important for the golden bears as starting quarterback spencer ohm (jr., blooming prairie, minn.) did not come back out to lead the offense in the second half, giving way to redshirt freshman james peterson (blaine, minn.). The two combined to complete 10-20 for 106 yards and one touchdown, but were only sacked once and didn't commit any turnovers.
the running game, behind concordia's strong and deep offensive line (right), was able to sustain drives throughout the evening. Concordia bruised their way to 18 first downs, 11 coming on the ground as they averaged 5.3 per carry.
defensively, the golden bears held bemidji state to just 255 yards of total offense and stopped a run game that was averaging over 170 yards of total offense to just 112 and 3.1 per carry on 36 attempts. Bsu managed only 13 first downs in the game and averaged only 4.6 yards per passing attempt. The cu secondary held up well, limiting the beavers to 16-31 completions for 143 yards.
in the secondary, senior cornerback jason mccalope (oakland, calif.) recorded the team's first interception since week one on a 2nd and 1 play at bsu's own 46. Mccalope caught the deflected pass on his own 38 yard line and dashed 21 yards on the return into bemidji state territory.
his interception set up a four play, 41 yard drive that campbell completed with a 4th and 1 run around the left end for a 32 yard touchdown. The campbell touchdown was concordia's longest rushing play of the season as the golden bears had some breathing room with the redshirt freshman peterson at the helm of the offense on just his second drive leading the team. The td run gave cu a 20-7 lead with 8:06 to play in the third quarter.
the defense responded with three consecutive three-and-outs to keep the pressure of peterson and the offense.
after a cu drive stalled at the bsu 34 early in the fourth quarter, peterson delivered a punt to the bsu 17 yard line where bsu finally got something going against the cu defense.
the beavers drove 83 yards on 14 plays to reach the end zone for the first time since early in the second quarter, but took nearly four and a half minutes off the clock in the process.
bemidji state would only get one more crack at cu, with the defense stepping up by stopping bsu on downs in four plays.
aside from bsu's fourth quarter scoring drive, the concordia defense held bemidji state to just one first down in an impressive effort with the game on the line.
things started well for concordia, too, as they scored first on a five yard run by campbell to finish an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive that drained nearly five and a half minutes off the clock. They also kept bsu from scoring in the first half as well, despite bemidji state gaining 85 yards of offense to concordia's 80 with first downs even at five apiece, showing that the cu defense held strong when it needed to early in the game.
in the second quarter, bemidji state finally reached the end zone on a grueling 18-play, 73-drive that took nearly nine minutes of play. Dustin kroeplin bruised his way into the end zone from one yard out to tie the score.
later in the quarter, campbell broke off a 25 yard run down the right sideline on a 3rd and one from their own 44 yard line. On the next play, ohm lofted a pass down the right sideline into the end zone for junior charles gilbert (left, jacksonville, fla.). Gilbert leapt past his defender, got his hands on the ball before it was seemingly knocked away. After the initial bobble and on his way to the turf, gilbert secured the ball for the touchdown for a 31 yard score.
it was gilbert's eighth touchdown of the year (seven receiving) with all eight coming from outside of the red zone (20 yard line). He's scored a touchdown in every game in the season and he picked a big spot to make his only reception of the game.
ohm would finish the first half completing 6-8 for 58 yards before giving way to peterson in the second half, potentially leaving due to an undisclosed injury.
the 14-7 lead for concordia carried over into the break. Just like in the second half, concordia's defense held strong for much of the first half, surrendering only two first downs on the beavers' non-scoring drives.
for the game, bsu had just three first downs on their nine non-scoring drives, gaining just 94 total yards on 35 plays in the process. Concordia, meanwhile, fared slightly better on their non-scoring drives with 123 yards on 42 plays including a missed field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter.
concordia's defense was led by senior linebacker trevor glomski (wabasha, minn.) with 10 tackles, 1.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks with a pass breakup. Junior micah koehn (lino lakes, minn.) got his first start of the year in the secondary in place of injured senior captain travis meyer (champlin, minn.) and stepped up with seven tackles (six solo) and a career high 2.0 tackles for loss. Sophomore defensive end zach moore (chicago, ill.) registered a sack for the fifth time this season, giving him 6.5 on the year and nose guard chris campbell (r-fr., san marcos, calif.) helped clog the middle with a career-high five tackles in just his fourth game on the defensive line after moving from the offense in week three.
while mccalope provided the coverage from his corner position, denzell blackmon (r-fr., chicago, ill.) provided the hits on the other corner spot with six tackles (four solo) including his first career half sack. Pictured below is arnold doxie (sr., chesapeake, va.) delivering a heavy hit downfield to breakup a first half pass.
offensively, peterson had his first career pass completions as he finished 4-12 for 48 yards including a long of 19 to sophomore paah zeah (right, brooklyn park, minn.) who tied gilbert for the team lead with 31 yards. But no pass was bigger than peterson's 11-yard connection to senior zach hovey (champlin, minn.) with over a minute left on 3rd and five from cu's own 38. The completion at the sideline near midfield after a play action fake and roll out to the right side essentially ended the game, allowing cu to kneel out the clock for the victory.
hovey led the team with four receptions on the night for a total of 24 yards.
the running game was solid, once again showing depth as junior jerry shaw (oak creek, wis.) added nine carries for 37 yards - all late in the game for a 4.1 yard average. Peterson showed his running ability with 36 yards on five attempts and was not sacked. Ohm also added 20 yards on six attempts as cu.
on the special teams, senior t.g. Schoenberg (woodbury, minn.) averaged a season-high 38.6 yards on five punts with two landing inside the 20 and a long of 42 showing a consistent distance. Senior kicker steven king (johnston, iowa) averaged a solid 63.8 yards on his four kickoffs as well.
bemidji state was led by kroeplin's 82 yards on 20 carries with a rushing touchdown while quarterback derek edholm completed 16-31 for 143 with a touchdown and an interception.
the bsu receivers were as non-descript statistically as concordia's, with andrew schultz leading the way with four catches for 35 yards. Bsu's longest play from scrimmage was 18 yards on the evening.
on defense, cory crosby produced a game-high 15 tackles for bsu while brody scheff added 10.
the golden bears take their 4-2 overall record to wayne, neb. Next saturday for a 1:00 p.m. Game against wayne state. The wildcats are 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the nsic, a game ahead of concordia in the standings.
