By SNC ATHLETICS
DE PERE – St. Norbert College forced overtime with a late fourth-quarter rally but succumbed to Concordia University Wisconsin 28-21 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference game at Schneider Stadium.

The Green Knights entered the fourth quarter trailing 21-7, but finished a 10-play, 78-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Richie Gilles to Parker Lawrence with 12:21 remaining. Each team then traded punts before St. Norbert’s Marc Thomas’ interception gave the Green Knights the ball at their own 19-yard line with 4:47 left.

St. Norbert then needed 14 plays to navigate 81 yards, scoring with 19 seconds left on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Gilles to Alex Meisenheimer.

The Green Knights won the overtime coin toss and elected to go on defense. Concordia needed six plays to score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by James Linn. On St. Norbert’s third play of overtime at the Concordia 11, Gilles was strip-sacked and the Falcons recovered to end the game.

Following a scoreless first quarter, Concordia took a 10-0 lead on a Zach Heinen 25-yard field goal and a 35-yard interception return by Glenn Pearce just 15 seconds apart. St. Norbert would get to within 10-7 at halftime on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Gilles to Austin Miller with 43 seconds left in the half.

Concordia outscored St. Norbert 11-0 in the third quarter. Heinen connected on a 25-yard field goal, and then Linn found Samuel Campbell on a 33-yard touchdown pass with 1:59 left in the quarter. The Falcons added a two-point conversion for a 21-7 lead.

St. Norbert outgained Concordia 372-210 in total offense, but the Green Knights committed five turnovers with three lost fumbles and two interceptions. Gilles completed 24 of 32 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns. Lawrence caught 11 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown, while Tommy Hoeft caught five passes for 61 yards. John Trinh rushed 25 times for 80 yards.

Linn completed 9 of 16 passes for 102 yards and one touchdown. Geoffrey Mazur had 73 yards on 15 carries.

Sam Barnett had 11 tackles to lead the St. Norbert defense, while Michael Creighton had six stops. Isaac Sidon finished with three quarterback sacks.

The Green Knights will try to get back on winning note when they travel to Aurora University (5-1, 4-0 NACC) on Oct. 22 for a noon game. The Spartans are leading the conference and averaging 57,2 points per game.