Cobber Football Opponent

1997 Cobber Football

Cobber Football Opponent - St. Thomas

At O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Sat. Oct. 11, 1997, Concordia vs St. Thomas, 1:00 Kickoff.
8/20 Tommie Pre season Preview
10/6 Tommie Schedule and game summaries to date
10/6 Cobber Steinbeiser and Tommie Kaiser Players of the Week
10/12 Forum Coverage of Cobber win
10/12 Pioneer Press coverage
10/11 Game Summary
10/17 See Concordian Story

10/13 Concordia's Jeff Gronner and Ethan Pole were named MIAC Defensive and offensive Players of the Week today.

Offensive Player of the Week
Ethan Pole QB, Jr, 6-2, 195, Moorhead, PE/Hlth

Pole threw for two touchdowns and ran 38 yards for a third to lead Concordia to a 28-7 win over previously unbeaten St. Thomas Oct. 11. He opened the game's scoring with a 9 yard TD pass and then completed a 53 yard TD after St. Thomas had cut the lead to 14-7. His 38 yard TD run in the 4th quarter put the game away. He was 10-18 passing for the day for 176 yards and no interceptions.

Defensive Player of the Week
Jeff Gronner, DT, Sr, 6-4, 235, Underwood, PE/Hlth

Jeff had 4 sacks and 8 tackles in Concordia's win over St. Thomas. He keyed a defense that held the high scoring Tommies to just 7 points and minus 8 yards rushing.

10/11 Concordia beats St. Thomas 28-7
by Jerry Pyle, Cobber SID
The Cobbers relied on another strong defensive performance and a solid ground game to move to 6-0 on the season, 5-0 in the MIAC, with a 28-7 win at St. Thomas. St. Thomas fell to 5-1 overall, 4-1 in the MIAC.

The Cobbers led 14-0 at the half. St. Thomas scored in the third quarter to make it 14-7 but the Cobbers came right back with a 53 yard Ethan Pole to Tory Langemo touchdown pass. It was Langemo's second TD of the game. An Ethan Pole 38-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter put the game away. Pole ended the day with 10 of 18 passing for 186 yards and 46 yards rushing on 9 carries.

Jeff Gronner sparked the Cobber defensive line with 4 sacks. Lance Larson and Jon Jasken each had three sacksThe Cobber line recorded 11 sacks on the day. Cobber linebacker Ryan Sannes held St. Thomas' all-American receiver Ryan Collins to just 2 catches for 30 yards. And St. Thomas was held to a net loss of 8 yards on 26 carries.

Cobber halfback Dan Steinbeiser, the MIAC's rushing leader, suffered a knee injury in the first half after gaining 64 yards on 17 carries. He did not play the rest of the game. But freshman Marcus Ludtke was more than capapble as a replacement. Ludtke ended up with 95 yards on 14 carries. Len Crouse gained 90 yards on 23 carries.

Box Score

Cobber and Tommie Stats leaders going into Saturday's game. (See NCAA Stats)
In Division III the Cobbers rank:

2nd in the nation in points allowed 5.6 per game

28th in rushing defense at 91 ypg

13th in passing efficiency defense (75.8)

11th in total defense at 209 ypg

27th in rushing offense at 225 per game

In Division III St. Thomas ranks

17th in passing offense at 266 ypg

22nd in total offense at 432 ypg

19th in points allowed at 11.6 ppg

Greg Kaiser is 21st in passing offense with 1271 yards, 13 TDs and a 61% completion percentage

Greg Kaiser is 16th in total offense with 269 ypg

In the MIAC

Dan Steinbeisser leads the MIAC in rushing with 102 ypg

10/6/97 MIAC Players of the Week
Co-Offensive Players of the Week - Greg Kaiser, St. Thomas and Dan Steinbeisser, Concordia
Greg Kaiser, University of St. Thomas, Sophomore, Quarterback, Mora, Minnesota -

Kaiser ran for two TD's, including the game-winner from 15 yards with 1:43 to play, and threw two TD passes as he rolled up 445 yards of total offense. He rushed 10 times for 67 yards and completed 31-of-55 for 378 yards and two interceptions. A third team quarterback in 1996 as a freshman, Kaiser is 5-0 as a starter. He has thrown touchdown passes to eight different receivers. He has 13 touchdown passes and just four interceptions while throwing for 1,271 yards.

Dan Steinbeisser, Senior, Running back, Sidney , Montana -
Dan rushed for 106 yards on 23 carries in Concordia's 22-14 win over Bethel. He scored on a 9-yard TD run late in the third quarter to put the Cobbers up 19-8. He also completed a 41-yard halfback option pass to Tory Langemo to set up Concordia's go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter. He also caught one pass for 15 yards, giving him 162 yards in total offense. His running was also a big key to Concordia's ball control offense, which led to a 38:56 to 21:04 advantage in time of possession for the Cobbers. This was his fourth game over 100 yards in rushing this year.Defensive Player of the Week

Santino Jenkins, University of St. Thomas, Senior, Linebacker, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Washburn H.S.) - Jenkins had 12 tackles (eight solos), a pass break-up and a last-second interception at the St. Thomas 4-yard line that kept Gustavus from attempting a 28-yard field goal and preserved the 34-31 St. Thomas victory.

Special Teams Player of the Week
Chris Moore, St. John's University, FR, Punt and Kick Returner, Edina,
Minnesota (St. Thomas Academy HS) - Moore returned five punts for 105 yards and one kickoff for 13 yards as the Johnnies defeated Carleton 55-6 in Northfield. He returned one punt 50 yards which set up one of the Johnnies eight touchdowns on the day. Moore was the seventh ranked punt returner in the nation according to last week's NCAA statistics. He is currently averaging 18.2 yards per punt return for the season.

10/4/97
St. Thomas scored a 34-31 win at Gustavus today to remain unbeaten at 5-0, 4-0 in the MIAC. St. Thomas trailed with 31-27 with 4:58 left in the game, scored with 1:43 left to take the lead, and picked off a Southworth pass on their 3 yard line with 4 seconds left in the game to preserve the win. (See Pioneer Press game story)

STU-Gustavus game

St. Thomas Schedule
Sept. 6, Concordia -St. Paul, Tommies win, 49-7.
Sept. 13, Augsburg College, Tommies win, 28-12.
Sept. 20, At Hamline Univ., Tommies win, 14-0
see game summary
Sept. 27, Carleton College, Tommies win, 36-8
see game stats of Carleton game
See written summary of that game

Oct. 4 At Gustavus Adolphus College, Tommies win 34-31

play by play | Box Score
Oct. 11, Concordia College-Moorhead, 1 p.m. (Homecoming)
Oct. 18, At Macalester College, 1 p.m.
Oct. 25, Bethel College, 1 p.m.
Nov. 1, At St. Olaf College, 1 p.m.
Nov. 7, St. John's Univ., at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, 8 p.m. (Family Weekend)

Tommie Pre-season Preview:
Eight could be a key number for UST football in 1997. The Tommies, who won eight games in 1996, return eight offensive and eight defensive players with starting experience. As the team tries to win the school's first MIAC championship in eight seasons, it must replace at least eight key graduated regulars and specialists.

5th-year head coach Mal Scanlan's first job is to find a replacement for All-MIAC quarterback Chris Esterley (career:7,709 passing yards - 2nd all-time in MIAC). Esterley's successor is expected to be one of three sophomores, all Minnesota natives - 1996 backup Greg Kaiser, Dan Novak, or Andy Juntunen. All-American tight end Ryan Collins (55 rec., 820 yds, 10 TDs) returns for his senior season joining a talented receiving corp. consisting of Shanti Rainey and Mark Warder. On defense, the Tommies must replace, among others, defensive ends Aaron Harper (2nd team All-American, 14 sacks in '96) and All-MIAC Troy Johnson.

The good news for the Tommies are their returning players including all three of their linebackers and their interior linemen.

St. Thomas returns seven starters on offense (30.11 ppg/385.89 ypg) and eight on defense (21.56 ppg/343.11 ppg).

Coach Scanlon believes that one key to a title run in '97 is the Tommies' ability to "stop the big play", something they were unable to do in crucial situations last year.

Cobbers on

Box Scores:
| 1997 |
| 1996 | 1995 |
| 1994 | 1993 |
| 1992 | 1991 |

Tickets are $4 adults, $2 students no reserved seating Gates open at noon.

Listen to the Archived version of the game on Real Audio

Broadcast Info:
- 1280 AM Radio, Larry Knutson with play by play and Craig Samuelson with color commentary.
Pregame show begins at 12:40.

- KFAN 1130 AM in the Twin Cities, MIAC Game of the Week

- Meredith Cable TV will air the game live St. Paul, Roseville, Burnsville, Apple Valley and Eagan