| Collin Fritton made a house call on the opening kickoff! The return for a TD covered 90 yards. pic.twitter.com/crxpaFmK2p
— Concordia Bulldogs (@cunebulldogs) September 19, 2026
SEWARD, Neb. – On an overcast homecoming Saturday (Sept. 19), Concordia University, Nebraska Football started fast, capitalized on Mount Marty miscues and emerged victorious, 42-24. The Bulldogs put the contest on ice with a fourth-quarter drive that covered 90 yards on 10 plays and featured bruising running back Carlos Collazo. Defensively, five different Concordia players plucked an interception apiece in front of a full stadium in Seward.
Head Coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad effectively brushed aside last week’s loss at Hastings and moved to 2-1 overall. The result allowed the Bulldogs to celebrate homecoming by ringing the bell prior to the traditional postgame singing of The Doxology.
“That was maybe the most thorough team win I've had in my tenure as head coach,” Daberkow said. “Starting the game with a special teams touchdown, then playing ball control with our offense and having our defense force six turnovers — we needed everything that we had today. The score doesn't look as close as that game felt. Mount Marty has a really good team. I'm just super happy for our guys. They get to celebrate a homecoming victory.”
It took only 46 seconds for Concordia to build a 14-0 lead on Saturday. Lincoln Southwest High School product Collin Fritton took the opening kickoff and raced 90 yards for a touchdown. Then on the Lancer’s first play from scrimmage, quarterback Rugby Ryken was picked off by Tanner Frahm, who carried the ball 20 yards to the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Collazo found the end zone.
The Bulldogs led by a margin as large as three touchdowns at scores of 28-7 and 35-14. Behind a productive passing game, Mount Marty kept putting itself in position to score. The Lancers clawed back within 35-24 in the third quarter after a 22-yard Camden Vance field goal. However, Mount Marty was doomed by its six turnovers and three empty red zone trips.
The word “opportunistic” aptly described the Concordia defense. In the final quarter, the Lancers reached the Bulldog 5-, 14- and 11-yard lines only to be intercepted by Kaden Thompson, Luke Penrod and Kaleb Hilker, respectively. Linebacker Drake Trent also added a second-half pick with Mount Marty in its own territory. The turnovers helped negate 386 passing yards and 32 first downs gained by the Lancer offense.
When it mattered most, Trent and his teammates rose to the occasion. Said Trent, “A lot of props to our D-line. Those guys were just bad dudes out there. Nobody could stop them. Every play, they were just ready to go. They got a lot of push and just made everything easier for everyone else.”
Following the Penrod pick, the Bulldogs dropped the hammer with the run game. On Concordia’s final scoring drive of the afternoon, it turned to Collazo for rushes of four, six, 20, 17, three, five, five and nine yards. The final carry resulted in Collazo’s second touchdown of the day. He finished with 28 carries for 176 yards against the same opponent he broke the school single game rushing record against last fall.
Last week at Hastings, the Bulldogs abandoned the run after falling far behind. This time around, Collazo and the offensive line did the trick as Concordia averaged 5.7 yards per rush. Collazo expects to be sore on Sunday after what he described as a physical contest.
Said Collazo, “It all started with practice on Tuesday. Tuesday through Thursday, it was a very physical practice. We got a lot of live looks. The scout team was physical, and they did a great job. It was probably our best week of practice yet. I'm sure you could ask anyone on the team, and they would agree with that.”
Quarterback Gideon Stark (148 passing yards and three total touchdowns) even found the end zone twice while using his legs. Stark’s one touchdown toss on Saturday came in the second quarter when he lasered a pass to Dustin Kapke from nine yards out. That score made it 21-7 in favor of the Bulldogs and immediately followed a muffed punt that was recovered by Penrod. Concordia scored touchdowns on all five of its red zone appearances.
The Bulldogs rattled off another gaudy point total while working through injuries. Star receiver Adam Van Cleave missed the entire game and Fritton was sidelined soon after the kickoff return for a touchdown. In their absence, Jonny Puelz topped the receiver group with four catches for 53 yards. Meanwhile, Jack Wesolowski made a pair of grabs for 49 yards.
Afterwards, Daberkow commended the players who stepped in for injured teammates. Said Daberkow, “We had a rash of injuries at positions where we were already thin, so we had guys step up and get their first playing time ever today. Some of them were freshmen in key moments and pivotal moments in the game. I was just super impressed.
“I think Jet Farwell deserves as much credit as anyone. I want to highlight him because he came out with an injury that I don't think anybody finishes the game with. He got adjusted at halftime, came back and made some major plays in the second half to help seal that victory.”
Trent paced the Concordia defense with 10 tackles to go along with 2.5 tackles for loss and an interception. Farwell finished with nine tackles and three pass breakups. Up front, AJ Frazey was disruptive with 1.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries. Late in the game, Thompson stepped in front of another Ryken pass for his fourth interception already this season.
Ryken wound up going 27-for-54 for 386 yards and five interceptions. Ryken scored two of his side’s three touchdowns on the ground. Lancer running back Jordan Anderson piled up 123 rushing yards on 22 attempts and scored a touchdown. Mount Marty (2-2, 1-2 GPAC) possessed the ball for 39:33. The Lancers still have yet to defeat Concordia since starting their program in 2021.
The Bulldogs will be right back inside Bulldog Stadium next Saturday to host 11th-ranked Dordt (1-2, 1-1 GPAC) for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff. The Defenders have had Concordia’s number, winning each of the past eight series matchups. In Saturday’s action, Dordt fell by a 35-21 score to Morningside in a battle of teams that shared the 2025 GPAC regular season title.