Oct. 22, 2016 - The long football history between Concordia University Chicago and Concordia University Wisconsin has tended to produce some rather high-scoring games, particularly the ones at CUW's Tomasini Stadium (and its previous incarnations). Today's latest entry in the series saw the Cougars rack up a season-high 588 yards to defeat the Falcons 48-38 and improve to 4-3 on the season, 2-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The Falcons fell to 2-5, 0-4 NACC.

"What a great day!" said CUC head coach Randy Awrey. "It's always special when you can win on the road, win a conference game and win against an archrival. I thought our coaches put together  a great game plan, and our players executed it very well."

The Cougars' offense ran 22 plays today that gained 10 or more yards, and they wasted no time getting the fireworks started. On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Rob Granquist hit Rashad Lofton for a 28-yard gain for the Cougars' initial first down. Two plays later, it was Granquist to Ryan Allison for 23 yards and then Granquist back to Lofton for 14 yards into the end zone. Orlando Hayes added the extra point, and the Cougars led 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.

The Falcons got the ball for their first possession and marched down the field. Aaron Nixon connected on two passes to begin the drive, but the Falcons took to the ground for their next seven plays. Isaiah Tenette covered the final 22 yards for the tying touchdown.

On Concordia-Chicago's second drive, they picked up a first down but faced a third-and-10 moments later. Granquist and Allison hooked up again with Allison making some big yardage after the catch. The 40-yard completion took the ball down to the 25-yard line from where Lance Moise took the handoff and raced down the right side to the end zone for a 14-7 lead - a lead that CUC would never relinquish.

Late in the quarter, the Falcons looked for the tying touchdown. They drove to the CUC 16 but, on the first down play, Adeoluwa Olaniyan hauled down Nixon for a three-yard loss while trying to scramble. The Falcons would not pick up the first down and were forced to settle for a field goal from 31 yards, making the score CUC 14, CUW 10.

The Cougars were forced to punt on their next possession, and the Falcons geared up to take their first lead of the day. However, A,J, Seidler and Rodolfo Payan teamed up to sack Nixon, and the Falcons would have to punt as well. Concordia-Chicago took over, and their 81-yard drive would prove to be one of the most important ones of the game. Granquist hit Lofton for 29 yards, and Moise ran loose for gains of 15, 13 and 14 yards. Despite that, the Cougars appeared to stall at the 19-yard line as they faced a fourth-and-six. But Granquist dropped back and found Allison in the middle of the end zone for the score and a 21-10 lead.

Just over a minute later, CUC got the ball back after Seidler and Tim Bahr made a key stop on Nixon's scramble on third-and-four. Completions to Lofton and Leroy Bridges moved the ball into the red zone, and Granquist hit on his third touchdown pass of the half, a seven-yarder to Lofton. The extra point missed, but the Cougars led 27-10  The Falcons tried to answer in the little time remaining, but Payan's sack ended those thoughts as the Cougars went to the locker room with the 17-point lead.

Granquist's first-half numbers read 17 of 24 for 234 yards, with Allison and Lofton both over 100 yards receiving Moise rushed for 90 yards, giving the Cougars 334 yards of total offense.

Concordia Wisconsin took the second-half kickoff, looking to get back into the contest. They ate up the first eight minutes but converted the 75-yard drive into seven points on Nixon's five-yard pass. 

If the eight-minute drive was supposed to slow the CUC momentum, someone forgot to tell the Cougars. They needed just 1:53 to negate the Falcons' points. Moise provided the footwork, breaking loose on a 56-yard run down to the two. On the next snap, it was Moise again, going in for the score and pushing the lead back out to 17 points at 34-17,

The Falcons came back quickly as they hit on consecutive pass plays of 35 and 37 yards, the latter caught by Dante Edwards for the score. But once again, the Cougars answered and, this time, they needed just 90 seconds, Moise had a 48-yard run called back by a penalty, but he would get that back with a 65-yard scamper after Granquist hit Bridges for 20 yards to get CUC out of its own end.

The Cougars added on after stopping the Falcons. Moise ran for 30 yards on the first two plays, giving him 157 yards rushing for the third quarter alone. Two plays later, Granquist hit Lofton from 38 yards out. The score had the home crowd in stunned silence as the Cougars headed to the fourth quarter with a lead of 48-24.

"Our offense played phenomenally today," said Awrey. "Of course, Moise and Granquist had huge games, and our offensive line was superb. They opened up the holes for Lance, did a great job of protecting Rob and played without hardly any penalties. We've had to move various people in and out because of injuries, but our guys are doing a great job of stepping up when it's their turn."

Concordia Wisconsin made its run in the fourth quarter, although it was too little, too late. The Falcons pulled back a touchdown on a fumble recovery  and then threatened to get closer before Riley Dennis and Seidler made sacks to stop another drive, The home team also missed a field goal and, by the time they scored a final touchdown, there was no time for further inroads into CUC's lead. 

Moise finished the game with 282 yards on 27 carries, putting the freshman at 1,065 yards for the season (152.1 average). Granquist finished 21 of 32 for 316 yards and four touchdowns, no picks. Allison caught 10 passes for 149 yards and Lofton seven passes for 144 yards. The Cougars have now scored 238 points in seven games, an average of 34 points per game.

Defensively, Kareem Dabney made a season-high 12 tackles (11 solo) to go with two pass break-ups. Seidler had six solo and eight assisted tackles with 2.5 sacks, followed by Payan with five solo and four assisted tackles and 1.5 sacks.

The Cougars will host Lakeland University for Homecoming 2016 next Saturday. Kickoff has been pushed back a half-hour to 1:30.