Oct. 18, 2015 - Earlier this season, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars took advantage of a couple opponents' miscues as an important key to victory. Today, the shoe was on the other foot as the Cougars were prone to turning over the football, and the Aurora University Spartans made them pay by running out to a lopsided 58-7 victory at Concordia Stadium.

The Spartans won the coin toss and had the first possession. Brandon Evans began a big 135-yard rushing day with a 23-yard jaunt on the first play from scrimmage. However, it was the pass that put the Spartans in the end zone as Geron Rogers hit Danny Logiurato from 27 yards out for a 7-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game.

When the Cougars received the ensuing kickoff, it was freshman Peyton Seidler (West Chicago, IL/H.S.) that took his first snaps behind center. Seidler, who played running back over the first half of the season, rushed for gains of 15 and 13 yards, and Jakari Cammon (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) also broke a run for 13 yards. However, the drive ended when the ball was jarred loose from Seidler inside the five-yard line with Aurora recovering.

The Cougars managed to recover from the first turnover as they held the Spartans to a three-and-out and fielded the ensuing punt at the AU 37. Seidler hit Ryan Allison (Parkland, FL/Stoneman Douglas) for 11 yards, and Cammon later converted a fourth-and-one to keep the drive going. From the 21, Seidler found Allison again, this time on the right side of the end zone for the six points, Zach Slusher (Park City, UT/H.S.) added the extra point, and the two rivals were even at 7-7 midway through the quarter.

Aurora regained the lead on their next drive as Rogers and Logiurato hooked up for completions of 14 and 21 yards. The Spartans drove to the 10 from where Rogers found Chris Anderson for the score and a 14-7 lead.

The fast pace continued as the Cougars drove from their 18 to the Spartans' 34. However, a deep ball intended for Rashad Lofton (Detroit, MI/Romulus) was intercepted by Brendan Fulton at the 13, and Aurora ended the first quarter holding to the seven-point lead.

The game got out of hand for the Cougars in the second quarter. A CUC fumble in the first minute was recovered by Aurora at the 36. The Spartans returned to the running game with Evans accounting for all but one yard on the drive. His three-yard run shot the Spartans' lead to 21-7. Moments later, an interception was returned to the three-yard line, and the Spartans ran it in on the next play to make the score 27-7 (two-point conversion missed). Before the half was over, the Spartans put 10 more points on the board on a one-yard run by Evans and a 27-yard field goal by Zac Mirabelli. The Cougars went to the locker room at the half, trailing 37-7.

Three Aurora Touchdowns would complete the game scoring. Rogers threw TD passes of 19 yards to Lorenzo Williams and 17 to Peter Rizzi in the third quarter, and Cody Lane's one-yard run accounted for the only score of the fourth. Much of the fourth quarter saw both coaches liberally employ their roster.

Cougar quarterbacks Seidler, William Wassmann (Bensenville, IL/Fenton) and Josh Wagner (Chicago, IL/Perspectives Math & Science) combined for 11-24 for 147 yards. Defensively, Nick Hosteteler (Bozeman, MT/H.S.) recorded a team-high seven tackles. Joshua Nash (Fort Myers, FL/H.S.) accounted for CUC's lone takeaway with a fourth quarter fumble recovery.

Concordia-Chicago (2-4, 0-3 NACC) will host Benedictine University next Saturday, Oct. 24 at 1:30 p.m.