Concordia football upsets national standings with Northwestern win, 29-17

Senior offensive line Blake Schlegel (74, middle) tries to assist a teammate in keeping the ball.

Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

The Concordia football team upset the national standings with a 29-17 win over the No. 2 Northwestern College Red Raiders at their homecoming game in Orange City, Iowa on Saturday.

This crucial win on the road was thanks to the Concordia defense who was ruthlessly effective at stopping Northwestern and had key interceptions to put the Bulldog offense in a scoring position.

This is the first time Concordia has defeated Northwestern in football since a 43-37 win in 2002. It is also the first time Northwestern has lost to a team other than Morningside University since 2016.

Northwestern took the first score of the game with an early touchdown in the first quarter. The Bulldog defense would then keep them stagnant until the fourth quarter.

Concordia’s first score came off an efficient drive including a 35-yard rush from senior running back Mark Arp and a 19-yard catch to senior wide receiver Austin Jablonski. Jablonski would haul in a nine-yard touchdown catch to even out the game.

The only offensive mistake of the game came on Concordia’s next drive when a handoff from senior quarterback DJ McGarvie to sophomore running back Carlos Collazo resulted in a fumble recovered by Northwestern. The Red Raiders almost inched ahead on the drive but missed a 39-yard field goal and gave the ball back.

Near the end of the half, Concordia snatched its first interception of the day when junior Jaden Seier picked a pass from Northwestern’s Hayden Groos and returned it 34 yards. Each of Concordia’s safeties would finish the day with at least one interception.

Concordia pulled ahead of Northwestern early in the third with a 26-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Peyton Atwood.

Junior Daylon Henson was the second safety to pick off a pass from Northwestern with a 10-yard return midway through the third quarter. This drive resulted in a one-yard touchdown rush from Arp to give the Bulldogs a decent lead.

The Red Raiders finally managed to threaten the Bulldogs’ lead in the fourth quarter when Northwestern’s Austyn Gerard would haul in a breakaway 67-yard pass for a touchdown putting the game within three points once again.

Concordia responded with an interception for a 20-yard by sophomore Luke Penrod. McGarvie would finish the drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Adam Van Cleave. Atwood’s kick, however, was no good.

The lead was put in jeopardy again when Northwestern’s kicker Eli Stader booted a 55-yard field goal to put the game within one touchdown. Henson quelled Concordia’s fears with his second interception of the day for a 35-yard return to set up the offense for a redzone opportunity. Jablonski rushed for six, took a pass for 11 and Arp dove in for a yard to the endzone and the win. With 1:13 on the clock, Northwestern was unable to close the deficit.

Concordia’s defense had 10 three-and-outs including the one failed field goal attempt. Junior Carson Fehlhafer was a key player on the d-line with three sacks on the day for a total of 13 yards for loss. Senior Nick Leader was also a big figure with nine total tackles, eight solo and one assist. Fehlhafer and Leader would each break up a pass as well. Junior Grant Huss also had a fantastic day with seven total tackles, six solo and one assists including a sack for a loss of eight yards.

On the offense, McGarvie had a 17-27 reception rate for a total of 173 yards. Jablonski was the top receiver with 106 yards on seven receptions. His longest was a 45-yard pass early in the third quarter. Arp was the top rusher for the day with 85 yards on 27 attempts. Collazo put up 48 yards in 10 attempts.

The Concordia defense had the game of the season so far against Northwestern. Coach Patrick Daberkow knew that every person was playing as hard as they possibly could to make this result possible.

“It’s such a team effort,” said Daberkow in a radio interview with 104.9 Max Country, “The reason that we got the picks was because the d-line was just pressuring their quarterback before and so we were able to play more guys in coverage and then we made the picks when they were there to be made! We haven’t always done that, so just really encouraging to see that.”

With the team struggling against No. 12 Morningside University and No. 8 Dordt University earlier in the season, this result was a key moment for the Bulldogs who are aiming for their first playoff bid since 2001.

“Really encouraging to think about what we’ve been through this season,” said Daberkow, “To add a win against a No. 2 team on the road is a great playoff resume. Now we go into the bye week with some big things ahead of us and we’re really excited.”

Concordia is now 4-2 overall and in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The team gets next weekend off before returning to action on Oct. 19 to face Doane University in Crete at 1 p.m.