CUW football comes back to defeat Lakeland 28-23
Box
Score: CUW 28, LC 23
MEQUON, Wis. -- Concordia University
Wisconsin battled back from a 17-7 halftime deficit to defeat
Northern Athletics Conference and arch-rival Lakeland College,
28-23, Saturday afternoon at Century Stadium.
The win gave the Falcons a tie for fourth
place in the NAC standings with the Muskies with a 4-3 league
record.
Benedictine (6-1)
and Concordia Chicago (6-1) wound up tied for the league crown
after Wisconsin Lutheran (5-2) defeated Benedictine 23-21 in
another Saturday thriller to give the Eagles their first NAC
defeat.
The hard-hitting contest did not start out like it
was going to be a pleasant day for the Falcons.
Lakeland took the opening kickoff and drove all the
way to Concordia's 1-yard line before being stopped on
4th down. CUW (4-6 overall) picked up one first down but
then a botched punt snap forced senior Bobby May (Palm Beach, Fla.)
to scramble and scuff a kick out to his own 29-yard line.
This time the Muskies would not be denied. Eight
plays later Adam Miller dove in to make it 7-0 Muskies with 1:37
left in the first quarter.
Things went from bad to worse when Lakeland recovered
a fumbled punt at CUW's 35-yard line early in the second
quarter.
This time it took only three plays for the visitors
to make it 14-0 after Kendrick Burk's 7-yard touchdown scamper.
CUW came to life on the ensuing drive, going 60 yards
in nine plays, capped off by junior Carlton Austin's (Kingsford
Heights, Ind.) blast into the end zone. Freshman David Gonzalez'
(Pembroke Pines, Fla.) point after made it 14-7 Muskies.
Lakeland got the final score of the half when Broc
Lawry booted a 21-yard field goal after a clock-chewing 58 yard
drive.
Trailing 17-7, head coach Greg Etter's team found
some holes in the Muskie secondary midway thru the third
quarter.
On the second CUW possession of the half, freshman
Austin Damaschke (Bristol, Wis.) completed a trio of tosses with
the final one being a 10-yard touchdown strike to junior Eric West
(Plymouth, Wis.).
Suddenly it was 17-14 and the Falcon crowd was on
their feet.
Lakeland returned the "fumbled punt favor" two series
later, and it only took two plays for CUW to grab their first lead.
West grabbed a 15 yard scoring dart this time and the extra point
made it 21-17 Falcons.
The coffin nail came when senior Justin Rogers
(Milwaukee, Wis.) picked off a tipped pass and sprinted 44 yards to
paydirt to make it 28-17 CUW.
Lakeland came back within 28-23 on a long pass but
failed on a two-point conversion attempt.
CUW was able to eat up the remaining time via
the punishing running of Austin and bring home the Cheese Bowl
trophy.
The Muskies outgained the Falcons 299 yards to 243,
but most of that advantage came during the first half before the
CUW defense stiffened.
