Hastings College is coming off a big win over Northwestern on Oct. 4. The Broncos are also coming off a bye week, which featured a three-day weekend for the players.
Now it’s back to work this week with the Broncos (3-3) facing a Concordia team (4-1) that suffered its first loss of the season last weekend in a 60-52 double-overtime loss to Midland in a game that the Bulldogs at one point led 38-7.
Hastings College coach Matt Franzen is hoping the Broncos have the same kind of energy they had displayed after battling Morningside in a 41-31 loss and then in edging Northwestern 10-9.
Franzen felt the energy was there heading into that Northwestern game.
“It kind of felt like coming off the Morningside game from the week before that,” Franzen said. “We felt like we played well enough to beat Morningside and we kind of felt like we let that one slip through our hands, and we felt like if we could play that way again, that we would have a good chance to pull the win off at Northwestern.”
Franzen said there aren’t any easy games left on the Hastings College schedule, and this one against Concordia will be another battle.
“They graduated a whole bunch of people from their offense last year,” Franzen said. “So we were kind of hopeful that maybe they were going to take a little bit of a hit offensively, and now they’re right at the top of the conference in points scored per game.”
Concordia is averaging 44 points per game (12th in the country) on 438 yards per game (19th). That’s broken up into 264 passing yards per game (tied for 22nd) and 174 rushing yards (30th).
Aurora High School graduate Carlos Callazo leads the Concordia running game with 591 yards on 102 attempts (5.8 ypg) and eight touchdowns.
“They run the ball well with him, but then, they have a lot of receivers and they throw a lot of quick screens out to those guys,” Franzen said. “They’re going to run as many plays as they can and line up and just keep churning them out.
“So playing against their players is one challenge and playing against their scheme is another challenge.”
The Broncos will certainly be challenged by Concordia nose guard Carson Fehlhafer. He has 29 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and has blocked three kicks this season.
Fehlhafer was a state champion wrestler at Centennial High School in Utica.
“Carson Fehlhafer I think is as good as there is probably anywhere in the country,” Franzen said. “He got National Player of the Week here a few weeks ago against Dakota Wesleyan. He blocked two field goals that game, and he’s just a load.”
The Broncos will try to stick to the same offensive formula they’ve used all season. They’ll run the ball with Dalton Armbruster (98-494) and Kaiden Merryman (59-366) and try to keep the ball away from the explosive Concordia offense.
“The last two teams have actually put up pretty good numbers against them on the scoreboard, but they’ve thrown the ball a lot to do it,” Franzen said. “And you know we’re not designed as a pass-first type of offense. So yeah, we’re going to put together our game plan to run the ball, but at the same point, we need to be able to take advantage of some things in the pass game just to keep up with them.”
Winning the time of possession has been important in the last two games.
“We have succeeded in keeping the other team’s offense on the sideline,” Franzen said. “We’ve won time of possession the last two games, which has proven to be really, really important for us and for our team effort.”
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