SEWARD, Neb. – In kicking off the program’s 100th season, Concordia University, Nebraska Football walloped Waldorf with an unrelenting aerial assault. Fifth-year quarterback Gideon Stark uncorked a school record eight touchdown passes with five different receivers finding the end zone. Jonny Puelz hauled in four scoring grabs, including a one-handed doozy in the first half. It all added up to a 77-7 annihilation on a steamy Saturday (Aug. 29) evening from Bulldog Stadium.
Tenth-year Head Coach Patrick Daberkow’s program has its sights set on a building upon a 15-5 mark over the previous two seasons. The Bulldogs opened this season situated just outside the official NAIA top 25 poll.
“A lot of people will be tempted to look at the final score and just assume some things about the game, but we had no idea what we were going to face tonight. The whole theme of fall camp was: let’s just make sure we’re doing us at a high level. I thought we did that tonight. I was impressed with our focus. I don’t think we’ve had that in previous teams, and so to have that focus was really good. I was impressed with that.”
Concordia knew it had to replace some hog mollies up front, but it had little doubt about its skill talent on the offensive side. The 6-foot-7 Magnolia, Texas, native Stark had a field day, whirling 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 – and five again – yards to Puelz.
The Lincoln Lutheran alum Puelz has been a favored red zone target of Puelz, who paced the team with nine touchdown grabs last season. In Saturday’s season opener, Stark fed Puelz nine times for 105 yards. Stark also found the newcomer Fritton six times for 99 yards and connected with Van Cleave five times for 99 yards. Stark wound up 24-of-38 for 388 yards.
The postgame locker room erupted when Daberkow mentioned Stark’s eight touchdown tosses. Said Daberkow, “Gideon is playing at a really high level of football right now. He’s just making really good decisions. He threw a ball to Collin tonight that had touch on it. When Gideon was a sophomore, he’d throw 98-mile-per-hour fastballs at everything. He’s grown so much as a quarterback, understands the offense, and it’s just a joy to see him out there.”
The understated Stark will take the attention in stride. As he said after the game, “Yeah, 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.”
The gaudy offensive stats occurred with five new starters along the offensive line (from left to right): Thomas Thomas, Layne Bugarske, Joshua Luehr, Carter Meier and Ethan Olston. Thomas stepped in at left tackle with all-conference veteran Derek Campbell sidelined. Stark stayed clean all night and the running game churned out 289 yards on 47 attempts. In making a hasty return from last year’s ACL tear, Carlos Collazo rushed 19 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
For good measure, Aspen, Colo., native Dylan Mika sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown on his first career collegiate carry. He eclipsed the century mark (112) on only six attempts. Off the bench, quarterback Camden Jensen carried the ball five times for 34 yards and Derek Line racked up 38 yards on six totes.
While the offense scored at will, the defense put together a dominant night of its own. Coordinator Corby Osten’s unit stuffed the Warriors, limiting them to 126 total yards. It took until midway through the fourth quarter before Waldorf finally cracked the scoreboard. The Bulldogs flattened Warrior quarterbacks to the tune of six sacks, including two apiece from Deegan Barnes and Mack Kennedy. Barnes recorded four of the team’s 16 tackles for loss. In the secondary, Kaden Thompson plucked a pair of interceptions.
For Waldorf, the search continues for its first conference win since becoming a GPAC member. The Warriors have a new head coach in David Calloway. Their lone score on Saturday came via an 18-yard touchdown strike from Elijah Martinez to Derrick Taylor.
The 77 points scored by the Bulldogs marked a program record for a single game. The previous high, on record, was 67 points in a 67-0 blanking of Luther Junior College in 1936. Additionally, Concordia’s 681 total yards are the most for the program during the GPAC era. The previous best was 670 in 2024 at Doane. Individually, Stark obliterated the former school record of four touchdown passes in a single game, most recently achieved by DJ McGarvie. According to available data, Puelz is the first Bulldog receiver to ever make four touchdown receptions in a single contest.
Jonny was on the spot on Saturday night. Remarked Puelz, “Tonight was just my night that he threw me the ball. We connected a lot, but I think just our chemistry this year is fantastic throughout our entire offense and defense. We’ve been grinding through all of fall camp for the past three weeks, and just running the plays over and over again really helped us build chemistry with everybody. Again, like I said, tonight was just my night that he found me. I was right place, right time.”
This weekend is officially week zero in the NAIA. Concordia will have a bye during week one (Sept. 5) while looking ahead to a road trip to Hastings on Sept. 12. The next time the Bulldogs appear on the home turf, it will be homecoming Saturday (Sept. 19) versus Mount Marty.