Box Score Nov. 11, 2017 – It began as an ordinary end-of-season game between the Concordia University Chicago Cougars and Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors.  It became extraordinary for the Cougars as Kareem Dabney led an exciting turnaround and put the Cougars in position to steal one on the road. In the end, however, a bizarre turn of events led to a last-second field goal by the Warriors, enabling them to win in stunning fashion by a 29-27 score at Raabe Field in Milwaukee, WI.

The Warriors took the opening kickoff and burned six minutes on a 15-play, 75-yard drive using a balanced mix of run and pass. They made it to the Cougars' four, from where Pat Mathieson's short toss to Jerrod Klug put the first points of the game on the scoreboard.

The Cougars looked to answer on their first possession. Lance Moise returned to the field today, and he caught a 10-yard pass from Shane Virnala for a first down at the WLC 43. Moments later, Moise ran for eight yards and an apparent first down, but a holding penalty brought the play back. The Cougars were unable to recover and were forced to punt the ball away.  WLC's Pat Mathieson drove his team downfield again, with John-Marcus Carruthers scoring on a five-yard run to up the Warriors' lead to 14-0 late in the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, the Cougars gained momentum and took quick advantage of it. After breaking up a potential TD pass, the Cougars stopped the Warriors on fourth down at the 12. The Cougars then used two big passes from Virnala, one for 43 yards to Ryan Allison and the second a 42-yarder to Corey Dooley for the score. Dooley and his defender both had hands on the ball, but Dooley pulled the ball away and broke free the final 10 yards. The extra point by Orlando Hayes halved the Warriors' lead to 14-7.

With the Cougars getting the ball to start the third quarter, a stop would be vital to CUC's keeping its momentum. However, not only did the Warriors answer the touchdown, they also ate more clock in taking it down to the final 19 seconds of the half. Mathieson threw a two-yard pass to Nick Charles-Crowl (extra point missed), and Concordia-Chicago went in at halftime trailing by a 20-7 score.

Time of possession was the big stat of the half, as Wisconsin Lutheran had the ball for 21:34 to Concordia-Chicago's 8:26. The Warriors amassed 16 first downs to the Cougars' five, with WLC able to convert four of five fourth downs along the way.

The beginning of the third quarter saw a couple of quick shifts in momentum. The Cougars took the kickoff and drove downfield, with the aid of a 41-yard run by Moise and a 28-yard pass completion to Leroy Bridges III. However, the Cougars were unsuccessful on two runs and two passes, the fourth-down pass being batted down, and the home team celebrated a big stop.

The Warriors' joy did not last for long, however. The cougars came up with the first three-and-out of the day. On fourth down, the WLC punter, backed up against the back line of the end zone, bobbled the snap. That gave time for Daniel to come in and block the punt almost straight up in the air. Kareem Dabney came down with the ball and stepped into the end zone for a surprise six points for the Cougars. Hayes added the extra point, and the Warriors' lead was cut to six points at 20-14.

Though no one knew it at the time, this was only the first of Dabney's three impactful plays in the quarter.  The Warriors moved down the field again, aided by a personal foul against the Cougars, and drove to the CUC 20 before Dabney picked off a pass intended for the WLC receiver at the pylon. Concordia-Chicago was backed up against its goal line, but they now had the ball with the chance for the lead.

The Cougars got out of their own end and made it to midfield before being forced to punt. However, the fair-catch was fumbled, and Dabney was there once again to come up with an opportunistic play. Two plays later from the four-yard line, Virnala did the honors himself, diving into the end zone for the tying six points. Hayes then kicked the extra point through the uprights, and CUC had its first lead of the day at 21-20.

Early in the fourth quarter, WLC regained possession after stopping CUC on fourth down. The Warriors went 66 yards, with a 39-yard run by Carruthers providing the big play of the drive.  Mathieson eventually scored from a yard out, but the two-point conversion was no good, and the Cougars trailed 26-21 with 11:01 remaining.

This time, the Cougars answered and needed just over two minutes to do it. Moise broke off a 64-yard run down the right sideline before being caught at the eight-yard line. Two plays later, Tylor Martens took a handoff and raced up the middle untouched for the go-ahead score.  The Cougars could not make good on the two-point conversion pass but still led 27-26 with 8:55 to play.

The Warriors had two chances to win in the final minutes, but another Dabney interception in the end zone prevented a Warriors' score. The home team got a second chance on a fumble, but Mathieson was sacked by Trevaugn Collins. The ball was recovered by Kenneth Catron, and it seemed like victory was inevitable.

Virnala took a knee three times, with the Warriors using their final two timeouts. After the third kneel, there was a four-second difference between the game clock and the play clock. With both clocks winding down, the ball was inexplicably snapped, and incredibly, the Warriors took possession at the CUC 22 with just five second left. Wisconsin Lutheran sent out their kicker, and Grant Fleming hit a solid, straight 39-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired.

Moise ran for 168 yards on 18 carries, Virnala threw for 221 yards (14-38) as the Cougars finished with 388 yards of total offense. Allison led the receivers with seven catches for 105 yards.

Defensively, Daniel had a career day with 17 solo tackles and six tackle assists. A forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Ivan Vixamar had 11 total tackles (eight solo) in his final game, and Romario Coley added 10 (seven solo).