MEQUON, Wis. – The Cheese Bowl is staying at home in Mequon. The Concordia Wisconsin football team showed a lot of grit to retain the Cheese Bowl with a 41-34 overtime victory on Saturday. The Falcon faithful watched the Blue and White improve to 5-1 on the year and remain in first place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference at 4-0 with the Homecoming victory.
The Falcons forced a turnover on the first Lakeland drive on Saturday when junior Ben Birch (Grafton, Wis.) forced a fumble in the red zone and junior Devin Glowicki (Commerce City, Colo.) recovered the ball.
Lakeland quickly rebounded and forced a fumble two plays later.
The Concordia defense stood tall in an instant red zone opportunity and forced a four-and-out that resulted in a failed fourth-down rush.
The Muskies closed the first quarter with a 13-play drive that resulted in a touchdown.
The Falcons quickly responded with a seven-yard rush for senior Ashar Thomas (Punta Gorda, Fla.) to the left side of the end zone.
The Muskies capitalized on the CUW turnovers in the second quarter and went on a 14-0 run to end the half and held a 21-7 lead at halftime.
The Blue and Gold made things worse with an opening drive touchdown to start the third quarter and push the lead to 28-7.
The Falcons fought back with a drive that ended with a fourth-down touchdown on a screen pass to senior Jason Leonard (Tampa, Fla.) who had a convoy blocking for a 30-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Roman Funk (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
Momentum stayed with the Birds on the next Lakeland drive when a bad snap on the punt was recovered by freshman Logan Hartman (Winter Garden, Fla.) in the end zone for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-20.
The Blue and White kept chipping away in the fourth quarter after a great punt from sophomore Max Machonski (Chicago, Ill.) flipped the field for the Falcons. Roman Funk found sophomore Jack Bradley (Tucson, Ariz.) streaking down the right side of the field for a 33-yard touchdown to make it a 28-27 game.
Lakeland damped the mood with a 13-play drive to find the end zone, but could not convert on the two-point conversion.
Concordia tied the game five plays later when Jason Leonard scored his second touchdown with a 42-yard connection up the middle from Roman Funk to tie the game.
Lakeland brought the ball to the 15-yardline and had the field goal to win the game to walk off the Cheese Bowl like the Falcons did last year, but Khalil Hargrove-Collins and Max Michonski were able to block the kick.
The Falcons had the ball first in overtime and ended the drive with a four-yard rush for junior Jacob Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.) up the middle to give the Falcons their first lead of the game.
The Lakeland drive ended on third down and goal from the five-yard line with a fumble forced by Max Michonski and recovered by junior Duncan Ireland III (Eagle, Wis.) to win the game.
Roman Funk threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.
The dynamic duo of Jason Leonard and Jack Bradley had 135 yards and 115 yards on the afternoon.
Jacob Pugh rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown.
Ben Birch finished with 22 total tackles in the victory.
The Falcons have now won the Cheese Bowl for the past four games, it is the longest streak since the Falcons won five in a row from 2000 to 2004. Concordia now leads the Cheese Bowl series, 19-15 and the overall series, 26-20.
Concordia has now won four-straight one-possession games.
The Falcons return to action on Saturday at Aurora.
