Shane Solberg became the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards and Northwestern scored 20 unanswered points in its 20-14 road win over Concordia today at Bulldogs Stadium in Seward, Neb.
Northwestern stays unbeaten, improving its record to 5-0 in the GPAC, 6-0 overall this season. They have won three straight against the Bulldogs, who fall to 3-3 in GPAC play, 3-4 overall.
With a game-high 10 catches for 179 yards on Saturday, Solberg surpassed the record, held by Chad Netten (1994-97) with 2,559 yards, and is now the school’s all-time leader with 2,573 yards. The junior broke the record on a 17-yard reception early in the fourth quarter. Solberg, who is just four receptions shy of Netten’s career mark of 162, extended his streak of games with at least two catches to 22 and has five games with 10+ catches in his career.
Trailing 7-0 after Concordia scored on a Ryan Durdon 14-yard run late in the first quarter, Northwestern scored 20 unanswered points over the next three quarters to take control. The Bulldogs reached the endzone one final time with under two minutes to go and followed with an onside kick which Northwestern recovered to clinch the win.
Tyson Kooima found Brenden Zeutenhorst for a two-yard touchdown, the first touchdown catch of his career, on the third play of the second quarter, capping a nine-play, 64-yard drive, that tied the game at seven. Following a Concordia punt, Northwestern scored on its very next drive, finishing off an 11-play, 85-yard drive with a Garrett Packer one-yard run, his first career touchdown as a Red Raider. Both teams went scoreless over the final seven-plus minutes of the quarter as Northwestern was up 14-7 at halftime. Liam Stubbe nabbed an interception to stall a Bulldogs drive late in the half but Concordia returned the favor, picking off a Kooima pass at the Bulldogs two-yard line during the final seconds.
After a missed 35-yard field goal by Concordia midway in the third quarter, Northwestern completed another long drive with a 26-yard Braxton Williams field goal and extend the lead to 17-7 with 11 seconds left in the third. Williams converted again on the Red Raiders next drive, drilling a 27-yard field goal to conclude an 11-play, 49-yard drive that used up over six minutes of clock.
The Bulldogs’ final touchdown came from a 28-yard pass from Jake Kemp to Lane Castaneda with 1:52 left.
Northwestern outgained Concordia 412-357, holding a big edge on the ground (125-41) and in time of possession (35:13 – 24:47). The Raider D forced three Concordia turnovers and registered three sacks.
Kooima completed 23-of-39 pass attempts for 287 yards and a touchdown while Jacob Kalogonis rushed 11 times for 70 yards, averaging over six yards per attempt. Packer (9 carries, 41 yards) and Leonardo Lima Silveira (10 carries, 18 yards) both had career highs in attempts and rushing yards. Michael Storey added four catches for 51 yards and Williams was perfect on the day in kicking.
Tanner Machacek filled up the stat sheet on the defensive side, accounting for 13 tackles, three quarterback sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Sean Powell added eight stops and an interception, Noah Van’t Hof totaled five tackles and Devin Mouw, Liam Stubbe, Dylan Snyders and Brett Moser all had four stops. Moser had three quarterback hurries.
