LINKS:
· Stark featured on Sept. 2 edition of GPAC Unpacked
· Stark: @NAIAFBALL Offensive Player of the Week
· Stark: GPAC Offensive Player of the Week
Quietly confident, quarterback Gideon Stark let his right arm do the talking in the 2026 season opener for Concordia University, Nebraska Football. Stark shredded Waldorf’s secondary to the tune of 24-of-38 passing for 388 yards and a school record-shattering eight touchdown throws. The gaudy statistics were achieved in roughly two-and-a-half quarters underneath the lights on a muggy night inside Bulldog Stadium.
Afterwords, Gideon met his family – a Bulldog family – and posed for typical postgame photographs. He tried to be coy about it, but Gideon knew some attention was coming his way. Just moments earlier, the postgame locker room erupted when Head Coach Patrick Daberkow mentioned his eight touchdown passes.
As Stark stated nonchalantly in the immediate aftermath, “I mean, it just kind of happened. The guys around me were doing good things, and they went up and got the ball. It was just a fun time out there.”
In the previous 99 seasons of Concordia Football, no quarterback had ever lit up the scoreboard in such a way. The 77 team points scored in the throttling of Waldorf represented a program record, and the Bulldogs’ 681 total yards were the most for a Concordia squad going back to at least the start of the GPAC era (2000). The performance called to mind eye-popping performances of the past. The 2026 Bulldogs brushed aside a single game scoring record that had stood since the days of the program’s first head coach, Walter Hellwege (1925-40).
That’s right, the Concordia Teachers College teams of 1935 and 1936 both racked up 67 points in a single outing. The ’35 squad blanked Nebraska Central, 67-0, and the ’36 team shut out Luther Junior College, 67-0. The 2024 team came close to that mark in a 63-13 demolition of Briar Cliff. The ’24 Bulldogs still own the school record for points per game average (38.5).
In the ’24 matchup with Briar Cliff, DJ McGarvie (quarterback from 2021-24) equaled a then school single game record by firing five touchdown passes. Back in 1988, Phil Seevers hit that same total in a shootout with Doane (which resulted in a 42-41 Doane win). The dual threat Seevers (a Concordia Athletics Hall of Famer) also rushed for four touchdowns in a 1987 dismantling of Pillsbury Baptist, 56-0. For those wondering, the school record for rushing touchdowns in one game was five by Jonah Weyand in a wild win over Hastings in 2020.
But the spotlight shines on Stark in the present. On Monday, Stark was named the GPAC Offensive Player of the Week before earning recognition as the National Offensive Player of the Week from @NAIAFBALL. Then on Thursday, KCAU TV featured Stark as part of its new show, GPAC Unpacked, which includes insights from GPAC Commissioner Corey Westra.
Stark handled the interview with humility while discussing how Concordia is focusing inward during its bye week. Stark is okay letting someone else trumpet his achievements, like star pass catcher Jonny Puelz. The Lincoln Lutheran High School alum happened to be on the receiving end of four of Stark’s eight touchdown passes. Yes, that was also a new school record.
Puelz grinned widely during his postgame remarks. At the same time, he wore a Walt Disney t-shirt (to be fair, Puelz did not necessarily expect to be interviewed on camera). It was the “full Jonny Puelz experience,” as Daberkow joked in a social media reply on X (formerly Twitter).
Said Puelz, “It was great. We came into the locker room, and a lot of people got their first touches on the field. We had a freshman get his first touchdown on his very first play. Then Dabs told everyone that Gideon had eight touchdowns, and everybody just erupted.”
Added Puelz, “Tonight was just my night that he found me. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
The 6-foot-7 Stark is seeing the field better than ever. In scorching Waldorf, Stark whirled touchdown tosses (in order) that covered six yards to Puelz, 25 yards to Carter Skleba, four yards to Collin Fritton, 33 yards to Dustin Kapke, four yards to Puelz, 22 yards to Adam Van Cleave and then five yards – and five again – to Puelz. After the final strike, Stark gave way to Camden Jensen with the game well in hand.
The competition will stiffen as the Bulldogs continue their GPAC schedule. The hope for Stark is that he can cut down on the interceptions and increase the completion rate. In 20 career collegiate games, Stark has completed 231-of-433 (.533) passes for 2,964 yards and 30 touchdowns to go against 12 interceptions. He’s nearing the top five on the program’s all-time lists in virtually every key passing category.
A graduate student now in his fifth year inside the program, Stark graduated in May with his degree in Business Administration. He waited his turn for three seasons as the backup to McGarvie. Stark is now capitalizing on his chance to lead Concordia to new heights (at least that’s the plan).
As Daberkow wrote on X, “Gideon Stark: THREE-year backup, could have transferred and been QB1 somewhere else. But he trusted the process, kept a commitment, valued his friendships, got better every year and grew into who he is today over the course of multiple seasons. Couldn’t be more proud!”
So, what’s next, Gideon?
Said Stark, “We want to take a little rest and heal up after this game, and then just keep pounding the ball. We want to run the ball, and then we want to spread the ball out to the receivers, too. They're all so good, so I mean, just keep on working.”
Program single-game touchdown records
Passing TDs
8 – Gideon Stark vs. Waldorf, 2026
5 – DJ McGarvie vs. Briar Cliff, 2024
5 – Phil Seevers vs. Doane, 1988
Rushing TDs
5 – Jonah Weyand vs. Hastings, 2020
4 – Ryan Durdon vs. Midland, 2017
4 – JaMaine Lewis vs. Dakota Wesleyan, 2007
4 – Phil Seevers vs. Pillbury, 1987
Receiving TDs
4 – Jonny Puelz vs. Waldorf, 2026
3 – Accomplished by Jonny Puelz (2025), Korrell Koehlmoos (2022), Jared Garcia (2014, 2016), Clarence Woods (1988) and Marlin Zobel (1951).
View the complete Concordia Football record book HERE.