COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (9/20/14)—Concordia played its own brand of keep-away in rolling to their third straight win over St. John's. The Cobbers held the ball for over 40 minutes as they beat the Johnnies 23-14. The three-game win streak vs. SJU is the longest since the 1960 season.

Concordia senior quarterback Griffin Neal engineered a masterful performance against the St. John's defense all day long. Neal helped the Cobbers go 11-for-18 on third down situations. He also kept Concordia's offense on the field for 22:56 in the first half and 40:10 for the entire game. CC did not have to punt in the first half of play.

The 11 third-down conversions is the most by a Cobber team since the 2007 season while the 40:10 time of total possession is the most against an MIAC team since Nov. 14, 2009. It is only the second time in the past 30 years the Cobbers have held the ball for over 40 minutes against the Johnnies. The other 40-plus minute time of possession game came in 2004 when Concordia beat St. John's 21-20 in Collegeville.


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Despite the dominance in time of possession and total offensive yards, the Cobbers still found themselves with a slim two-point lead at 16-14 with 1:19 left in the third quarter. That's when Concordia offense came up with the drive of the game. CC went 72 yards in 15 plays and put up the game-clinching touchdown. More importantly, the drive chewed up 7:40 and gave the defense a much-needed rest.    

Neal had a hand in all three Cobber touchdowns on Saturday. He ran for a pair of short yardage scores and hooked up with his favorite TD target Jon Baune for the other tally. He finished the day 18-for-32 for 248 passing yards and had 58 rushing yards on 20 carries. His attempts, completion and passing yard totals are all season highs. His 20 carries is also the most by any Cobber back in 2014 and most for Neal since he carried the ball 23 times against Bethel in 2013.

Neal welcomed one of his favorite targets back to the lineup. Junior Brandon Zylstra saw the most action of the season and came away with five catches for 56 yards. Baune continues to excel in 2014. The two-time MIAC Play of the Week winner grabbed another highlight reel touchdown pass as he turned an ordinary 5-yard out pattern into a 45-yard winding and weaving touchdown catch. Baune matched Zylstra's five catches but had a game-high 79 yards.

The Cobber Black Shirt defense continues to improve from week to week under defensive coordinator Kyle Bakken. CC held the Johnnies highly touted running game to a total of 95 yards. SJU came into the game ranked eighth in all of Division III in rushing yards as they were averaging 321.5 yards on the ground in their first two games.

Concordia's defense only allowed 153 passing yards for a total of 248 yards of total offense. St. John's had a mere 83 yards in the first half of play.

The 248 total offensive yards marks the second straight week the Black Shirts have held their opponent to under 250 yards of total offense. It is the fewest yards allowed against an MIAC team since the 2012 season when CC held Hamline to 156 total yards.

In addition to the stingy yardage stats, the Cobber defense also forced a pair of turnovers. Senior cornerback Christian Erickson came away with his second interception of the season. He has made a "pick" in back-to-back games.

The Cobber defense also came away with two sacks and five tackles for a loss. Senior All-American Nate Adams had one of the team's two sacks and had two total tackles for a loss. Linebacker Danny Pike had the other sack for CC. Derek Rachel had a team-high six tackles for the game.

The Cobber offense finished with 448 total yards. It marks the third straight game CC has racked up over 440 yards of total offense. Concordia had 200 rushing yards which is the third straight game this year of 200 or more rushing yards.

Besides the 20 carries from Neal, the two-headed fullback tandem of Alex McLean and Domenic Fraboni accounted for a combined 107 yards on 18 carries. McLean had a team-high 64 yards on 10 carries while Fraboni finished with 43 yards on eight rushes. McLean had 53 rushing yards in the second half and Fraboni had all but four yards in the first half.

The Cobbers will return home to defend the ugliest rivalry trophy in the nation when they host St. Olaf on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m.