Mequon
CUW (3-0 in the NAC) never trailed but had to hang on at the end
for a HUGE 24-21 Homecoming win over pre-season favorite Aurora
(1-2) Saturday in Mequon.
The Falcons got a pair of early TDs, one on a 10 yard toss from
Brandon Corona to Tommy Guest and the other on a Corona scramble
from 12 yards out to build a 14-0 lead after one quarter. Corona,
getting his first career start after TJ Pacchioli went down with a
season-ending ACL injury last week, did his best work in that
first period but "was able to step up on a big stage and succeed
with the support of his teammates," according to Head Coach Greg
Etter.
Aurora's first score came on the last play of the half when
quarterback Mike Anderson crawled into the end zone from a yard
out. It appeared that Anderson had been stopped short of the goal
when the whistle blew, but an outside official overruled the
original call and gave the Spartans their first score and a big
morale boost heading into the locker room.
The third quarter was back and forth with nobody getting any
points or significant yardage, so the victory appeared to be secure
when Concordia's Dontrell Hall ran back Aurora's punt for a 54 yard
score with 13 minutes left in the contest to make it 21-7. The
visitors would have none of that, however, and mounted their best
scoring drive of the afternoon to make it 21-14.
Two series later the Falcons were able to move to the Aurora 23
before Dan Winsey booted a 40 yard field goal that provided
temporary breathing room. The kick also turned out to be the
game-winner after Aurora moved down the field once more and scored
with less than a minute to go to make it 24-21. This drive
featured a pair of defensive interference penalties- one negating a
CUW interception.
Aurora recovered the ensuing onside kick but had no timeouts
left so the Falcons were able to celebrate after one final sack of
Anderson. Jacob Pfeiffer keyed a Concordia defense that has been
stellar for three consecutive weeks and held the visitors to 155
yards of offense. Pfeiffer had a pair of sacks and another tackle
for lost yardage.
Concordia travels to WLC for a 7:00pm Thursday evening
encounter.
