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For the third time this season the Peacock Football Team lost by more than 20 points. The common factors… (besides playing three good teams) cool temperatures, high winds, and no sun. The rain began early this morning in Fayette and did not stop all day. Concordia-St. Paul defeated Upper Iowa 41-14.
Coach Mike Knoll will not blame the weather for their performance, although he does admit, “I don’t know what it is, but since I’ve been here we have not won in inclement weather.” The problem is that this is Iowa and we all know that summer moves very quickly into winter and fall is a very short season. After one quarter of action, both teams had three possessions which ended in two punts and a turnover for each squad. The game looked like it would be everything football fans expected; a close, hard fought Northern Sun match up. But in the second quarter, the Golden Bears took command of the game by scoring on four of their five possessions and forcing 3 punts and an interception on defense. Concordia-St. Paul scored on drives of 81, 51, 58, and 37 yards and took a 20-0 lead into halftime thanks to a pair of field goals and two touchdowns, one on the ground and one through the air. After the break, the Peacocks continued to move the ball, but they shot themselves in the foot time and time again. All season it seems that Upper Iowa has held itself back by turning the ball over. UIU gave the ball to Concordia-St. Paul six times this afternoon on five fumbles and one interception. Each fumble was not forced, but given to the Golden Bears and the interception came on an ill-advised throw. The Golden Bear offense scored three more times on the afternoon with each drive only lasting two plays. The Peacock defense gave up 70, 82, and 36 yards on these three drives which all ended in Golden Bear completions for touchdowns. Upper Iowa finally found the end zone in the fourth quarter on back-to-back possessions. The first touchdown came on a 5-yard DJ Speed rush that capped an 8-play, 60 yard drive. The second touchdown came after a fumble recovery by Vernard Wilkins on the Concordia 39-yard line. After 7 plays, Jay Lehman found Ryan Hudgins alone in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown completion. On the day, Concordia-St. Paul dominated the statistical categories. The Golden Bears rushed for 233 yards and passed for 359 yards; the Peacocks totaled 121 yards rushing and 259 yards passing. Concordia-St. Paul gained 8.3 yards per play, compared to UIU’s 4.9. Peacock Standouts Passing Andrew Jones (15-25, 161 Yds); Jay Lehman (10-18, 98 Yds, 1 TD) Receiving Ryan Hudgins (9 Rec, 91 Yds, 1 TD); Aaron McFarland (5 Rec, 44 Yds); Dwayne Croker (3 Rec, 44 Yds); Kyle Hosch (2 Rec, 30 Yds); Charles Graves (2 Rec, 26 Yds) Rushing D.J. Speed (20 Rushes, 96 Yds, 1 TD) Returns Ryan Hudgins (6 Ret, 121 Yds); D.J. Speed (1 Ret, 43 Yds) Defense John Titley (11 Tack); Anthony Calamita (9 Tack); Calvin Jones (8 Tack); Vernard Wilkins (7 Tack, 2 Fumble Recoveries); Chris Spier (6 Tack, 2.5 For Loss, 1.5 Sacks); Adam Johnson (5 Tack, .5 Sacks, 1 Int); Brandon McKenzie and Richard St. Firmin (4 Tack); Doug Akins added a tackle for loss and Daniel Hernandez added a quarterback sack. After the game, Coach Knoll was beside himself. He had a different picture of how things were supposed to go. “You can’t win a football game when you have a negative turnover ratio, especially when you give the ball away six times. We got embarrassed on our home field today. We can’t blame the weather. We need to dig deep, have a good week of practice and get ready to play a good football team next week. Mary is a good football team, but we need to go into Bismarck and get back on the winning track.” The Peacocks will travel to Bismarck, North Dakota next Saturday, the 28th, to face off against the University of Mary. |
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