ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Bethel University Royals dominated the Concordia College Cobbers by a 41-13 final score Saturday afternoon to improve to 6-1 on the season. The Royals defense smothered the Cobbers all day long, holding them to just 136 yards of total offense while recovering three Cobber fumbles, sacking the quarterback three times, turning the Cobbers over on downs twice and returning one fumble for a touchdown.
 
The game started as a defensive struggle with both teams trying to establish the ground game on a blustery day in Arden Hills. The Cobbers benefited by great field position in the first quarter but the Royals were able to stop Concordia twice on fourth down before putting a drive together. Bethel went to the air and Jaran Roste connected twice with tight end Mathias Durie for 18 and nine yards respectively to get the drive going. Roste then found Andrew Cole for 12 yards before finishing the drive with a 14-yard connection with Drew Larsen, who made a great adjustment on the ball in the corner of the end zone for the touchdown. The game really started to turn towards the Royals favor when the defense forced a fumble after a big hit by Tavian Swanson and Trey Anderson scooped the ball up and broke multiple tackles on his way to the end zone to make it 14-0. The defense then forced a quick three and out and the offense went back to work, putting together a 13-play, 62-yard drive capped off by a Roste four yard touchdown run. 51 of the 62 yards on the drive came on the ground for Bethel as they went into the half with the 21-0 lead.

The Cobbers woes continued to start the second half, fumbling an option pitch on the first play of the third quarter. The Royals then ran three plays with Sam Gibas, Roste and Gideon Erhabor all gaining chunks on the way to the end zone with Erhabor carrying Cobbers with him into the end zone for the 28-0 lead. Another Cobber punt was followed by another Bethel touchdown drive. A back-and-forth combination of runs and passes marched the Royals down the field and Mike Delich finished things off with a three-yard run into the endzone to complete the 12-play, 53-yard drive which covered six minutes. Blake Hottle converted the PAT to make him 5-for-5 at the time.





Near the end of the third quarter the Royals defense forced another punt but the Cobbers sent a booming, spiraled punt over returner Trey Anderson's head. Anderson attempted to pick the ball up inside the 10-yard line but muffed it and the Cobbers recovered at the six-yard line. On the second play the Royals appeared to force a fumble which was scooped up by Cale Ferrin with nothing but open field in front of him but the officials blew the play dead, saying forward progress had been stopped. Concordia then scored on the next play on third and goal from the two, making it 35-7.
 
Bethel's long touchdown drives were not done for the day as the Royals marched 76 yards on 13 plays in 6:32 with Mike Delich carrying the ball three times from inside the ten yard line to finish things off. The extra point was blocked to make it 41-7, Bethel. The Royals defense did not relent, forcing an immediate punt and then after the Cobbers were able to get an interception, the Royals took the ball right back with a forced fumble by Brendan Whalen and recovery by Trent Substad. Bethel looked to run the clock out but were stopped and forced to punt. Concordia then put together an 11-play, 55-yard drive scoring the touchdown with just 24 seconds remaining. The extra point bounced off the upright to make the final score, 41-13.
 
The Cobbers put up just 30 yards passing on Bethel and gained just 106 on the ground. Bethel ran for 181 yards while throwing for 106 to total 287. The Royals had six different ball carriers on the day with Roste leading the way with 83 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. Sam Gibas had 15 carries for 57 yards while Mike Delich had two touchdowns on seven carries and 22 yards. Roste was 11-17 threw the air for 101 yards and a touchdown.
 
On defense the Royals leading tackler was Drew Ragsdale with eight to go along with a sack. Kyle Kilgore and Trent Substad also had sacks. Substad had an all around effort with four tackles, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and the sack. To go along with his two rushing touchdowns, Delich also made four tackles from his linebacker position.
 
Bethel keeps their NCAA playoff hopes fully alive with the victory with three games remaining. The Royals will travel to Hamline University next Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with the winless Pipers who were idle this week.