Nov. 9, 2019 – The Concordia-Chicago football team gutted out another win on the road this afternoon, taking on Rockford University at Sam Greeley Field. The Regents had the upper hand for most of the afternoon, but the Cougars roared back when it counted, scoring twice in the fourth quarter to edge the Regents 28-25. The win echoed the Oct. 12 game at Eureka College when the Cougars scored 21 unanswered points over the final 16 minutes to win by one.
Rockford received the opening kickoff and drove down the field to CUC's red zone. However, on a third-and-14 which was created by a Gustavo Alba tackle for a loss of four yards, the next run saw the ball knocked loose by Julian Ramirez and recovered by Tyler Dudley to deny the hosts.
The Cougars moved the ball on their first three drives, but a combination of penalties, dropped passes and sacks kept CUC off the scoreboard. Finally, the Regents scored early in the second quarter on a 75-yard drive. A 37-yard pass play accounted for half the yardage on the nine-play drive. A sack by Alba stopped Rockford on the 13-yard line, but Gerardo Zamudio was good on a 31-yard field goal for the first points.
Concordia-Chicago threatened to answer right back as Jaxon Aubry connected on passes of 16 and 13 yards to Christian Covington. However, a fumble at the 31 gave the ball back to Rockford, and another fumble minutes later on a punt return set up the Regents at the CUC 34. Rockford would cash in on this opportunity, as LaVar Johnson scored on a 16-yard run. A two-point conversion extended RU's led to 11-0.
This time, CUC did answer as they began the drive with a 40-yard pass down the right side from Aubry to Griffin Beaudette. Seven plays later, the Cougars were in the end zone as Juan Urrea scored from six yards out. Andrew Lechuga added the extra point, and the Cougars were within 11-7 with 59 seconds remaining. The Cougars stuffed the Regents over the final minute, and the four-point margin would stand as the halftime score.
The Cougars took the second-half kickoff and looked to start out with a bang, but instead it was the Regents with the big play as William Gay intercepted a pass and took it down the left sidelines 60 yards for a touchdown and an 18-7 lead.
Later in the quarter, Ramirez turned the tide for the Cougars as he stripped the quarterback of the ball and recovered the ball at the Regents' 19. Three plays later, it was Urrea scoring from five yards out as the Cougars got the margin back to four points. But the Regent answered with a seven-play drive, LaVar Johnson scoring from 17 yards out, and Rockford again led by two scores at 25-14.
Showing no signs of panic, the Cougars marched downfield to start the fourth quarter, and Urrea capped a nine-play drive with his third touchdown of the game, a three-yard run. With 11:28 remaining, the score was now Rockford 25, CUC 21.
The Cougars would fail to score on their next possession, but they took over with 7:23 remaining. CUC caught a break when a fumble on third down was negated by a Regents' 15-yard penalty, and the Cougars turned things up a notch. Urrea and Tylor Martens made some tough runs to move the ball, and it would come down to a third-and-five at the Regents' 31. Beaudette went back to pass and was flushed out of the pocket, but he managed to escape and threw the ball to the right pylon where Da'Nas Pinellas made the clutch grab in front of a defender. The touchdown, coupled with Lechuga's extra point, gave CUC its first lead of the game with 3:31 left to play.
The game then came down to the Cougars' defense, and they continued to pitch the fourth-quarter shutout. The Regents reached the CUC 45 with a third-and-six, but Alba came up with his third sack of the game to force a fourth-and-11. Rockford would complete the pass, but the receiver was tackled two yards short of the first-down marker by Antonio Sanders. The Regents then got the ball back deep in their zone but with only time for a few desperation plays, and the Cougars held their ground for their fifth win of the season and fourth road victory.
Urrea ran for a career-high 112 yards on 22 carries, including his three touchdowns. Aubry passed for 227 yards on 18 of 29, and Beaudette completed his only pass for the touchdown to Pinellas. Covington had a breakout game with seven catches for 127 yards.
Defensively, Alba had a monster day with 10 tackles, five for minus-yards including the three sacks. Dudley was CUC's leader with 12 tackles (seven solo) plus the fumble recovery.
The Cougars moved to 5-4 on the season and 4-1 on the road. They will finish the 2019 season next Saturday with a noon kickoff at Benedictine University in Lisle.