Moorhead, Minn.-- Concordia football head coach Terry Horan is ready to lead his troops as they prepare for the 2005 season. The Cobbers are looking to defend their 2004 MIAC title and become the first Concordia squad to repeat as conference champions since the 1981 season. The trophies have been put away in the trophy case and the All-American and MVP certificates have been framed and neatly hung on the wall. It is officially time for the Concordia football team to put the 2004 season in the rear view mirror and concentrate on the difficult road ahead.

The 2005 edition of the Cobber gridiron gang will be hoping to defend its MIAC title and repeat as champions for the first time since the 1981 Concordia squad successfully defended their 1980 crown.

Head Coach Terry Horan knows that this season will be even more troublesome than the last. _We know that we have the bull_s-eye on our chest this season,_ pondered Horan. Not only will Horan have to contend with a league that will be marking the reigning champs date on their calendar, but he will have to replace several key members of the 2004 squad who helped the team in critical situations.

The current Cobbers will have a definitive advantage over their predecessors; they now understand the hard work and determination that it takes to win a conference championship. And in case they forgot over the off-season, Horan was omnipresent in telling his troops to be ready for the tough test ahead. _Our theme this whole off-season is to not be satisfied. As soon as the season was over we talked about pushing forward. We want to get better. We know that if you are just standing still then other people are gaining on you. We want to improve on the success we had last season,_ stated Horan.

The theme of never being satisfied will be put to the test from the beginning of the year as Concordia will open with an MSU-Moorhead team that is invigorated by a coaching change and then start the conference schedule with last year_s runner-up, St. Thomas.

The biggest pothole for the Cobbers in 2005 will be their ability to find crunch-time receivers who can handle the passes thrown from MIAC MVP Brian Schumacher. Schumacher lost his two favorite targets in All-American Andrew Passanante and athletically gifted Shawn Reile. Between the two, they caught 119 passes and accounted for 16 touchdowns. Finding replacements will be a difficult task since the batch of returning wideouts had a total of four receptions combined.

The other detour along the way could come from the defensive side of the ball. Concordia_s air-tight defense graduated their top two linebackers from a year ago. Josh Dietz and Doug Runke solidified the middle of the field and let the rest of the Cobber defense hold the MIAC to a league low in rushing yardage. Dietz was an All-American and Runke earned All-Conference honors. The key for the co-defensive coordinators Scott Lucier and Dave Klug will be to find replacements who can carry the load by losing 224 total tackles.

Despite those two major construction areas, Horan remains optimistic about Concordia_s chances in 2005. _The nice thing about what we did last year is that we have a lot of good players coming back. We have five starters on each side of the ball coming back and we return our all-conference kicker. You look at that as a good starting point and then hopefully we will build on that,_ commented Horan.

Perhaps the biggest reason that Cobber fans will not expect any road construction delays on the path to the next championship is the return of Schumacher. Last year he rose from the pile of a starting quarterback controversy to become the most lethal weapon in the conference. In 2004, he led the league in passing efficiency and was second in total offensive yardage. He set program records in total offensive yards and touchdowns accounted for. His ability to beat opponents with his passing or running skills makes him the ideal athlete to run Horan_s complex double slot offense.

Horan recounted with pride about Schumacher_s accomplishments last season. _He won about every award known to mankind a year ago. He matured as a player and quarterback and was able to make plays in crucial game-deciding situations._

At the same time, Horan knows that duplicating last year_s feat will be hard to attain for the senior signal-caller, _I told Brian that he shouldn_t put so much pressure on himself coming into the season. He doesn_t have to feel like he has to do everything. We have a good nucleus around him and he just has to be Brian Schumacher. He just has to do what he is capable of doing. Brian is such a quality kid that he understands what his role is and what it takes to win in big game situations.

In order for the 2005 Concordia football team to lay down a solid pathway to another championship destination, they will have to stay injury free, keep getting the timely breaks and get another superstar, season-long performance from the reigning conference MVP. This year_s squad will benefit from the knowledge that the blueprints they possess have been tested and are capable of seeing them through to the finish. If all goes well, this road crew will successfully complete a smooth thoroughfare to a return trip to the NCAA playoffs.