Box ScoreCOLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Concordia-Moorhead accumulated 40:10 of offensive possession in a 23-14 win at Saint John's on Saturday, Sept. 20, in Collegeville.
SJU (2-1, 0-1 MIAC) only ran four offensive plays in the first quarter and was out-gained 315-83 in the first half. Concordia only led 16-0 at the half, however, and the Johnnies dropped a pass in the end zone just seconds before intermission.
SJU cut its deficit to 16-14 with a pair of touchdown passes from senior quarterback
Johnny Benson (Becker, Minn.) in the third quarter, but Concordia's Griffin Neal padded the Cobbers' lead on a one-yard touchdown run with 8:39 remaining.
CC (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) took the opening kickoff and drained half of the first quarter, going 62 yards on 16 plays, before settling for a 23-yard field goal from Ben Wagner.
Following a three-and-out from SJU on its first offensive possession, Neal capped a 13-play, 86-yard scoring drive with the first of his two rushing touchdowns from four yards out.
Neal connected with Jon Baune, who made three SJU defenders miss along the sideline, for a 45-yard touchdown reception with 42 seconds left in the first half. Neal ended the afternoon 18 of 32 passing for 248 yards, as well as with 58 yards on 20 carries.
Benson and Co. took the second-half kickoff and marched 75 yards on 10 plays, ending on an eight-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver
Dan Harrington (Frisco, Texas/Wakeland).
Wagner missed a 36-yard field goal on the ensuing possession and the Johnnies started right where they left off, going 80 yards on nine plays, ending with a four-yard touchdown pass from Benson to sophomore running back
Zack Sundly (Harris, Minn./North Branch).
Benson made his first collegiate start and finished 15 of 25 passing for 153 yards. Junior running back
Sam Sura (South St. Paul, Minn.) totaled 93 yards rushing on 17 carries (5.5 avg.).
Sophomore linebacker
Carter Hanson (Blue Earth, Minn.) led the SJU defense with 15 tackles (six solo) and a forced fumble. Senior defensive linemen
Ben Rossini (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Rosemount) and
Matt Workman (Minneapolis, Minn./Holy Angels) also forced a fumble each, and sophomore
Lucas Glomb (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) snagged his second interception of the year.
Although Concordia out-gained SJU by 200 yards of offense (448-248), the Cobbers also ran 37 more offensive plays than the Johnnies (5.3 yards per play, to the Johnnies' 5.2 average). CC converted 11 of its 18 third-down conversions, to the Johnnies' 2-for-8 performance, and was 2-for-3 on fourth down.
The Johnnies travel to face No. 11 St. Thomas for a 1:10 p.m. kickoff next Saturday, Sept. 27, at O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for visiting students. Tickets go on sale, at the stadium, at 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
Notes: Concordia has now defeated SJU in three consecutive seasons for the first time since 1958-60…SJU was without four starters due to injury: quarterback
Nick Martin (concussion), linebacker
Drake Matuska (knee), wide receiver
Rob Voshell (broken arm) and center
Tony Yost (knee)...the last time an SJU opponent recorded 11 or more third-down conversions, 85 offensive plays or more, or 40-plus minutes of possession, in either of the three stats, was Bethel in its 28-13 win over SJU on Nov. 11, 2006 (96 plays, 11-for-24 on third down, 41:40 of possession)…the Johnnies have now lost each of their last four quarterback debuts/first starts, all of which occurred at home: Benson,
Nick Martin (Sept. 29, 2012 vs. St. Olaf),
Ben Krebsbach (Oct. 8, 2011 vs. Bethel) and
Connor Bruns (Sept. 10, 2011 vs. Wisconsin-Eau Claire)…the four-game skid ended a streak of five consecutive wins: John Ries (Nov. 7, 2009 vs. Augsburg at the Metrodome), Joe Boyle (Sept. 27, 2008 vs. Gustavus), Jordan Hansel (Sept. 6, 2008 vs. East Texas Baptist), Michael Crees (Sept. 30, 2006 vs. Carleton) and Alex Kofoed (Sept. 11, 2004 vs. Northwestern)…Benson's 25 pass attempts are the most by an SJU quarterback, in his collegiate debut, since R.J. Welsh on Nov. 8, 2002 (18 of 29 for 242 yards in the 31-26 win over Bethel in the Metrodome).
