SEWARD, Neb. – It wasn’t for the faint of heart. Not until Rugby Ryken’s fourth-down pass hit the turf in the final seconds could Bulldog Stadium let out a collective sigh of relief – and then a roar of jubilation. For the first time since the 2013 season, Concordia University, Nebraska Football stands at 6-2. Both sides surpassed 400 total yards in what amounted to a 31-27 hair-raising Bulldog win over visiting Mount Marty on Saturday (Oct. 26) afternoon. Ultimately, Coach Courtney Meyer signaled victory with a ringing of the bell.
Each of the Bulldogs’ first five wins this season came by margins of 12 points or more. However, this one was a nail-biter all the way through. Head Coach Patrick Daberkow joked later that the tension was nearly enough to make his wife Emly ill.
“I’m just grateful to get out of there with a win,” Daberkow said. “We have to make sure that we always keep an even keel. I thought we dealt with a lot of stuff today. We put ourselves in some situations that weren’t ideal with turnovers and not being able to get off the field. At the end of the day, that was a very good football team. Hats off to Mount Marty for doing a great job. That’s a tough team to beat. They took Dordt down to the wire. There are no easy wins in this conference. That was demonstrated today.”
Concordia found a way to get the win it had to have to keep its NAIA playoff hopes alive while overcoming a pair of fumbles lost and a massive disadvantage in time of possession (37:24 to 22:36). The second half turned into a low possession grinder after the Lancers opened it with a 14-play, 57-yard drive that chewed 9:24 off the clock and ended with a Jack Finder 35-yard field goal. Trailing 27-24 at the time, the Bulldogs responded with an 11-play, 68-yard touchdown drive on their only possession of the third quarter. The eight-yard scoring strike from DJ McGarvie to Max Bartels with 2:00 left in the third period capped the day’s scoring.
It was hold onto your seat from that point forward. The Lancers never punted in the second half (only three combined punts all day) but came up empty on their final three drives. The first resulted in a 34-yard field goal attempt blocked by Nick Leader, the next one ended on an interception by linebacker Grant Huss and the final one spanned 13 plays as Mount Marty marched to Concordia’s 16. Under heavy fire on fourth and 11, Ryken tossed up a prayer that fell incomplete. A holding penalty on that final series played a role in putting the Lancers behind the sticks.
Said Huss of that final defensive stand, “This is who we are as a team. We fight until the very end. These are the moments that our defense lives for. We have our offense’s back and vice-versa. As we say, we put the ball down and just play. We got it done.”
Both offenses averaged 6.0 or more yards per play in a game that was nothing if not entertaining. Early on, the Bulldogs appeared poised for another runaway victory. The game’s opening possession ended with Mark Arp finding the end zone from one yard out, completing a 17-play, 75-yard drive. By the end of the first quarter, Concordia had built a 14-3 lead after McGarvie found John Goodwin for a 14-yard touchdown connection.
The Lincoln North Star High School alum McGarvie keeps adding to his collection of school records. He broke another one on Saturday by running his season touchdown pass total to 22 (one better than the previous record held by Von Thomas). McGarvie delivered a 50-yard touchdown strike to Adam Van Cleave in the middle of the second quarter and finished his day by going 26-of-35 for 244 yards and three scores.
Afterwards, McGarvie was much more excited to talk about the win than his own personal accomplishments. Said the fourth-year starter, “It’s easy throwing to those wide receivers with a great o-line. I just have to get the ball in the air and one of them will come down with it. I love those guys.” Added McGarvie of winning on a day that included a celebration of Coach Meyer, “We have so much respect for him. He’s put in so many years for this program. We do everything for him this year.”
Another player enjoying a big offensive season, Arp ran for 183 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries and became the seventh player in program history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards for a season (now at 1,040). As part of another strong day offensively, Van Cleave made nine receptions for 82 yards while Austin Jablonski hauled in six passes for 41 yards. Seven different Bulldogs caught at least one pass, including tight end Daylan Russell, who made a key 25-yard snag to convert a fourth down.
On the other side, Mount Marty (4-4, 3-4 GPAC) got 245 passing yards and three touchdowns from Ryken. Running back Kyle Hirsch carried the ball 25 times for 139 yards against a normally stout Concordia rush defense. Three different Lancers each caught a touchdown pass. Now in its fourth year of football, Mount Marty has already set a new school standard for wins in a season.
Mount Marty managed to stay on the field offensively despite another big effort from Kyle Sterup, who notched 10 tackles, including four for loss, heading the Bulldog defense. Devon Polley also recorded eight tackles (two in the backfield) and was credited with three quarterback hurries. In the secondary, Daylon Henson plucked his fifth interception of the season and Luke Penrod broke up two passes. In addition, Huss chipped in with seven tackles and Carson Fehlhafer had six.
Said Daberkow, “We finally figured out how to get to the quarterback. I thought it was a really good job continuing to battle through. It was just a weird game. We dealt with a lot of interesting situations with penalties. There was just some funky stuff that happened today. We had to stay the course and keep and even keel. I was proud of our guys for doing that.”
Next Saturday (Nov. 2) will mark Concordia’s home regular season finale. The Bulldogs will honor their senior class while welcoming Hastings (2-7, 2-6 GPAC) to town for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff in Seward. In this week’s action, the Broncos were blown at home, 40-3, by Doane. Concordia won last season’s meeting by a 44-23 score in Hastings.