By: Alex Patt

River Forest, Il. Concordia opened the 2015 season at home against Beloit College on a humid September 5th afternoon in front of 750 spectators. The high-scoring affair ended in a 51-50 Cougars victory which came down to the last minutes of the game.

Both Concordia and Beloit traded leads throughout the games; Concordia lead most of the first half scoring 28 points in the first two quarters. After Concordia took a 35-24 lead at the 12:40 mark in the 3rd quarter, Beloit scored three straight touchdowns taking a 42-35 lead at the 6:24 mark of the 4th quarter. Concordia came right back to score another touchdown and take a 43-42 lead. Cheers turned to groans at Concordia Stadium when Beloit scored to take a 50-43 lead with less than two minutes to go. But the Cougars put together an eight-play, 58-yard drive to score a touchdown to make it 49-50 and a gutsy call by the coaching staff to go for a game-winning 2-point conversion to give Concordia a 51-50 lead with 14 seconds left. The Cougars held on to win.

It was a great game for Concordia’s offense who mixed in both the run game and the passing game.

Notable stats:

RB Jakari Cammon rushed for 146 yards and scored two touchdowns.

WR Rashad Lofton had 116 yards of offense and scored two touchdowns.

QB Shane Virnala completed 21 of 26 passes with 249 total yards and threw three touchdowns.

QB Rob Granquist completed 9 of 13 with 86 yards and threw two touchdowns.

Concordia will play their next game at Kalamazoo College on September 19th (Noon CT start) after an off week this week.