Justin Dade – UWEC Sports Information
MOORHEAD, Minn. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire fell to the Cobbers of Concordia College 25-7 on Saturday afternoon at Jake Christiansen Stadium in their first road game of the season.
The Blugolds made things interesting in the fourth quarter, but were unable to close the gap as the Cobbers' strong running game proved to be too much racking up over 300 yards on the ground in the game.
Concordia found the end zone first in this one on a 4-yard run by Chad Johnson after a Blugold punt on their opening series of the game. Jason Montonye followed that score up with a 5-yard touchdown run of his own to give the Cobbers an early 12-0 lead with 7:19 left to play in the first quarter.
Another Johnson touchdown run early in the second quarter gave the Cobbers a 19-0 halftime lead.
Concordia added another touchdown early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run from Austin Maanum to extend the lead to 25-0.
The Blugolds' offense finally came to life late in the fourth quarter on a 59-yard strike from quarterback JT Denhartog (So. – Hopkins, MN) to Matt Knapp (Sr. – Eau Claire, WI).
UW-Eau Claire was able to make it into Cobber territory one more time late into the game, but were unable to score, turning the ball over on downs.
Denhartog finished 13-27 for 154 yards and a touchdown while leading the team in rushing with 43 yards on 15 attempts. The sophomore quarterback was very efficient in this one by not turning the ball over and completing a pass to seven different receivers on the day.
Knapp found the end zone for the first time this season finishing with three catches for 78 yards and the touchdown while also carrying the ball three times for 11 yards.
Kaeleb Stangler (Jr. – Rochester, MN) led the team in tackles with nine, followed by cornerback Tony Tierney (Jr. – Mahtomedi, MN) who played well for the second straight week with another pass breakup and six tackles.
The Blugolds (0-2) will head into their bye week with their next game coming up against Wisconsin Lutheran College on Sept. 24. It will be a 2 p.m. kickoff in Wauwatosa at Raabe Stadium.
Follow the action for all sports this season on Blugold Game Day.