Concordia spooks Doane in first half; cruises to a lopsided Halloween win
Jack Wesolowski and Adam Van Cleave celebrate a touchdown against Doane.
Photo: Max Fritsche
By Keith Siek
Concordia football carved up the Doane Tigers on the ground behind a season-best performance from freshman Dylan Mika in their 45-17 victory in front of the home fans on Saturday.
Concordia scored 24 points in the first half as graduate student Gideon Stark spread the ball around to Bulldog playmakers.
Mika produced a 17-yard run on Concordia’s opening offensive play of the game. Stark hit a play-action 38-yard touchdown pass to graduate student Adam Van Cleave one play later, to put the Bulldogs up 7-0, capping off the two-play drive.
Mika scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown with 5:30 to go in the first quarter, extending Concordia’s lead to 14-0.
Mika rushed for 152 yards in his first game against conference rival Doane and recorded a second touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard run to put the Bulldogs up 45-17. Mika took the handoff from Stark and made a backside cut, outrunning the Tiger defense to the goal line.
Stark threw for four touchdowns and 273 yards in the game, attacking Doane’s secondary with favorite targets Van Cleave and senior Jonny Puelz.
Van Cleave totalled 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns on six receptions. Puelz caught two touchdowns and racked up 84 receiving yards against the Tigers’ defense.
Sophomore Trey Whalen led the Bulldogs with 10 tackles on defense and forced two pass breakups in Concordia’s secondary while playing cornerback.
The Bulldogs’ rushing defense held the Tigers to just 3.4 yards per carry, giving up a total of 167 rushing yards to Doane’s offense. Concordia averaged 6.7 yards per carry and racked up 188 yards on the ground.
Senior Terry Sebek played in the backfield with 1.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss going up against Doane’s offensive line. Sebek contributed to a Bulldog offense that tallied seven tackles behind the Doane’s line of scrimmage, pushing the Tigers backwards for a total of 27 yards.
Junior Kaden Tompson made two tackles for loss against Doane for a total of 8 yards.
The Bulldogs move to 4-4 on the season and are scheduled to play Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, on Nov. 7 at 1 p.m.
