Concordia football experiences first loss of the year against Morningside, 51-21

Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh

By Maddy Peters, Sports Editor

The Concordia football team fell to the No. 10 Morningside University Mustangs 51-21 under the lights in Seward on Saturday night.

The match-up was a hard wake-up call for the Bulldogs following a 45-7 rout against Waldorf University the previous week. The passing onslaught from Morningside was difficult for the defense to deflect and the offense to match.

Coach Patrick Daberkow was confident going into the game that the team could compete with one of the best teams in the nation.

“We wanted to take shots and just operate the offense like we normally do. We feel like we have the talent to compete with everybody, so we just want to play our game and do our thing and I felt like we just fell short a little bit on that front tonight,” said Daberkow.

Morningside took an early lead with a touchdown pass on their first drive and immediately caught an interception to take the game to 14-0 in the first five minutes of the game. Senior quarterback DJ McGarvie had three interceptions during the game, two of which including the play previously mentioned were pick sixes.

The Bulldogs were able to respond a little after midway through the quarter with a 24-yard pass to senior receiver Austin Jablonski to put Concordia on the board.

Concordia’s score would stay stagnant for the rest of the half as Morningside racked up points. The score at half ended at 38-6 with quarterback Zack Chevalier racking up 339 passing yards. McGarvie had only 123.

The defensive issues continued into the third quarter with Morningside scoring on their first drive of the second half off a 45-yard pass to Ryan Cole. However, it would not be until the late fourth quarter that the Mustangs would score again.

Jablonski scored the second touchdown for the day off a six-yard throw from McGarvie midway through the third quarter to put the score back in contention.

Sophomore Carlos Collazo brought the ball in next for the Bulldogs with a nine-yard rush to the endzone. Concordia opted for the 2-point conversion and scored with a pass from McGarvie to senior Mark Arp.

Offensive struggles stopped the teams from moving their way down the field and getting in scoring range. Chevalier was restricted to 142 passing yards in the second half. McGarvie also had his second pick 6 of the game in the last five minutes that sealed the game for Morningside.

The rough first half was unexpected for the team, but the second half rally was a show of grit for the Bulldog team.

“It didn’t go well, but I think that you saw our guys still fight even when the chips were down and it looked like for a minute we were going to get back into that thing. But it just didn’t happen, so we’ll continue to fight as the season progresses,” said Daberkow.

McGarvie’s 151 passing yards for the day was enough for him to hit 7,000 career passing yards—the first in school history. He had an 18-44, or 41 percent, completion rate for the day. His top receiver was Jablonski with nine catches for 78 yards.

Daberkow was unable to give an answer to McGarvie and the receiver issues, but was frustrated with the fact that the team was unable to make key catches.

“I haven’t watched the film yet, so it’s hard to go—you know, get too in-depth in that [passing]. I wish I had an—we didn’t complete them,” said Daberkow.

As for rushing, Arp was the top rusher with 78 yards overall yards with Collazo hitting 41 yards for the day.

On the defensive side, sophomore Will Potratz and senior Michael Grindey each finished the day with 13 tackles. Potratz had six solos and seven assists while Grindey had four solos, nine assists and a sack. Junior Daylan Henson snagged an interception in the first quarter.

Looking ahead, the team next faces Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D. on Sept. 14. Daberkow looks forward to the new week and putting the team back on track.

“[We’re] turning the page and being able to get back to playing football the way we know how to play it and I’m excited for an opportunity to go compete,” said Daberkow.

The team is now 1-1 both overall and in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The game against Dakota Wesleyan is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.