Concordia kept alive its razor-thin playoff hopes by overwhelming the Pipers 45-19 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game Saturday at the Fargodome. The Cobbers took a 38-0 lead midway through the second quarter, prompting coach Jim Christopherson to pull his offensive starters, though they returned in the second half.
"They are the best team in the conference, no doubt about it," said Hamline coach Dick Tressel. "They didn't play well there for two weeks and I don't know what happened, but the team we saw today was the team we saw on film from earlier in the year. They are strong."
The Cobbers showed no signs of the offensive struggles that cost them dearly in consecutive losses to St. John's and Augsburg. After an opening-drive punt, Concordia scored on its next six possessions before halftime. They rolled up 311 yards in the first half.
The Cobbers finished with 455 total yards, including 265 passing.
"They weren't able to key on our run today. We ran some play action and threw on first and second down and I think that opened things up," said Concordia junior quarterback Ethan Pole. "When we get a mix of run and pass, our offense is able to put some points up on the board and that's what we did today."
Among the numerous offensive stars for Concordia were:
E Pole, who completed 14 of 18 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. "Pole was very sharp today," Concordia coach Jim Christopherson said. "When the main receiver wasn't there, he did a good job of finding the next receiver and getting the ball to him."
E Junior wide receiver Chris Howell, who caught eight passes for 68 yards and a score.
E Senior running back Dan Steinbesser, who returned from missing two games with a knee injury to rush for 64 yards and two TDs.
E Junior wide receiver Mike Rice, who caught four passes for 142 yards, including an 86-yard TD strike from Pole in third quarter. Rice caught a bomb from Pole at midfield and outraced Hamline defensive back Shawn Stibbins to the end zone.
E Senior wide receiver Tory Langemo, who took a reverse and cut back across the field to race 59 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.
"Today we wanted to go to the short and intermediate passes because we felt we had been going deep too often," Christopherson said. "We had been trying too many vertical passes upfield and hadn't been doing a good job of controlling the ball on offense."
The Cobbers' special teams got in on the fun, too.
Senior Chris Johnson blocked a Hamline punt in the first quarter, setting up an eight-yard touchdown pass from Pole to Howell. Junior Rob Nick recovered a Piper fumble on a kickoff in the second quarter, leading to a seven-yard scoring run by Steinbesser.
The Cobbers (6-2 conference, 7-2 overall) can still get share of conference title with a win next Saturday against Carleton combined with an Augsburg loss to Bethel.
But after the two devastating losses to St. John's and Augsburg, even a tie for the conference championship might not extend the Cobbers' season.
"We still have an outside chance to make it if all the
cards fall in the right place," Howell said. "We thought if we could put
some points on the board today, it might have playoff implications."