SEWARD, Neb. – Setting the tone early was the main key for the 10th-ranked Morningside University football team on Saturday against Concordia.
The Mustangs did just that in a 51-21 win on the road to give them their first win of the season.
Morningside scored 14 points in the first 4 minutes, 20 seconds of the game to give the Mustangs the foundation needed to down the Bulldogs.
In their first possession of the night, quarterback Zack Chevalier found Lennx Brown for a 5-yard pass that closed a 63-yard drive.
Then, 17 seconds later, Logan Macumber picked off a DJ McGarvie pass for 36 yards, and he took it all the way back to the end zone. That happened on the Bulldogs’ first offensive play from scrimmage. Just like that, the Mustangs were up 14-0.
“I thought we started a lot faster,” said head coach Steve Ryan on the KMNS postgame show. “We just got off to a great start.”
Concordia got on the board on its second drive, but Morningside responded with a Trevor Paulsen 33-yard field goal.
Drew Sellon – who set a Morningside single-game record with 18 receptions – caught his first of two TD passes with 10:34 left in the second quarter, which gave Morningside a 24-6 lead. Sellon’s second scoring grab came from the Concordia 19 with 8 seconds left in the second.
Jakob Nelson added to the score with 3:39 left in the second on a 30-yard TD throw from Chevalier.
The Mustangs opened up the third quarter with Chevalier’s fifth and final touchdown pass of the night, as the Iowa Wesleyan transfer found senior Ryan Cole for 45 yards to make it a 44-6 game.
Chevalier was 44-for-57 for 481 yards with those five touchdowns. Saturday night was the sixth time a Morningside quarterback has thrown 57-plus pass attempts. Chevalier has done it twice in the last two weeks. He now has the Nos. 2 and 3 most pass attempts in program history.
The 44 completions from Chevalier also broke a program record in a single game.
The last score of the night was a 27-yard interception return from Landry Phipps with 4:58 remaining in the game. Phipps had 10 total tackles, trailing only Isaac Pingel‘s 15 total tackles.
Teyel Lowe had three total tackles for loss.
Overall, Morningside amassed 529 total yards on 81 plays. The Mustangs’ defense held Concordia to 271 yards on 78 tries.
