Concordia University 21, Briar Cliff University 10 (view stats)
Concordia University earned its first win of the 2009 season with a 21-10 victory over the Briar Cliff University on Saturday afternoon in Sioux City. It was also the first win for Concordia under new head coach Vance Winter. With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 1-2 on the season. Briar Cliff dropped to 1-3 on the year with the loss.
Concordia opened the scoring late in the first quarter. The Bulldogs marched 45 yards in six plays and took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kyle Schmidt. Briar Cliff answered on the next drive. The Chargers used just four plays to move 72 yards and tied the game at 7-7 on a 4-yard touchdown run by Andre Prohaska. BCU took its first lead of the game on a 20-yard field goal by Josh McKean with six minutes remaining in the first half. The Chargers took the 10-7 lead into halftime.
After a quiet third quarter, Concordia jumped back on top with 14:31 remaining in the game. Concordia needed just four plays to go 79 yards, and Schmidt found Nate Sindt on a 20-yard touchdown pass to culminate the drive for the Bulldogs. With just under six minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs put the game out of reach when Akeem Christian scored on a 2-yard touchdown run for the final score of 21-10.
Briar Cliff outgained Concordia 363-293 on the day, but the Concordia defense held the Chargers to just 1-of-16 on third down conversions and 2-of-6 on fourth down conversions in the game. The Bulldogs totaled 207 yards through the air and just 86 yards on the ground. Briar Cliff threw for 236 yards and added 127 yards on the ground.
Kyle Schmidt completed 11-of-19 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown to lead the way offensively for Concordia. Darius Smith carried the ball 13 times for 50 yards, and Daniel Uden had two catches for 71 yards. Preston Harris had six solo tackles, and Ben Klein added five solo stops to lead the Bulldogs defensively.
Ryan Hajek completed 15-of-35 passes for 202 yards for Briar Cliff. Andre Prohaska had 13 carries for 79 yards and a touchdown, and he also caught eight passes for 60 yards for the Chargers. Luke Roder added five catches for 61 yards, and Chase Colvin had two receptions for 85 yards for Briar Cliff.
Concordia will host No. 1 Sioux Falls next Saturday. The game is set for 1 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium.