RIVER FOREST, ILL. – The Concordia University Chicago football team played their second consecutive home game on Saturday where they took on the Lakeland University Muskies in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) opener. Despite the Cougars outworking the Muskies in many areas such as passing yards, first downs, and possession time, the Cougars would fall just short in a fast-paced battle.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Colton Bosch (Coopersville, Mich.) controlled the offense with 403 total yards on 36 attempts with five total touchdowns. Bosch's 58.3 passing percentage on the day notched a career best in addition to his career high passing yards. To cap the day off, Bosch secured two rushing touchdowns for the Cougars.
- Joron Brown (St. Joseph, Mich.) led on the ground for the Cougars with 168 all-purpose yards, including a team best 19 yard rush on the day. In addition to his 18 rushing attempts, Brown added five receptions and a touchdown.
- Jayce Levy (Davenport, Iowa) picked up four receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
- Henry Jones IV (Atlanta, Ga.) picked up two touchdowns for the Cougars off three receptions, while Troy Pratley (St. Joseph, Mich.) picked up one touchdown on 26 yards on the ground.
- Ryan Auer (Newark, Ohio) kicked his first field goal of the season for a 24-yard success while adding in four PATs.
- Christopher Watson (St. Louis, Mo.) and Travon Thomas (Wauchula, Fla.) led the defensive end with seven tackles apiece. Thomas tacked on a team high two quarterback hurries while Watson broke up four pass attempts.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
With Lakeland winning the coin toss and deferring, the Cougars were given the opportunity to strike first. A touchback would start the CUC drive at their 25-yard line where a quick pass down the middle from Bosch to Levy would put the Cougars just outside the redzone. On the next play, the Cougars would find the endzone thanks to a short dump from Bosch to Levy and go up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.
With the Muskies answering right back and picking up a touchdown of their own, a blocked PAT would hold them to six rather than seven, and keep the Cougars on top by one. On their next possession, a series of 13 snaps for the Cougars would span almost six minutes and force the Cougar to take their first timeout of the half. Fresh out of the timeout, the Cougars would inch closer to the endzone with a four yard gain to bring up fourth ad nine at the 14-yard line. Well within range for Auer, field goal attempt went up and would successfully put the Cougars ahead by four.
The Muskies would waste no time and find the endzone on their second play of the drive, sneaking past the defense for a 64 yard rush. After a successful PAT, the Muskies would officially take the lead for the first time of the day 13-10 with under three minutes to play in the opening quarter. In the final three minutes of the first quarter, the Cougars struggled to find their offensive footing as back-to-back sacks for loss would put the Cougars in a fourth and 27 situation, forcing
Dennis Vanderplow (Livonia, Mich.) to punt from the endzone. Off the punt return, the Muskies would find a way to sneak past the Cougar defense and put themselves further ahead, 20-10 at the end of the first fifteen minutes.
SECOND QUARTER
Heading into the second quarter in a deficit, the Cougars started with a fresh set of downs at their own 25-yard line. Short consecutive yardage for the Cougars would put them in their offensive half of the field before a handful of penalties against the Muskies would move the Cougars within five yards of the endzone. A keeper rush from Pratley would sneak into the endzone and bring the Cougars back within three.
A stalemate between the two teams for more than seven minutes would come to a halt when the Cougars would steal the lead back once again after a short pass to Brown paired with a 47 yard dash would pick up the second touchdown of the quarter and put the Cougars up by four.
The Muskies would answer right back and jump back ahead of the Cougars 27-24 heading into the half.
THIRD QUARTER
As the Cougars kicked off to start the second half, a forced fumble by
Aaron Watson (Chicago, Ill.) that would be recovered by
Darius Williams (Collinsville, Ill.) would start the Cougars at the Lakeland 14-yard line. Back-to-back rushes from Pratley paired with the final push from Bosch would find the endzone and put the Cougars up 31-27.
Officially starting a back-and-forth affair, the Muskies would answer quickly with a touchdown of their own to regain the lead 33-31. The Cougars would start their next drive at their own 29-yard line where a quick 11 yard rush from Bosch would pick up a first down before further rushes from Bosch and Pratley would pick up another first down.
A short middle pass from Bosch to Brown would mark a 14 yard gain, but the Cougars would be unable to convert another first down after a series of incomplete passes turned the ball over on downs. The Muskies would strike again after a series of quarterback rushes would pick up a collective 53 yards to put the Muskies up 40-31 as the third quarter wound down.
FOURTH QUARTER
With the Muskies striking once again they would put the Cougars in a 16 point deficit and seemingly shut the door on the game. But a 46 yard touchdown pass from Bosch to Levy paired with the successful two-point conversion would bring the Cougars back within eight points.
Another touchdown from the Muskies would put them back ahead by 15, but the Cougars would continue to fight. A short pass paired with a 34 yard spring from Jones followed by the two-point conversion would bring things back to a one possession game.
After successfully securing a defensive stop and forcing the Muskies to punt, the Cougars would regain possession with four minutes to go in the game. After a two yard loss and a one yard gain, the Cougars would rely on the arm of Bosch as a successful short pass to the middle would find the hands of Jones and put the Cougars down by one. A timeout from the Cougars paired with yet another successful two-point conversion would give CUC the lead back with under three minutes to play.
A quick retaliation touchdown from the Muskies off three snaps would put the Cougars down by five, but with two minutes still on the clock the Cougars would move fast to attempt to overcome the deficit. With the Cougars officially in the redzone with under a minute to play, the Muskies would be forced to burn two timeouts to stop the clock from running down. Utilizing the time to get settled, the Cougars would come out and quickly find a touchdown at the hands of Bosch with a little push from the rest of the offense. Falling short on the two-point conversion, the Cougars would end their drive with the one-point advantage with 52 seconds to play.
Fresh off the kickoff, the Muskies would catch the Cougars off guard and make the quick deep pass for an open touchdown to put them up by five with 30 seconds remaining. Two quick passes from Bosch would march down the field a bit before a CUC timeout would stop the clock. As the Cougars rushed to get the final score, they would fall just short and close the game with the 66-61 loss.
The Cougars will continue NACC play next week as they travel to Aurora, Illinois to take on the Aurora University Spartans. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
