St. John's tops Concordia in MIAC football opener

Brandon Zylstra of Concordia College is tripled-teamed by St. John's players as he catches a pass in the last seconds of the Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, as the Cobbers try to score as they trail 16-24 at Concordia College.Dave Wallis / The Forum

By Tom Mix

September 19, 2015 at 6:05 PM

MOORHEAD-Entering Saturday, Concordia had enjoyed recent success in its games against Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football rival St. John's.

The high of a three-game winning streak against the Johnnies came to a halt for the Cobbers, as St. John's powered its way to a 24-16 win at Jake Christiansen Stadium.

It was the MIAC opener for both teams and the Johnnies-ranked No. 8 in the latest D3football.com national poll-used their running game to seal the road victory.

St. John's senior Sam Sura carried the ball 31 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns for the Johnnies (3-0, 1-0 MIAC).

Sura and the rest of St. John's senior class had never defeated Concordia, and the 2014 All-American said the game provided extra motivation.

"It means a lot," said Sura, who was held to 93 yards against the Cobbers a year ago in Collegeville. "We came in here with more fire than usual. We knew we had to win this game to prove ourselves a little bit more."

St. John's led 21-10 at halftime with Sura scoring both of his touchdowns in the second quarter. Concordia answered Sura's second touchdown with an eight-play, 39-yard drive that was capped by a 22-yard field goal by Dominic Neameyer.

"They got their running game going early, but I thought we did a good job of circling the wagons and scoring three points right before halftime," Concordia head coach Terry Horan said.

Concordia made it 21-16 with 11 minutes, 2 seconds left when junior quarterback Alex Grove ran in a 1-yard touchdown. Neameyer's extra-point attempt was no good.

Grove's run capped a 16-play, 78-yard drive for the Cobbers (2-1, 0-1). Concordia converted on fourth down three times during the drive.

St. John's answered with a drive that stalled at the Concordia 25-yard line, forcing the Johnnies to settle for a 42-yard field goal by Alexi Johnson.

Down 24-16 with just over five minutes left, Concordia began driving for the tying score.

With 1:25 left and Concordia snapping on a 2nd-and-1 from the Johnnies' 22, senior wide receiver Brandon Zylstra took a handoff for a reverse, but attempted to throw from the backfield.

The pass was intercepted by Johnnies safety Lucas Glomb.

Concordia got the ball back with 31 seconds left and started its final drive at the St. John's 46-yard line. On the third play of the drive, sophomore Michael Herzog-who entered the game at quarterback due to an injury to Grove a play earlier-launched a pass to the end zone that Zylstra caught, but offensive pass interference was called.

A play later, Herzog completed a pass to Zylstra for 36 yards. The clock stopped for the first down, but when Concordia attempted to spike the ball, a player had lined up offsides and the game went final.

"Defensively, we only gave up three points, and our offense was moving the football," Horan said. "We had the opportunity to at least tie or win a game (Saturday). We just came up a little short."

A year ago, St. John's won all of its remaining conference games after the loss to the Cobbers to win the MIAC championship, something Horan said his team now needs to strive for.

"The shoe is on the other foot this year," Horan said. "They lost this game a year ago and then ran the table. We have to collect our thoughts, get better and try to do what they did last year."

SJU 7 14 0 3-24

CON 0 10 0 6-16

SJU--Simon 16 pass from Martin (A. Johnson kick)

SJU--Sura 5 run (A. Johnson kick)

CON--Grove 4 run (Neameyer kick)

SJU--Sura 3 run (A.Johnson kick)

CON--Neameyer 22 field goal

CON--Grove 1 run (kick failed)

SJU--Johnson 42 field goal

TEAM STATISTICS

SJU CON

First downs 17 20

Rushes-yards 43-195 42-110

Passing 140 224

Comp.-Att.-Int 11-15-0 18-28-1

Punts-Avg. 4-29.5 4-37.2

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 4-1

Penalties-Yards 5-85 6-52

Time of possession 28:08 31:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: SJU, Sura 33-148, Bungum 6-45, Sundly 1-3, Martin 3-(-1). CON, Johnson 9-44, Grove 15-27, Essler 3-14, Herzog 7-13, Zylstra 1-5, Montonye 6-4, Gauldin 1-3.

PASSING: SJU, Martin 11-15-0--140. CON, Grove 17-26-0--188, Zylstra 0-1-1--0, Herzog 1-1-0--36.

RECEIVING: SJU, Simon 5-72, Bungum 3-23, Sura 1-19, Bjorklund 1-15, Clark 1-11. CON, Baune 6-51, Zylstra 5-112, Montonye 4-40, Johnson 2-15, Gauldin 1-6.