MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Bethel University football team survived a scare from the Concordia College Cobbers with a last-minute interception in the end zone that thwarted the Cobbers comeback attempt, sealing a 21-16 victory for Bethel. The win puts the Royals in the drivers' seat in the Skyline Division as the lone 2-0 team with two division games remaining. BU outgained the Cobbers by a 455-258 margin and ran 20 more plays, but a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and a pair of fourth down stops, one in the first half and one late in the second, gave the Cobbers the chance to pull the upset.
 
The Cobbers took the games opening kick and went three-and-out which was followed by a three-yard punt, setting the Royals up with great field position for their opening drive. A Jaran Roste to Micah Niewald 32-yard connection setup a first and goal from the 10-yard line for Bethel. The Cobbers were able to stop BU however on fourth down from the one-yard line to keep the Royals off the scoreboard. The Cobbers were able to get the ball off their own goal line thanks to a pass interference penalty but were still forced to punt. Each team then traded another pair of punts before Concordia's next possession ended in an interception by safety Nate Farm, the MIAC's leading interceptor. Bethel would then go on an eight-play, 58-yard scoring drive. On a third and goal from the 21-yard line, after a penalty had set the Royals back, Roste found Aaron Ellingson down the middle of the field for a 21-yard touchdown. The pass was threaded through a pair of Cobber defenders, including being deflected, but Ellingson showed great concentration and hands snagging the pass and then immediately taking a big hit in the end zone while holding on. Hugo Cifuentes extra point was good and the Royals held a 7-0 lead with one-minute remaining in the first quarter.
 
Concordia was able to respond with a 15-play, 70-yard drive for a touchdown but the snap on the extra point was mishandled leaving the score at 7-6. Bethel then had their own 15-play scoring drive, this one covering 75-yards. The drive was finished by Roste who carried it in from one yard out. Cifuentes was true on the PAT for the 14-6 lead with 4:38 remaining in the half. Concordia was able to drive down to the Royals 25-yard line before facing a fourth and two. CC sent in their kicker who was able to connect on a 42-yard field goal to pull the Cobbers closer at 14-9 with just 1:44 remaining. Bethel drove to the Cobber 26-yard line but the final play of the half saw a Roste pass to Ellingson fall incomplete with no flags thrown on the play that had a lot of contact between Ellingson and the defender while the ball was in route.
 
The second half started with the Royals taking the kickoff, which was fumbled but recovered by Bethel, and marching 87-yards for another touchdown. A 46-yard Roste to Joey Kidder connection highlighted the drive which was finished by Bryce Kunkle on a five-yard run. The PAT was good again for a 21-9 Bethel advantage. The score would remain there the rest of the quarter as CC missed a 41-yard field goal try. The Cobbers were able to intercept a Roste pass at their own four-yard line to stop a Bethel drive early in the fourth. After a quick three-and-out by the Cobbers, the Royals were again driving when the Cobbers were able to stand Roste up on a run and get the ball out. Concordia recovered the fumble and returned it 58-yards for the touchdown to pull within 21-16 with 9:16 remaining.
 
Bethel's ensuing drive of nine plays and 43-yards took 5:43 off the clock but the Cobbers were able to stop BU on a fourth and two from CC 32-yard line to give Concordia the ball back with 3:33 remaining. Concordia used completions of 13, 20, four, nine and nine yards to move the ball down to the Bethel 11-yard line with just a minute to play. That is when freshman safety Nate Farm again came up huge for the Royals, picking off a pass into the end zone with just 56 seconds remaining. For Farm it was his MIAC leading fifth interception of the season. The Cobbers still had all three of their timeouts remaining however and were able to force BU to punt. Roste, doubling as the Royals punter after the season ending injury against Saint John's suffered by regular punter Dane Schumacher, sent a 45-yard boot out of bounds at the CC 27-yard line with 24-seconds remaining. On the Cobbers first play a roughing the passer penalty brought the ball to the 49-yard line. Defensive tackle Michael Judd then sacked CC quarterback Tanner Dubois for a five-yard loss and forced CC to spike the ball to stop the clock with just eight seconds remaining. The Cobbers final chance saw a completed pass that was lateraled backwards twice, ending up back in the hands of Dubios who then fired a lateral pass all the way across the field to running back Peter Mortenson who had a wall of protector's setup in front of him. Mortenson made it 18-yards downfield before Jacob Kateley was able to bring him down and end the game, giving the victory to the Royals.
 
The Bethel air attack was able to pile up a season high 311 yards on 40 attempts. Joey Kidder led the way receiving with six catches for 123 yards while Aaron Ellingson added seven catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Micah Niewald contributed six catches also for 74 yards. On the ground Bryce Kunkle led the way with 75 hard earned yards on 22 carries and a touchdown. Quarterback Jaran Roste, in addition to his career high 311 yards passing, added 41 yards on the ground on 13 carries with a touchdown.
 
The Bethel defense held a Cobber passing attack that came in averaging 290 yards per game through the air to just 177 on 34 attempts with a sack and Nate Farms two interceptions. Farm was also the Royals leading tackler with 10 total tackles, five solo and five assisted, along with a pass breakup.
 
The Royals improve to 5-1 on the season, 3-1 in the MIAC, 2-0 in the Skyline division and will return home for another division game against Macalester College (1-5, 0-4, 0-2) next Saturday.