Sept. 13, 2014 - On a crisp and clear evening at Stagg Field, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars opened up the 2014 season against the University of Chicago. A young Cougar team put themselves in a first-half hole by way of three turnovers and never recovered, losing the contest by a final score of 38-0.
"We are a young team that needs to learn not to shoot ourselves in the foot," said CUC head coach Randy Awrey. "Our penalties and turnovers were just way too much to have any sort of a chance to get a win tonight."
The Cougars' defense stopped the Maroons on the initial drive of the game, but a 23-yard punt return gave the hosts a short field to work with on the ssecond possession. Chicago needed just 27 yards to find the end zone, and they found it on a three-yard run by Zak Ross-Nash.
The Maroons' defense made things tough for the Cougars in the early going. Their pass rush disrupted the timing between quarterback Ryan Fischbach (South Elgin, IL/St. Charles North) and his receivers while limiting the rushing game to short gains. Late in the first quarter, the Cougars' pass rush rose to the forefront after a fumbled punt return gave the Maroons possession at the 29. Tim Bahr (Hartland, WI/Lake Country Lutheran) and Anh Nguyen (West Chicago, IL/H.S.) teamed up for CUC's first sack of the season. Two plays later, Sang Lee (Oro Valley, AZ/Canyon Del Oro) brought down Maroons' signal-caller Patrick Ryan for a 15-yard loss. A personal foul left Chicago facing an unlikely fourth-and-50. Chicago's subsequent punt gave CUC its best starting field position to that point at the 36. However, three plays later, Jacob Romeo stepped in front of a pass down the middle and raced 56 yards with the interception for a 14-0 lead.
Concordia was unable to pick up a first down on the next couple of drives, and Chicago would take advantage. The Maroons' third touchdown came on a 29-yard pass from Ryan to Nathan Massey. Then, the Maroons capitalized on a second interception as it was returned 31 yards for a score. The home team took a 28-0 lead into halftime.
A 34-yard field goal provided the only scoring of the third quarter, and Chicago added its final score in the fourth quarter after a drive was kept alive by a roughing-the-kicker penalty.
The Cougars' best drive of the night came following UC's score. Acusio Bivona (Los Angeles, CA/Hamilton) hit Elijah Walker (Hobart, IN/H.S.) for the Cougars' biggest gain of the night. a 34-yard pass down the right sideline. A completion to Ryan Allison (Parkland, FL/Stoneman Douglas) then gave CUC a first down at the 21. But a penalty and a sack would set the Cougars back, and they eventually came up five yards short on a fourth-and-19. Senior Mike Bailey (Spring Hill, FL/Central) led the Cougars with 10 tackles (5-5). A.J. Seidler (West Chicago, IL/H.S.) added nine tackles, and Bahr finished with eight tackles and 1.5 sacks. On special teams, Brendan Shumaker (Rockford, IL/Rockford Boylan) averaged 40.4 yards on nine punts, and Allison had two kick returns for 78 yards with a long of 54. The Cougars will open the home schedule next Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2:30 p.m. The game against Alma College will be Senior Day as the team honors its four seniors - Bailey, Ricardo Hurley (Chicago, IL/DeLaSalle), Adam Suszka (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) and Christian Wilke (Spring, TX/Concordia Lutheran). 