Suffering their first district loss and falling to 3-3 on the season, the Concordia High School football team was defeated by Clay Center 47-26.
Clay Center didn’t waste any time, running the flexbone triple option-based offense as they marched down the field and scored in less than three minutes to go up 7-0. Concordia responded quickly on the following drive, scoring on a 54-yard trick play that saw receiver Ayden Krier find Kale Schroeder for a touchdown to make it 7-6 in just over a minute of game time. The Tigers bled some clock on their next drive which ended in a touchdown to go up 14-6.
On Concordia’s next drive that extended into the second quarter, after a third and long in Tiger territory went nowhere, the Tigers messed up the timing on the punt attempt and forced a turnover on downs. Clay Center capitalized and scored on their next drive to go up 21-6. After a few first downs, a sack followed by a botched pitch stalled the Panthers and forced a punt, and in only three plays, the Tigers found the end zone again to go up 28-6.
Forced to punt after three straight plays that went nowhere, the Panthers turned the ball over to the Tigers, and on their first play they threw a pass that got intercepted by Rush LeDuc. With a trick play that saw Krier throw the ball to Drake Blochlinger, and then a clutch catch by Krier with one second remaining on the clock, Blochlinger found Schroeder in the end zone for his second touchdown of the game to make it 28-12 entering halftime.
After the Panthers fumbled on the first drive of the second half, the Panther defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs. On the first play after getting the ball back, Blochlinger found Krier for a 71-yard touchdown to make it a 28-18 game. With the pressure starting to build on the Tigers, they marched down the field and scored another touchdown to go up 34-18. Concordia made sure to keep the pressure up, on the first play of the following drive, Blochlinger found Parker Jackson for a 68-yard touchdown to make it a one-possession game, 34-26 Clay Center, with 2:11 remaining in the third quarter.
After bleeding the rest of the clock and entering the fourth quarter, the Tigers used their dominating run game to score and go up 40-26. In desperation mode, the Panthers went for it on fourth down in their own territory and failed to convert. with the chance to put the game away, the Tigers scored quickly to go up three possessions and a final score of 47-26.
Blochlinger went 13-23 passing for 277 yards and two touchdowns, 26 yards rushing with a touchdown, and 23 yards receiving.
Jackson had 110 yards receiving and a five-yard rushing touchdown.
Krier had 106 yards receiving with a touchdown on four catches, and went 2-2 passing for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Schroeder had 80 yards receiving and two touchdowns on five catches.
LeDuc led in tackles with 13, with Braytin Hake adding 12.
