SEWARD, Neb. – Given the current circumstances, the 2020 meeting between Concordia and Doane figures to have a lot of eyeballs focused upon it. Only two other college football games will be played inside the state of Nebraska on Saturday: Dordt at Midland and Dakota Wesleyan at Hastings. Concordia-Doane will have the spotlight to itself when the ball is kicked off at 6 p.m. CT in Crete. It will be the 65th all-time meeting between the two rivals.
Check out our game notes for further details, including how to follow the action live.
Media coverage
1011 TV: Hard-nosed Napier takes pride on football field
KLKN-TV: Concordia football opens 2020 season against rival Doane
KLKN-TV: Doane set to battle rival Concordia on Saturday to open season
News Channel Nebraska: Doane picking up speed for 2020 football season
104.9 Max Country: Patrick Daberkow weekly interview
Quotable
Cayden Beran, Concordia WR: It’s always nice to look on the schedule and see Doane as your first game. You’re tired of hitting your own guys after a while.
Patrick Daberkow, Concordia Head Coach: We haven’t had a game week in a long time. It’s good to get back with it. We’ll be improved. We’ve had a really young team the last two years so to have a little more experience back is going to be good.
The football has been very normal. Outside of the football, there’s a lot of other things in place. We’re doing everything we can to stay safe and hold our players accountable for the protocols. With that carrot (of playing a season) at the end of the stick, there’s not much that they won’t do.
Brady Fitzke, Concordia TE: I don’t have a worry about either quarterback. One is more like a Mack truck and the other is like a Ferrari. They’re different quarterbacks, but they both get the job done.
Lane Napier, Concordia LB: Coming here, I didn’t think that it was going to go the way it’s went for me. Everything’s went my way, went towards me. Obviously, it’s putting in the work too.
Chris Bessler, Doane Head Coach: We have good speed. I think we’re a fairly physical team on the defensive side.
(When describing recent meetings): Tight games. Physical games. Both teams usually play pretty good defense and want to run the ball. There’s been really good contests, close contests since I’ve been back.
Wyatt Bodfield, Doane DB: We got a great secondary coming back, we’ve got a lot of talent on the defensive line, we’ve got some young guys coming in at linebacker and they all look great.
Izaiah Celestine, Doane WR: People should watch out for the Doane offense because we’re coming a lot faster than we did last year. (There’s) a lot of on-the-ball this year, not really going into the huddle as much. (We’re going to keep) the defenses guessing.
Sam Vanderslice, Doane OL: I want to beat these dudes in … We’ve always kind of hated each other.