Homecoming football game against Dordt ends in a Bulldog loss, 33-22
Senior DJ McGarvie making a touchdown at the Bulldog Stadium.
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh
By Maddy Peters, sports editor
The Concordia football team lost to the No. 9 Dordt University Defenders 33-22 Saturday afternoon for their homecoming game.
The Bulldogs faced the second -ranked team of the season with some growth since the 51-21 loss to Morningside University, but now has to grapple with the likes of No. 2 Northwestern College in the back half of the season.
The Concordia defense struggled to fully hold back Dordt’s marching offense. Though the Defenders only had three touchdowns, they were able to get in range for four field goals. Coach Patrick Daberkow worked this into the defensive strategy for the week to put a lid on Dordt’s ability to move down the field.
“Stop the run and limit explosive plays,” said Daberkow, “I loved the game plan, I felt like we were in position, we just need to make plays on third down and we need to just get back to the drawing board and keep working hard.”
The first big play for the Bulldogs came when junior Daylon Henson forced a fumble from Dordt’s rushing quarterback Kolson Kruse that was recovered by senior Nick Leader narrowly avoiding a second Defender touchdown in the first quarter. However, Concordia was unable to capitalize on that opportunity and punted the ball back.
Concordia would not get on the board until late in the second quarter when senior quarterback DJ McGarvie on a fourth and three ran a wide-open path for a 48-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, Dordt continued to rack up points here and there to extend their lead with two more touchdowns and a field goal before Concordia could score again. McGarvie had a pass intercepted leading to a field goal.
Dordt’s Kruse also had an interception thrown straight to junior Grant Huss, but the drive would be cut short by a forced fumble from senior Mark Arp. Dordt then took the ball down 94 yards for a touchdown.
Concordia finally responded to Dordt’s scores with a 74-yard touchdown pass from McGarvie to senior wide receiver Austin Jablonski. He had 104 receiving yards for the day and became the fifth player in program history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards. He is now fourth overall with 2,083 yards.
In the last few minutes of the game, Concordia would make its last touchdown of the day with a 14-yard pass to senior Daylan Russell. The tight end has become a popular receiver for McGarvie this year. He has taken in five touchdown passes this year for 107 total yards this season. Sophomore Adam Van Cleave caught a pass from McGarvie on the two-point conversion.
McGarvie ended the game with 222 passing yards with a 21-37 reception rate. He also had 67 rushing yards for the day and finished strikingly close to Arp’s 87 rushing yards.
On the defensive side, Henson finished with the most tackles with nine solos and two assists for 11 total. Leader had 10 total for seven solo and three assists.
Daberkow saw improvement from their previous ranked opponent and has confidence that their next game will be one to watch.
“I was proud of the way the guys fought,” said Daberkow, “I love our group, we got a really good leadership, good nucleus, and we’ll bounce back and I’m confident about that.”
With a trip to Orange City up next on the docket, Daberkow and the football team will put their playoff dreams on the line.
“[It’s] still very much alive,” said Daberkow, “There will be a two-loss GPAC team in the playoffs, so it doesn’t help us, obviously, but it doesn’t eliminate us either.”
The team is now 3-2 overall and in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. Kickoff for their next game is 1 p.m. on Oct. 5.
