MONTGOMERY, Ill. – The Falcons remain the only undefeated team in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The Concordia Wisconsin Football team snapped a five-game losing streak against Aurora with a 54-45 road victory on Saturday. The Falcons improve to 6-1 and to 5-0 in the conference.
The Spartans were the first team on the scoreboard on Saturday with a touchdown on their opening drive.
Th Concordia defense forced the first turnover of the game when junior Devin Glowicki (Commerce City, Colo.) forced a fumble that freshman Logan Hartman (Winter Garden, Fla.) returned for 15 yards. The Falcons capitalized on the turnover when sophomore Roman Funk (Scottsdale, Ariz.) connected with senior Jason Leonard (Tampa, Fla.) for a four-yard touchdown pass.
A good kickoff return setup Aurora for a four-play drive that gave the Spartans the lead back at 14-7 in the final minute of the first quarter.
The Falcons quickly marched down the field and responded with Roman Funk finding junior Nick Crowell (Las Vegas, Nev.) on the right side and Crowell cruised into the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-14.
The Black and Blue responded with a 12-play drive the ended in a seven-yard touchdown. Concordia quickly sprinted down the field on the next drive with three-straight passes. Senior Ashar Thomas (Punta Gorda, Fla.) broke free for 32 yards and Roman Funk then put the exclamation point on the drive when he found the end zone on a six-yard scamper. A pass to Jason Leonard on the two-point conversion tied the game.
The next Aurora drive was over in the blink of an eye when Logan Hartman picked off the first play at the 40-yard line. The Falcons feasted again off the second Aurora turnover with another Roman Funk to Nick Crowell connection for a two-yard touch down pass.
The Spartan special teams set Aurora up with excellent field passion with 24 second left in the half and a 45-yard field goal cut the Concordia lead to 28-24 going into halftime.
The Spartans struck back in the third quarter on Saturday and started the scoring spree with a seven-play drive.
Roman Funk continued to cook and found sophomore Jack Bradley (Tucson, Ariz.) at the 18-yard line and Bradley did the rest of the work to push the lead up to 35-31.
The Spartans soured the mood with a six-play scoring drive to take the lead back at 38-35. After a fourth-down stop, Aurora added to the lead four plays later on a 12-yard rush, taking the lead up to 45-35 to end the third quarter.
The Birds bounced back in the fourth quarter and it started with a 76-yard touchdown pass down the left side from Roman Funk to Jason Leonard.
The Falcons stopped Aurora on the next drive on fourth down and countered with a four-play series that ended with Roman Funk finding junior Jacob Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.) to the right and Pugh going 48 yards to give the Falcons the lead once again at 48-45.
The Spartans had another quality driving brewing and were in field goal range at the 20-yard line but a failed fourth-down attempt gave the Falcons the ball back.
Concordia played smart football and chewed up over five minutes of the clock and on fourth down from the seven yard-line, Roman Funk struck again, this time with a pass to the left to sophomore Kam'Ron Pierre (Canyon Country, Calif.), taking the lead to 54-45.
Aurora had to work quickly, but a fumble that was recovered by sophomore Kadin Huisinga (Glendale, Ariz.) iced the victory.
Roman Funk went wild on Saturday with a career-best 478 yards and seven touchdowns through the air. He also rushed for 22 yards and a touchdown. The seven touchdown passes are a program record, passing Aaron Nixon in 2015 and Herb Pundsack in 1992 at six. The 478 yards ranks third all time, and the 50 points scored is a program record.
Jason Leonard went off for two touchdowns and a career-high 141 yards, while Kam'Ron Pierre posted a career-best 105 yards.
Ashar Thomas led the running game with 63 yards.
Junior Ben Birch (Grafton, Wis.) and Kadin Huisinga both finished with seven tackles.
Logan Hartman recovered two turnovers in the victory.
The Falcons are now a game ahead of Benedictine and St. Norbert in the NACC Standings.
Concordia Wisconsin faces its final road test of the regular season on Saturday with another trip to Illinois to see Concordia Chicago.
