2004 Concordia Football Line Score
	Cobbers vs. Johnnies Teams 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Concordia 0 11 0 10 21 St. John's 6 7 7 0 20  Cobbers win at St. John's for the first time since 1988.

Cobbers vs. Johnnies Action Pictures
(Click on picture to see larger image)

Cobber Kicker Trumps Johnnie Mystique!!
COLLEGEVILLE-- Brian Halverson's (Jr., Fargo, N.D./Fargo North H.S.) 30-yard field with 24 seconds left in the game capped a 10-point, fourth quarter comeback as Concordia rallied to beat defending national champions St. John's in Collegeville.

The field goal capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive that enabled the Cobbers to come away with the 21-20 victory. It is their first win over the Johnnies since 1990 and first win at St. John's since 1988. The win keeps Concordia perfect in 2004, pushing their conference record to 5-0 and their overall mark to 6-0. It is the first time since the 1997 season that the Cobbers have started the year with six straight wins.

The Concordia offensive line paved the way to the victory by allowing the Cobbers to hold onto the ball for over 40 minutes in the game and rush for almost 300 yards. In the end, Concordia finished with 345 total offensive yards.

The Cobber defensive front seven put the clamps on the highly touted Johnnie running game. Concordia allowed St. John's a mere 60 yards on the ground, 165 yards below their season average. On the day, the Johnnies gained 309 yards in total offense. That is their lowest offensive total since November 8, 2002. 

Trailing 20-11 entering the final quarter, Concordia quarterback Brian Schumacher (Jr., Thompson, N.D.) engineered two John Elway-like drives to give the Cobbers a touchdown and finally the game-winning field goal in the waning seconds.

Sandwiched in-between the drives was impressive play by the entire Cobber defense that limited St. John's to just 45 total yards in the final 15 minutes of play. Concordia's vise-like defensive crew forced the Johnnies to punt the ball after running just seven plays after the Cobbers scored the touchdown that brought the game to within one point at 21-20.

Concordia's first scoring drive of the fourth quarter lasted 10 plays and covered 84 yards. Ed Oehlers (Sr., North Branch, Minn.) punched the ball over the goalline on a crucial fourth and one call from the St. John's one-yard line. The key play of the drive was a 22-yard pass that Schumacher deftly floated over the Johnnie linebacker corps and in front of the defensive secondary. 

The Cobbers' game-winning drive started at their own 25-yard line with just under seven minutes left to play in the game. By the time it was over, Schumacher and the Cobber offense had moved the ball all the way down to the Johnnie 13 yard line and had taken 6:19 off the clock. All told, the final two drives of the game for Concordia consumed 11:09 of the fourth quarter. 

After St. John's called time out to pressure Halverson, he calmly stepped up and hammered the ball through the middle of the uprights to put the Cobbers all alone atop the MIAC. 

For the game, Schumacher finished with a game-high 114 rushing yards on 28 attempts and was 7-for-18 for 74 yards in the passing department. He hooked up with Shawn Reile (Sr., Moorhead) in the second quarter for his only touchdown strike of the day. 

Oehlers gave the St. John's defense fits with his size and ability to break the first tackle. He finished the game with 86 yards on 25 carries and one touchdown.

Reile was the main receiving threat for the Cobbers in the game. He collected four passes for 33 yards and one TD. Andrew Passanante (Sr., Hawley, Minn.) only caught two passes for 19 yards but made a crucial first down catch in "the drive" that won the game. 

The Cobber defense turned in one of the critical plays of the game. Trailing 6-3 in the second quarter, Brody Clarke (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.)  was able to rid himself of the Johnnie offensive line and bring down running back Mike Lofboom for a safety. Those two points turned out to be key for the Cobbers at the end of the game. 

Statistically Josh Dietz (Sr., Glencoe, Minn./Glencoe-Silver lake HS) and Doug Runke (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) led Concordia in tackles. Dietz finished with eight tackles including one for a loss. Runke added seven in the winning effort. As in the previous five games, Runke and Dietz were able to get to the Johnnie ballcarriers thanks to tremendous effort for the defensive line. Adam Cambell (Sr., Willmar, Minn.), Travis Almquist (Jr., Fargo, N.D./Fargo North HS), Evan Emmerich (Sr., Princeton, Minn.), Greg Mantz (Jr., Mandan, N.D.), John Odermann (Jr., Belfield, N.D./Dickinson Trinity HS) and Clarke continually held up the athletic St. John's line and allowed the Cobber linebackers to make the easy tackles.

Tanner Radermacher (Jr., Bellingham, Minn./Ortonville HS) collected his second two-interception game of the year for the Cobber secondary. Earlier in the year, he had two "picks" against St. Thomas. Against the Johnnies he was responsible for the only two turnovers of the game.

Concordia will turn their attention to another top-flight MIAC team, as they host Bethel on Saturday, October 23 at 1:00pm at the "Jake" in Moorhead. That will be the first leg of a two-game homestand for the Cobbers. They will face Augsburg on October 30 at 1:00pm. 

Both games can be heard live on 1280am radio in the Fargo-Moorhead area and over the internet at www.gocobbers.com. 
 
 

 Box Score (Final)
#20 Concordia-Moorhead vs #4 Saint John's Univ. (Oct 16, 2004 at Collegeville, Minn.)

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Concordia-Moorhead..  0 11  0 10  - 21       Record: (6-0,5-0)
Saint John's Univ...  6  7  7  0  - 20       Record: (5-2,4-1)
 

Scoring Summary:
1st 03:52 SJU - Kyle Gearman 78 yd pass from Alex Kofoed 
    (Brandon Keller kick failed), 6-99 2:54, CC 0 - SJU 6
2nd 14:10 CC - Brian Halverson 40 yd field goal, 11-42 4:36, CC 3 - SJU 6
    08:51 CC - Brody Clarke safety, CC 5 - SJU 6
    04:24 CC - Shawn Reile 14 yd pass from BrianSchumacher 
    (BrianSchumacher rush failed), 12-49 4:22, CC 11 - SJU 6
    04:12 SJU - Lee Clintsman 94 yd kickoff return 
    (Brandon Keller kick), , CC 11 - SJU 13
3rd 07:03 SJU - Lee Clintsman 32 yd pass from Alex Kofoed 
    (Brandon Keller kick), 3-46 1:00, CC 11 - SJU 20
4th 10:38 CC - Ed Oehlers 1 yd run 
    (Brian Halverson kick), 10-84 4:50, CC 18 - SJU 20
    00:24 CC - Brian Halverson 30 yd field goal, 14-75 6:19, CC 21 - SJU 20
 

                                     CC      SJU
FIRST DOWNS...................       24       13
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   71-271    16-60
PASSING YDS (NET).............       74      249
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........   18-7-0  32-16-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   89-345   48-309
Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............      2-9     4-20
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     5-70    4-133
Interception Returns-Yards....     2-10      0-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............   7-30.3   3-33.0
Fumbles-Lost..................      1-0      1-0
Penalties-Yards...............     4-20     5-46
Possession Time...............    40:58    19:02
Third-Down Conversions........ 13 of 23  4 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 1   1 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      3-5      0-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0     6-38

RUSHING: Concordia-Moorhead-BrianSchumacher 28-114; Ed Oehlers 25-86; T. Christensen 15-66;
Eric Rodel 1-4; Tyler Anderson 2-minus 5; Ben Thoreson 0-6. Saint John's Univ.-Mike Lofboom 8-23;
James Lehner 3-22; Corey Weber 3-21; Lee Clintsman 1-minus 2; Alex Kofoed 1-minus 4.

PASSING: Concordia-Moorhead-BrianSchumacher 7-18-0-74. Saint John's Univ.-Alex Kofoed
16-32-2-249.

RECEIVING: Concordia-Moorhead-Shawn Reile 4-33; Andy Passanante 2-19; T. Christensen 1-22.
Saint John's Univ.-Isaac Flenner 8-70; Lee Clintsman 4-63; Kyle Gearman 2-91; Mike Lofboom 2-25.

INTERCEPTIONS: Concordia-Moorhead-T. Radermacher 2-10. Saint John's Univ.-None.

FUMBLES: Concordia-Moorhead-Ed Oehlers 1-0. Saint John's Univ.-Alex Kofoed 1-0.

Stadium: Clemens Stadium       Attendance: 5643
Kickoff time: 1 pm      End of Game: 3:45 pm   Total elapsed time: 2:45
Officials: Referee: Daryl Sanborn; Umpire: Steve Vekich;
Linesman: Jim Conroy; Line judge: Wally Larsen; Field judge: Ron Fritz;
Side judge: Roy Artis; Scorer: Marty Sundvall;
Temperature: 45        Wind: N-25 mph  Weather: cloudy, cold, brrrr

Concordia gets first win vs. SJU since 1990 ...
lss ends SJU win streak in MIAC play at 28; first conference
loss since Sept. 15, 2001 ... Clintsman kickoff return was
third-longest in SJU history
 

#20 Concordia-Moorhead vs #4 Saint John's Univ. (Oct 16, 2004 at Collegeville, Minn.)

SACKS (UA-A): Concordia-Moorhead-None. Saint John's Univ.-Jason Good 1-1; Paul Gans 1-0; D.
Dumonceaux 1-0; J Steffensmeier 0-1; Matt Hawn 1-0; Kevin McNamara 1-0.

TACKLES (UA-A): Concordia-Moorhead-Josh Dietz 5-3; Doug Runke 7-0; Eric Svobodny 4-1; Travis
Almquist 3-0; T. Radermacher 2-1; Brody Clarke 2-0; Mark Eaton 1-1; Ben Aakre 1-1; Jordan Talge 1-1;
Chris Klabo 1-1; Dave Moll 0-2; Eric Preszler 1-0; Mark Halley 1-0; Lukas Brott 0-1; Chris Jepson
0-1; Ross Hebrink 0-1; John Odermann 0-1; ChadMoldenhauer 0-1. Saint John's Univ.-Jason Good 10-9; J
Steffensmeier 7-9; Paul Gans 8-5; Matt Hawn 2-10; D. Dumonceaux 5-6; T Steffensmeier 6-3; Michael
Klobes 4-4; Scott LaVoy 3-3; Steve Danielson 2-4; Kevin McNamara 2-2; James Lehner 2-1; Brian Adamek
2-0; S. Schoenberg 1-0; Lee Clintsman 1-0; Jordy Ruff 1-0; Mike Zauhar 0-1; Casey Haugen 0-1.