Bulldog Weekly Report (Dec. 18)

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week will return after the Christmas break when Bulldog Athletic Association Member luncheons resume.

Previous Athletes of the Week
Dec. 11 – Deandre Chery (wrestling) / Philly Lammers (basketball)
Dec. 4 – Tanner Shuck (basketball) / Taylor Grove (track & field)
NOVEMBER Athletes of the month: Alberto Garcia (wrestling) / Quinn Wragge (basketball)
Nov. 27 – Alberto Garcia (wrestling) / Taylor Grove (cross country) / Quinn Wragge (basketball)
Nov. 13 – Zac Walter (football) / Grace Barry (basketball)
Nov. 6 – Jack Bennett (soccer) / Tori Cera (soccer)
OCTOBER Athletes of the Month: Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
Oct. 30 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Taylor Cockerill (basketball)
Oct. 23 – Josiah McAllister (cross country) / Jenna Habegger (volleyball)
Oct. 16 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
Oct. 9 – Kordell Glause (football) / Brynn Suddeth (soccer)
Oct. 2 – Zac Walter (football) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
SEPTEMBER Athletes of the Month: Ryan Durdon (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 25 – Roger de la Villa (soccer) / Erin Lokke (shooting sports)
Sept. 18 – Lane Napier (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 11 – Ryan Durdon (football) / Marissa Hoerman (volleyball)
Sept. 4 – JP Verissimo (soccer) / Lauren Martin (soccer)
Aug. 28 – Garrett Perry (soccer) / Jenna Habegger (volleyball)

News and notes:

Napier named to two separate All-America teams: A pair of All-America honors came in last week for sophomore linebacker Lane Napier. The 2018 NAIA national leader in tackles picked up NAIA first team All-America accolades from the Associated Press. He was named an honorable mention All-American by the official release out of the NAIA national office. For more on the season the David City, Neb., native put together this past fall, click HERE.

‘Amazing Grace’ perfect fit as point guard for 12-1 women’s basketball team: In her first season since transferring from NCAA Division II University of Nebraska-Kearney, Grace Barry has proven to be a perfect fit for the Concordia women’s basketball team. She led Lincoln East High School to a 2016 Class A state title and now has hopes of leading the Bulldogs to more championships. For more on Barry’s background and how she landed at Concordia, click HERE.

Concordia student-athletes rack up 43 NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors for fall 2018: The final Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes of the fall of 2018 were announced last week. The football program landed 11 team members on the list of honorees to bring Concordia’s fall NAIA Scholar-Athlete count to 43. A leader among NAIA institutions both athletically and academically, Concordia was recently named the 17th best college for student-athletes.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its fourth year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT on KTMX-FM 104.9 Max Country. The weekly feature can also be heard live via 104.9 Max Country’s website or by downloading the Max Country app. Throughout the 2018-19 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country. Tyler Cavalli serves as the host of the coaches’ show as well as the play-by-play voice for football and basketball. Frank Greene is in his fourth season calling Concordia volleyball.

Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting http://www.cune.edu/csn at game time. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.

Women’s Basketball

• A week after a 99-68 home drubbing of Mount Marty, the third-ranked Bulldogs notched their most impressive win to date. Concordia used a hot 3-point shooting effort to sink No. 1 Dakota Wesleyan, 82-68, inside the Corn Palace on Dec. 15. It marked the first meeting between the two programs since the Tigers stunned the Bulldogs, 82-59, in the 2018 NAIA Division II national championship game. Thirteenth-year head coach Drew Olson’s squad improved to 12-1 overall and to 8-1 in league play (three-way tie for first). For more information on Concordia women’s basketball, click HERE.
• The Bulldogs have now won three matchups in a row against opponents that carried No. 1 national rankings at the time of tipoff. The streak includes victories over No. 1 Dakota Wesleyan at home on Dec. 3, 2016 and at No. 1 Saint Xavier University (Ill.) on Dec. 29, 2017. In one of the program’s most significant contests against a top-ranked team, Concordia won at No. 1 Morningside on March 3, 2015, in the GPAC tournament championship game. Olson’s teams have played teams ranked No. 1 eight times since the start of the 2014-15 season.
• The home defeat to Morningside on Nov. 28 cost the Bulldogs the No. 1 ranking that it had held since the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll was announced on Oct. 23. In last week’s poll, Concordia came in behind Dakota Wesleyan and No. 2 Southeastern University (Fla.). While the Bulldogs dropped a couple of placements, they continue to live in the top five. Concordia has appeared inside the nation’s top five in every poll since Dec. 13, 2016. The Bulldogs finished 2016-17 at No. 3 and 2017-18 at No. 2.
• Concordia hit Dakota Wesleyan with its best 3-point shooting performance of the season. The Bulldogs went 14-for-33 from 3-point range while getting comfortable at the Corn Palace. The long balls helped Concordia dig out of what had been a 25-16 deficit early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs responded with a 17-2 run that included three treys from sophomore guard Taylor Cockerill. Suddenly Concordia held a 33-27 advantage. It did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way. The Bulldogs are now shooting 30.9 percent from 3-point range this season.
• Cockerill has become a star as a sophomore. On another team with fewer scoring options, the Waverly, Neb., native would likely have no problem netting more than 20 points per contest. She’s currently averaging a team best 15.4 points per game. She has reached double figures in all but two games this season with the highlight being her 40-point effort in the season opener. She is 7-for-9 from beyond the arc over the past two games.
• Senior Quinn Wragge is doing things few have done in program history. She hauled in five rebounds at Dakota Wesleyan and is now just the second player in school annals to record career totals of at least 1,500 points, 700 rebounds and 200 steals. The only other Bulldog to reach those plateaus is Lynda Beck, who played from 1988-92. On the school’s all-time lists, Wragge ranks seventh in rebounding (700), 10th in scoring (1,535) and 15th in steals (212).
• Steady point guard Grace Barry turned in a collegiate career single-game scoring high of 19 points in the win at Dakota Wesleyan. Her previous best as a Bulldog was 17 in the win at Midland on Nov. 6. Over two seasons at NCAA Division II University of Nebraska-Kearney, Barry had a single-game high of 14 points against Washburn University (Kan.) in February 2017. Always a capable scorer, Barry sports national rankings of first in steals per game (4.15) and second in assists per game (6.5).
• In a workmanlike performance, junior Philly Lammers turned in the 20th double-double of her collegiate career by putting up 10 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots at Dakota Wesleyan. The Omaha native shared the GPAC lead last season with 11 double-doubles. Not only is Lammers scoring at an impressive rate (14.2 points per game in 19.8 minutes per game on 61.4 percent shooting from the floor), she’s been on a tear on the defensive end. She has blocked 18 shots over the past five games and ranks 22nd nationally in blocks per game (1.62).
• The wait is on until Concordia returns to action at the Arizona Christian Holiday Classic set for Dec. 27-28. The Bulldogs will draw host Arizona Christian University on the opening day of the event before a showdown with second-ranked Southeastern on day two. Concordia has knocked off five nationally-ranked opponents to date. GPAC play will resume after New Year’s Day with a trip to 13th-ranked Dordt on Jan. 2.

Wrestling

• Members of the Bulldog wrestling team were rewarded this past week with a flight to the Phoenix area for the GPAC/Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Duals on Dec. 16. One of eight teams present at Chandler High School for the event, Concordia went 1-3 with a 49 to -1 win over Life Pacific College (Calif.). The losses all came to teams ranked in the top 20 of the NAIA poll: 24-12 to No. 20 Eastern Oregon University, 35-12 to No. 8 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Ariz.) and 26-15 to University of Providence (Mont.). First-year head coach Levi Calhoun’s squad is now 4-3 overall in duals. For more on Concordia wrestling, click HERE.
• The Bulldogs were joined by GPAC rivals Hastings, Midland and Morningside at the event in Chandler, Ariz. When the dust settled, the CCC won the challenge by taking 10 of 16 duals. Three of the CCC squads that competed place 26th or better at the 2018 NAIA national championships: Presentation – 9th, Eastern Oregon – 19th and Embry Riddle – 26th. Life Pacific’s wrestling program is in its first season of existence.
• Concordia won 19 of its 40 individual matches in Arizona. Broken down by individual, Alberto Garcia (133/141), Michael Stann (285) and Mario Ybarra (125) led the way with three victories apiece. Two wins each were claimed by Deandre Chery (174), Zack Moistner (133/141) and Josh Nelsen (184/197) and one win apiece was notched by Cam Devers (149), Chucky Hedrick (165), Tyler Jorgensen (184/197) and Jason Watkins (157).
• Stann continues to roll at the heavyweight position. He recorded his 12th and 13th pins of the season in addition to notching a victory over a foe ranked two spots above him nationally. As part of his 3-1 day, Stann suffered his only loss in a 12-5 decision to Providence’s fourth-ranked Mathew Hopkins. Prior to that defeat, he topped Life Pacific’s 17th-ranked Josh Nira, 4-2. Stann is now 23-6 overall this season. The native of Temecula, Calif., cracked the national rankings last week, checking in at No. 19.
• Ranked 10th nationally at 133, Garcia has the ability to earn All-America honors in his first season of competition as a Bulldog. In his first match of the day in Arizona, Garcia knocked off eighth-ranked Blake McNall of Eastern Oregon, 7-5. In his next bout, the Escondido, Calif., native got upset by Embry-Riddle’s Berit Sturgeon via a pin. Garcia rebounded with two dominant victories – by technical fall and pin – to close his day. He is now 7-2 overall this season.
• Ybarra has acquitted himself well in his rookie season on the collegiate scene. The Scottsbluff, Neb., native is making a bid for a spot in the national rankings. He knocked off 18th-ranked Josh Nira of Embry-Riddle, 5-0, following a 10-5 loss to No. 4 Mhar Caballa of Eastern Oregon. Ybarra then moved his season record to 17-5 with two more victories to close out his run at the GPAC/CCC Duals. It included his first career pin.
• The Bulldogs took care of business against Life Pacific, which is receiving votes nationally. In the blowout, Concordia triumphed in all seven contested matches – two by pin and another two by technical fall. One of the victories by technical fall was supplied by Moistner, who won both of his Arizona bouts at 133. Moistner and Garcia alternated at the 133 and 141 spots. Calhoun used 12 different wrestlers during the GPAC/CCC Duals.
• Concordia will now have a break to celebrate Christmas. The next event on the schedule is the Midland Open on Saturday, Dec. 29. The dual schedule will be against GPAC opponents exclusively from here on out. A crucial day of conference duals will take place on Jan. 26 when the Bulldogs will be one of the site hosts for GPAC duals.

Men’s Basketball

• After taking a week off from game action to focus on final exams, the Bulldogs returned to action on Dec. 15 and fell hard at No. 18 Dakota Wesleyan, 105-56. The host Tigers shot better than 60 percent in both halves while handing Concordia its most lopsided defeat in several years. The loss means the Bulldogs have now dropped five conference games in a row. Sixth-year head coach Ben Limback’s squad is now 7-7 overall and 1-7 in GPAC play. For more information on Concordia men’s basketball, click HERE.
• Since the 94-67 home win over Nebraska Christian College on Dec. 1, the Bulldogs have struggled mightily on the offensive end. Over its active three-game skid, Concordia has averaged 59.0 points and has turned in respective shooting percentages of 31.1, 39.7 and 40.7. As a result, the Bulldogs sport GPAC rankings of ninth in scoring offense (73.4) and 10th in field goal percentage offense (.450). The lack of firepower makes it a challenge in a conference that boasts four of the nation’s top 20 scoring teams.
• Opposing teams are making it a priority to contain Tanner Shuck, who has become Concordia’s primary scoring option this season after playing more of a complimentary role in his first two seasons in the program. Shuck followed up a stretch of hot shooting with a run of tough luck over the past three contests. During that time he is a combined 9-for-35 (.257) from the field and 5-for-25 (.200) from 3-point range. The shooting slump has slowed Shuck’s march towards 1,000 career points. He currently sits at 930 points over 75 career games.
• At times, freshman Carter Kent has stepped up to provide an offensive boost. He was one of the lone Bulldogs to enjoy some degree of offensive success at the Corn Palace. Kent topped the team with 15 points on 6-for-14 shooting in 31 minutes of action. The Crete High School product has started 13 of 14 games and is averaging 8.9 points per outing. The 15 points were one off the career high he set versus Morningside.
• Prior to last week’s blowout loss, Concordia had not allowed any of its first 13 opponents to shoot above 50 percent from the floor. It had also surrendered double-digit 3-point field goals only once all season. Dakota Wesleyan bucked those trends by shooting 63.5 percent (40-for-63) from the floor and by netting 18-of-33 attempts from beyond the arc. The main villain was Ty Hoglund, who poured in 29 points on 11-for-17 shooting.
• To this point in the season, Concordia has scored exactly the same number of points that it has allowed – 1,028. However, the difference between conference and nonconference play has been eye popping. In nonconference action, the Bulldogs have scored an average of 82.0 points and has allowed an average of 65.2. The respective averages against GPAC opponents are 67.0 and 79.6. Dakota Wesleyan was the first foe this season to score in triple digits.
• Outside of Kent, Shuck and point guard Brevin Sloup, six Bulldogs have fought for the rest of the rotation minutes during the first half of the 2018-19 season. Shuck and Sloup both average more than 30 minutes per game. Kent (25.9) and Chuol Biel (23.1) are the only other players who average more than 20 minutes per contest. In the post, Limback has mixed and matched with the likes of Biel, Zach Auguste, Ryan Holt and Tanner Wubbels. Biel put up 10 points at Dakota Wesleyan.
• Concordia is now in the midst of a significant break in the schedule. It will resume the season after Christmas with the Arizona Christian Holiday Classic coming up Dec. 28-29. The Bulldogs will play host Arizona Christian University on day one before taking on MacEwan University on day two. GPAC action will pick back up after New Year’s Day with a trip to Dordt on Jan. 2. Twelve league games remain on the schedule.