Spartans Take One On the Chin

AURORA, Ill. October 7, 2006 - It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon with a a full grandstand on Aurora University's homecoming. On the field, AU fell to Concordia University (WI) 42-13 in Illini-Badger Football action.

Concordia came into the game having played solid football all year long. So solid, in fact, that they were undefeated and in command of the IBFC standings. Things did not change. Concordia controlled the clock, and the ball, en route to the lop sided victory.

The Falcons racked up 398 total yards with 32:16 in time of possession as the Spartans could muster up just 174 yards.

Concordia would take a 35-6 lead into halftime, the Falcons had four different players score in the half.

Jerome Walker opened up the scoring at the 7:24 in the first quarter on a one-yard touchdown scamper on a fourth and goal. John Collier made it a 14-0 game with 4:30 top play in the first quarter, he scored on a 61-yard touchdown reception from TJ Paccholi. Just four minutes later, CUW made it a 21-0 contest on a 32 yard scamper by Tim Maher.

After AU made it 21-6 on a 12 yard Cory Cowan reception from Matt Nelleman, Concordia answered with two more scores themselves, both from Mike Steinmetz. His first came on a 10-yard reception from Paccholi and the second on a 51-yard run just before the half.

Aurora had trouble getting anything going offensively. After testing out three different quarterbacks, the Spartans still could not move the ball against Concordia's stiffling defense.

The lone bright spot for AU came when freshman Ryne Reder broke loose for a 60 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter.

The AU defense held Concordia scoreless in the second half, the only Falcon score came on an eight-yard fumble recovery on a botched AU punt attempt by Taylor Siolka as time expired in the third quarter.

The loss drops Aurora to 1-4 on the year and 1-2 in the IBFC and Concordia improves to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the IBFC. The Spartans return to action next Saturday as they play host to conference foe Benedictine University.