The Aurora University Spartan football team hosted the Falcons of Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon as AU celebrated the 2014 homecoming weekend.  The Spartans started off strong on both sides of the ball, but Concordia eventually overcame the Spartans and won by a final score of 62-24.
 

AU came out with a lot of excitement as Jaylen Robinson returned the opening kickoff 72 yards to the CUW 3 yardline.  Jake Apple punched in the ball on the first carry of the game to give the Spartans an early 7-0 lead. 

The Spartan defense dominated early as they forced the Falcons to punt on their first two possessions, holding them to consecutive three and outs to start off the game. Aurora also added to their lead nearly halfway through the quarter as a seven play 53 yard drive was capped off by a Krystian Chudoba field goal from 27 yards out. AU led 10-0.

After the AU defense forced a third straight punt, one the fourth Concordia offensive possession the defense came up strong again. This time, senior Darren Harms intercepted Falcon quarterback Austin Damaschke and with a 28 yard return set up the AU offense at midfield. But the Falcon defense responded, forcing a Spartan punt.
 

On the next drive, Concordia finally got on the board late in the first quarter after completing a 10 play, 87 yard drive with a five yard rushing touchdown from Damaschke. The score was 10-7 in favor of the Spartans after one quarter.
 

The Falcons made some type of adjustment to the AU defensive pressure late in the first quarter and into the second as they started to control the momentum of the game. Concordia scored on the first two possessions of the second quarter to take a 21-10 lead.

The Spartan special teams led by Camerhon Guyton took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 72 yards to the Concordia 13 yard line. Unfortunately, the turnover bug hit the Spartans as junior quarterback Curtis Townsend was intercepted in the back of the end zone on the second play of the drive.

The AU defense responded though and would set up the Spartan offense once again. The Falcons were deep in Spartan territory when Damaschke fumbled and Tommy Rose pounced on the loose ball.

Aurora's offense answered with a touchdown of their own, going 85 yards in six plays to stay in the game. The big play coming from freshman quarterback Kendall Lawson when he ran 41 yards for the score. With 3:37 left to play in the first half, the Spartans trailed 21-17.
 

Concordia answered right back though with a touchdown late in the half to take a 28-17 lead. The score would remain that way into halftime.
 

The visitors opened up the second half with scores on their first two possessions and with just over nine minutes to play in the third quarter, AU trailed 42-17.

Late in the third quarter AU scored on a 13 yard touchdown pass from lawson to Peter Rizzi to cut the score to 42-24 but Concordia answered immediately to extend the lead back to 48-24 after the extra point was blocked. At the end of three quarters, Concordia led 48-24.
 

The Falcons scored twice more in the fourth quarter to make the eventual final score 62-24.

Leaders for AU on the day included Apple (20 rushes for 126 yards and one touchdown), Lawson (9-of-18 passing for 107 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions and 11 rushes for 62 yards and one touchdown) and Guyton (six returns for 227 yards).

For Concordia, the Falcons set an AU/Vago Field record with 754 yards of total offense and Damaschke broke his own AU/Vago Field record with 417 yards passing. His previous record at AU/Vago Field of 390 was set in 2012. He finished the day with 189 yards rushing on 26 carries and four touchdowns and passing he was 26-of-46 for 417 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.