River Forest, Ill.- Concordia University Chicago (3-4; 1-3 NACC) took on Benedictine University (5-3; 3-1 NACC) this weekend in NACC play. The game marked the last home game of the 2017 season for the Cougars. This NACC matchup was a barn-burner from the start with both teams racking up points and making plays. The first half ended with a score of 28-23 but CUC was holding close. The second half got away from the Cougars, with the Eagles pulling away by a final score of 61-32. 
 
Scoring did not take long to start up. Benedictine's Ryan Sample hit Brandon Moore for a 13-yard touchdown, following a drive that only took four plays to complete. Not being phased by the quick score, the Cougars controlled a seven-play drive, which ended in a Lance Moise rushing touchdown of 14 yards, leaving the score at 7-6. Continuing the fast-paced trend, Sample led the Eagles down the field in only two plays. A 53-yard touchdown reception by BenU wideout Matt Fleming stretched the visitors' lead to 14-6.
 
After that possession, CUC regained the ball and pushed the ball deep into Eagles territory, only to be stopped at the 15. Orlando Hayes salvaged three points with a 32-yard field goal, and the score sat at 14-9 with 5:12 remaining in the opening quarter. Three minutes later Benedictine found the end-zone again. On a drive that looked to be stopped, BenU scored after being pushed back to second-and-goal on the 19-yard line when Matt Fleming rushed to the one-yard line, and Grant Jochums took it over on the next play. With the touchdown and a two-point conversion, the score was 22-9 in favor of the Eagles.
 
The CUC offense struck back at the beginning of the second quarter as Moise moved the Cougars downfield with runs of 19 and 10 yards. Appropriately, it was Moise capping the drive with a one-yard touchdown to pull the home team within six..
 
On the next drive, Ryan Allison took it upon himself to get the Cougars back into the end zone with three huge plays showcasing his swift juke moves and breakaway speed. This drive ended in a short one-yard rush by Moise. The touchdown by Moise gave him his third of the day, and the extra point by Hayes gave the Cougars their first lead of the day at 23-22.
 
Benedictine would not trail for long, however, Another hookup between Sample and Moore from nine yards out capped a 65-yard drive  and made the score 28-23 Benedictine (extra point failed) with 3:27 left in the first half.
 
Shane Virnala answered with a long pass to Corey Dooley to put the offense into the red-zone. To CUC's dismay, they could not capitalize and turned the ball over on downs, leaving the score 28-23, Eagles. With the breakneck pace of the game, both teams still had another chance to score. However, the Eagles were foiled when a bad snap on fourth down from the six-yard line forced them to turn the ball over to the Cougars. CUC drove to the Eagles' 17 with the help of a 38-yard pass to Leroy Bridges III, but Hayes' field goal try from 34 yards out was wide left as time ran ot in the first half.

The Eagles took the second-half kickoff and opened up a 35-23 lead just two minutes in off of a pass from Sample to Fleming from 16 yards out. But the Cougars responded as Kareem Dabney returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards. A facemask penalty added 15 more yards, and CUC set up shop at the Eagles' 34. However, the Cougars picked up just one first down before the drive came up short at the 13-yard line. It was field goal time again as Hayes connected from 30 yards to make the score BenU 35, CUC 26.

Concordia-Chicago would get no closer the rest of the way. Benedictine scored four touchdowns over the final 10 minutes of the quarter, with Derrick Miles rushing for an 18-yard score and Ryan Sample tossing TD passes of 31 yards to Grant Jochums, three yards to Matt Fleming and 13 yards to Brandon Moore. Sample finished with seven touchdown passes on 20 of 31 for 360 yards,

The Cougars put up the only points of the fourth quarter as Virnala threw to Allison from the 12-yard line. Allison was stripped of the ball just before crossing the goal line, but Robert Padilla recovered in the end zone to account for the final six points.  

Virnala threw for 385 yards on 27 of 42 passing. Allison caught 12 balls for 145 yards and accumulated 145 more yards on kickoff and punt returns.
 
The Cougars (3-4, 1-3 NACC) will return to action next Saturday when they hit the road to take on Lakeland University at 12:00 p.m..