Kevin Boegel (21) returns his 2nd interception of the day on Concordia’s 1st pocession of the 2nd half; which leads to a Koefed to Weber 14 yard TD pass 3 plays later
In a game that has been a nail-biter in recent years the St. John’s University Johnnies came out and set the tone early against the visiting Concordia Cobbers. The Johnnie secondary of Kevin Boegel, John Cloeter, Dominic Haik and Sam Gervais provided tight coverage to the relatively new Cobber passing attack, which resulted in two interceptions in the first quarter. Boegel snagged the first interception. This interception did not result in a touchdown by the Johnnie offense, however this did set the tone of the game.
The Cobbers continued to throw the ball and LB Josh Rose got into the act by intercepting Concordia QB Jesse Nelson and returning the ball to the Cobber 8-yard line. At this point of the game the only two completions the Cobbers had were to Johnnie defensive players. Mike Patnode scored two plays later to put the Johnnies on the board first. The Johnnies never looked back.
The Johnnie defense continued to put the heat on through out the game resulting in a second Boegel pick early in the third quarter.
This was a game of multiple occurrences as the Johnnies recorded 3 TD by Mike Patnode and 2 TD by Jeff Schnobrich. James Shockman had 2 fumble recoveries for the Johnnies to compliment the 2 Boegle interceptions. Alex Kofoed threw 4 more TD passes as he continues to re-write the Johnnie record book. Kofoed was 26 of 33 for 303 yards and 4 TDs. Kofoed exited the game midway through the 3rd quarter.
Ben Vanderheyden (89) and Jeff Schnobrich (30) celebrate Schnobrich’s 7 yard TD reception from Alex Koefed in the 2nd quarter
Other Johnnies scoring TDs were Brian Weber and Chace Pollock each snagging 14-yard touchdown passes from Kofoed.
Aaron Blackmore did not play for the Johnnies as he is nursing a knee injury. The 3-headed monster running attack of Blackmore, Patnode and Schnobrich has been a pleasant surprise for the Johnnies this season. The emergence of Schnobrich has provided depth and versatility to the RB position that came into the season with some questions. Let me be the first to say that the questions have been answered. Playing primarily a blocking back in the running game, Schnobrich is not the big bruising type of player that many other teams insert to that role. Having a versatile player who can block for teammates, run effectively with the ball and catch the ball is more important in the Johnnie system. With that being said, another back who is seeing some action as the Johnnies have had comfortable leads in the second half of the past two games is Kellen Blaser, a 6′-2″ 230 lb. Sophomore from Austin Pacelli High School. With the size of a more “traditional” blocking back this could be the future for the Johnnie ground game.
For the time being, I’m pleased with the results the Johnnies coaching staff and players have produced to this point in the season with the 2007 version of the 3-headed monster.
The Johnnie defense played a pretty good game. There was one breakdown in coverage, as Cobber RB Cory Johnson broke free for an 88-yard TD run late in the 3rd quarter. The kick coverage team gave up a kick-off return for a TD in the 3rd quarter as well.
The Johnnies coaching staff will correct these missed assignments this week in practice and be ready to move forward.
The Johnnie defense had a QB sacks by Nick Gunderson and Mitch Eversman. The leading tacklers for the Johnnies were Gunderson, Eversman, Stephen Foertsch, Mike Schumacher, Josh Rose and John Cloeter. By the way, Cloeter was the cover boy on the Johnnie Game Day Program this week.
Russell Gliadon continues to show excellent results in the kicking of FGs and PAT. Glaiadon notched another FG to his season total and was perfect on his PAT attempts. Braden Beeson shared kick off duties with Gliadon and had some very nice kick offs.
I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit nervous for the Johnnies coming into this game. The Cobbers were coming off a tough 3-overtime loss last week in Moorhead to the Bethel Royals. The score of this game has me wondering, is this Johnnie team one of those special teams? You all know what I’m referring to. Can this Johnnie team go through the MIAC schedule undefeated and make a long run into the NCAA Division III play-offs? Could this Johnnie team make it back to Salem, Virginia in December? It is too early to begin those thoughts as we are only 2 weeks into the conference schedule but it’s always nice to dream.
