Saturday, as we took the long drive to the Red River Valley I was reminded of all the agricultural production that takes place in this area of the state. As we drove I-94 to the Moorhead area I saw the small grain crop was nearly all in the bins and the sunflowers, corn,soybeans and sugar beets would soon follow. The Johnnies had a harvest of their own on their minds Saturday afternoon,to harvest a victory from the Cobbers, maintaining a share of the lead in the MIAC. Mission accomplished ,with a victory secured and the Johnnies off to a 3-0 start this season. The Johnnies will set their sights on the crop in St. Peter next Saturday as their goal is to continue harvesting a victory each week well into December .With their vision of hoisting the “Walnut and Bronze” in Salem a long way off, defeating the Cobbers on their home turf was indeed a step in the right direction.
The Johnnies received the opening kickoff and moved the ball nicely maintaining possession for 6:24 ,but the Cobbers dug in and made the Johnnies settle for a Russell Glaidon 33 yard field goal to put the Johnnies up 3-0.
The Cobbers got on the board with 1:36 remaining in the 1st quarter, their PAT was blocked by big Jack Daggett who continues to impress Johnnie fans far and wide with his kick blocking capabilities. At this point of the game, Cobbers lead 6-3.
Moving to the 2nd quarter the Johnnies again put together a nice 63 yard drive capped off with a 25 yard TD pass from Joe Boyle to Josh Overman, followed by a Russel Glaidon PAT to make the score SJU 10-Concordia 3.
Midway through the 2nd quarter the Johnnie defense made another big stop with Kyle Schroeder making his second fumble recovery of the game,inside the 10 yard line, to foil a Cobber touchdown. The Johnnie offense then took over and drove 95 yards in 10 plays, capped off by another Boyle touchdown pass, this time to Ben Vanderheyden. Glaidon added the PAT to remain perfect for the day and to bring the score to 17-6 in favor of the Jays.
The Cobbers were not ready to lay down, with the Family Day weekend crowd of 6,000+ looking on the Cobs marched down the field and scored with 10 seconds remaining in the 1st half. After exchanging timeouts, the Cobbers finally settled on an attempt for a 2-point conversion which was unsuccessful making the halftime score 17-12 in favor of the Johnnies.
Late in the 3rd quarter the Johnnies got on the board this time with a 10 play 80 yard drive. Boyle found Jimmy Loonan open in the left flat for a 15 yard touchdown pass. Glaidon again added the PAT making the score SJU 24 Cobbers 12.
Boyle was not done for the day,later in the 3rd quarter he tucked the ball while weaving through traffic 42 yards for the touchdown. Glaidon added the PAT for the final SJU points of the game.
Midway through the 4th quarter Boyle did throw an interception resulting in a 65-yard Concordia touchdown and the final score SJU 31 Concordia 19.
The defense had a couple of breakdowns in coverage, but with injuries depleting the defensive side of the ball and what appears to be a flu bug traveling around the team the Johnnie defense stepped up when it needed to to turn back an always tough Concordia Cobber squad on their home turf.
As mentioned earlier Kyle Schroeder had a huge day, putting himself in the right position to recover 2 fumbles in the 1st half to stop the Cobbers as they were inside the SJU 10 yard line both times. Schroeder also recorded 2.5 sacks for the day. The leading tacklers for the Johnnies were John Stanton with 10,Noel Meyer with 8, Kevin Wenner,starting in place of an injured Bobby Klint, had 7 tackles and Dominic Haik had 6 tackles. In addition to Schroeder’s sacks, Noel Meyer added 1.5 and Ethan Eid added the other as the Johnnies notched 5 sacks for the day.
Offensively the Johnnies were led by Joe Boyle who was 13 for 23 with 1 interception,while tossing the 3 touchdown passes.The rushing leaders were Jakob Reding 19 for 80 yards and Boyle 6 for 72 with the lone Johnnie rushing touchdown. Also adding to the ground attack for the Johnnies were Jimmy Loonan, Harry Awe and Kellen Blaser. The receiving leaders for the Johnnies were Jakob Reding 4 for 27,Vanderheyden 3 for 52, Andrew Rotschafer 2 for 50 and Overman 2 for 40.
Completing the non-conference schedule undefeated and beginning the MIAC regular season schedule 1-0 is all that any Johnnie fan could ask for 3 games into the season. Accomplishing this with the early season illness and injuries only adds to this accomplishment. Winning the 600th game he has coached on the collegiate level for John Gagliardi was a nice added bonus. As John has said countless times through the years, “they’re all big games” and now the game plans and attention are focused to the next big game which is next Saturday in St. Peter against the Golden Gusties.
