Football | 9.12.14

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul football (0-1 NSIC) looks for its first win of the 2014 season this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Sea Foam Stadium, hosting Northern State (0-1 NSIC) in the home opener. Parking lots open for tailgating two hours prior to the game at 4 p.m.

THIS WEEK: 2014 HOME OPENER
Concordia-St. Paul will host Northern State in the 2014 home opener for the Golden Bears at Sea Foam Stadium. Concordia is 2-1 in home openers under fourth year head coach Ryan Williams including a home opener win over Northern State (27-22) in Williams' first season as head coach in 2011. Concordia enters the sixth season at Sea Foam Stadium, hoding a 3-2 record in five previous home openers.

SERIES HISTORY: CONCORDIA 7, NORTHERN STATE 5
The Golden Bears have captured wins over the Wolves in seven of the last 10 meetings in the series including five straight at home. The Wolves only win against Concordia in St. Paul came in NSU's first trip in the first meeting in series history in 1999. Concordia and Northern State have met only once at Sea Foam Stadium since it opened in 2009, a 27-22 Concordia win in 2011. While Concordia holds the decisive advantages in series history and home series history, Northern State won the most recent contest which was played in Aberdeen, S.D. ,a 24-23 decision in 2012 in favor of Northern State.

LAST MEETING, 2012: Concordia 24, Northern State 23
Concordia trailed by two touchdowns with just under 12 minutes to play on the road before scoring two unanswered touchdowns before the game-tying PAT was blocked. The Wolves recovered the ensuing onside kick to run the clock out on Concordia's road comeback bid.

It was the second time a blocked PAT would haunt Concordia in its series against Northern State, the other coming in 2005 in what amounted to a one-point loss in a game also played in Aberdeen.

Quarterback James Peterson had a monster day, completed 24-44 for 373 yards and three touchdowns including an 82-yard strike to Tre Mason. But he was intercepted three times and sacked twice.

Mason finished with five catches for 142 yards while Cordell Smith had eight catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. While Mason and Smith were getting downfield against NSU, tight end Nate Thienes bruised his way to four catches for 67 yards as well.

Tre Spears led the run game with 16 attempts for 52 yards.

NSU was led by John Hughes with 104 rushing yards on 15 attempts while quarterback Jared Jacobson completed 17-33 for 191 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

Concordia's defense was led by nine tackles, 2.0 for loss and a sack from Denzell Blackmon while Jordan Halverson had seven tackles and Abdullah Asad had five tackles and a pair of pass breakups.

Logan Dosch was a force defensively with eight tackles, 2.0 for loss and two interceptions while Jayson Geditz also had a pick along with seven tackles. Paul Woodward had three pass breakups down field as well.

LAST WEEK: #3 Minn. Duluth 20, Concordia 13
The Golden Bears went toe-to-toe with one of the most dominant Division II football programs in the country over the past seven years. But when Concordia failed to capitalize on scoring chances and field position, UMD picked those spots to put points on the board and slowly developed a 20-3 lead into the fourth quarter.

That's where Corey Cole and the Concordia offense kicked into gear as the first time starting quarterback led the Golden Bears to a pair of scoring drives while the defense held the Bulldogs in check.

Concordia now trailed 20-13 with just over three and a half minutes to play. One more defensive stop and Cole would have a chance to lead the offense on a game tying drive.

UMD faced a 3rd and 1 from its own 26 yard line when a 46-yard run put a stop to Concordia's comeback attempt.

In the first half, Concordia had a missed field goal, a fumble in UMD territory and only came away with a field goal despite getting down to the 2 yard line on three of its possessions. In the third quarter, the Golden Bears were stopped on downs. The Bulldogs scored all 20 of their points following these possessions but were otherwise shut down by the Concordia defense.

Concordia held UMD to just 82 passing yards in the game, forcing UMD quarterback Drew Bauer to 8-21 passing. But UMD found success in the run game as the Bulldogs ran for 302 yards on 40 attempts (7.6 avg).

The Golden Bears were also successful running the ball, gashing the strong UMD defense for 232 yards on 37 attempts (6.3 avg) on the ground led by Cole's 177 yards on 18 rushes. Tre Spears added 15 carries for 47 yards.

Cole topped 300 yards of total offense by throwing for 130 yards on 12-25 passing. Cordell Smith was his top target for six receptions and 75 yards.

Defensively, Josh Trifunov led the team with 12 tackles while Jordan Halverson had nine tackles and a tackle for loss. Nick Jauch added six tackles, two for loss and a sack and Dion Roche had five tackles and three quarterback hurries in the UMD backfield.

HEAD COACH RYAN WILLIAMS
The Golden Bears are led by third year head coach Ryan Williams. Prior to being named head coach, Williams had served as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for the previous six seasons at Concordia. He is a Wayzata, Minn. native and played collegiately as starting quarterback and team captain at former Division II-power North Dakota State from 1997-2000.

With a 13-21 career record, Williams is 1-1 against Northern State. He is 6-7 in his career against the NSIC North.

2014 TEAM CAPTAINS
The 2014 team captains are senior Abdullah Asad (SS, Chicago) and junior Jordan Halverson (LB, Fridley, Minn.) on defense and seniors Cordell Smith (WR, Mequon, Wis.) and Tre Spears (RB, Chicago) on offense.

This week's honorary captain is Zach Moore (DE, 2009-13), a two-time team captain of the 2012 and 2013 Golden Bears. Zach was a two-time All-American, three-time All-NSIC and two-time NSIC sack champion. The criminal justice major was drafed in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, less than 24 hours after receiving his degree at Concordia's commencement. Not only was he drafted and invited to training camp, but he made the official 53-man roster and made his pro debut last week at Miami. He's in town this weekend as the Patriots play at the Vikings tomorrow. More on Moore on page 7.

WELCOME BACK, JORDAN
Last season, Jordan Halverson suffered a season ending injury in week three at home against St. Cloud State. Now completely healthy, Halverson is armed with an extra year of workouts, spring football, summer and fall ball. His hard work has paid off as he voted one of the team's captains and awarded an extra year of eligiblity for medical reasons. He made an immediate impact at UMD in his return with nine tackles with one for loss.
He wasn't the only player returning from injury as Jordan Nieuwsma, Landon Ochwat, Cole Parker all bounced back from either season ending injuries or offseason injuries and have a clean bill of health in 2014.

COREY COLE DYNAMIC UNDER CENTER
Junior Corey Cole made his first career start at quarterback last Saturday in Concordia's 20-13 loss at #3 UMD but he's hardly new to the team. Cole is in his fourth year in the program, redshirting his first year before spending the last two years battling for a chance at quarterback in camp before the coaching staff used his athleticism at wide receiver and kick/punt returning during the season.

In his first two years, Cole had 22 receptions for 264 yards, five rushes for 52 yards, 17 kickoff returns for 450 yards (26.5 avg) and a 100-yard touchdown, and 14 punt returns for 86 yards (6.1 avg) as he amassed 852 all-purpose yards without taking a snap under center.

In his quarterback debut, Cole lit up UMD for 307 yards of total offense, rushing for 177 yards on 18 attempts while completing 12-25 for 130 yards through the air.

SPEARS, SMITH & CLEMON LEAD SKILL POSITION GROUP
Seniors Tre Spears, Cordell Smith and Jermaine Clemon lead Concordia's running back, wide receiver and tight end group, respectively. The trio have all been outstanding in their careers as Golden Bears.

Spears is closing in on 2,000 career rushing yards with 1,966 over 34 games along with 10 touchdowns. Last year he rushed for a career high 967 yards and five scores.

Smith has 1,725 career receiving yards on 110 catches and 21 total touchdowns. Last year Smith had 10 total touchdowns (9 rec, 1 PR) and had his best year as a two-sport athlete on the basketball team by averaging 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 42.3% from three-point range.

Clemon is also coming off his best year as a college tight end, leading the team in receptions with 38 for 307 yards and a touchdown. In his career, Clemon has 64 catches for 662 yards.

PROTECTING THE BACKFIELD
This year, Concordia returns four starting offensive linemen from a unit that was solid last season. However, all four returners will be playing different positions this year. Incumbent left tackle Lawrence Walker slides inside to left guard while Josh Coyne moves outside from left guard to left tackle. Last year's center, Brett Morris will play right guard which bumps Cole Parker outside to right tackle. The only starter not returning is Steven Davis, a four year right tackle who graduated last May. The newcomer to the group is redshirt freshman Matt Bjork, who will take the center spot.

In week one, the results paid immediate dividends as quarterback Corey Cole was not sacked while the offensive line plowed UMD's front seven for 232 rushing yards at over six per carry.

SECONDARY SHUTS DOWN UMD PASS GAME
Concordia's secondary held UMD to just 82 passing yards in week one, the second ranked pass defense in the NSIC.  

Senior strong safety Abdullah Asad is the leader of the group with 197 career tackles including last year's career-high 75. He also 13.0 career tackles for loss and nine pass breakups. While Asad provides veteran leadership to the group, sophomore Breon Hoosier steps into the starting free safety spot beside him. He made 18 tackles as a true freshman a year ago and had seven in week one last week.

Jimmy Mireri provides blanket coverage to lead the corner backs, last year providing 14 pass breakups with seven the year before. He's off to a solid start with one pass breakup last week. Junior Jordan Nieuwsma joins him as the other starter and also makes an impact in the return game.

MAKING THEIR COLLEGE DEBUTS
Last week, the Concordia football program saw the debut peformances of 14 players. The group featured a combination of transfers, redshirts and true freshmen. Debut starters from last week include Matt Bjork (R-Fr., C), Chazz Roberts (R-Fr., NG) and Dion Roche (Jr., DE) while true freshmen Uzziah Davis (KR, RB) and Blair Griffith (CB) made their debuts in week one.