SEASON ENDED IN NORTH DAKOTA
During 1964 football season, Linfield (won NWC title) had an 8-1-1 record. Season ended in Fargo, North Dakota, with a 28-6 loss on road to Concordia of Moorhead, Minnesota, in opening round NAIA football playoff game. That game played before 5,200 on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 21, 1964, on Dacotah (spelling is correct) Field on the campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo. Because game temps were 10-15 degrees, it’s known colloquially by Wildcat fans as the “Concordia Ice Bowl.”
(Moorhead, Minn., and Fargo, N.D., are two miles apart. For all intent and purposes, they are one city.)
(“Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota are sister cities of the Red River Valley. Fargo is the largest community in North Dakota and Moorhead borders it along the Minnesota side. Running through the two communities and acting as a natural boundary is the Red River of the North,” says the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau.”)
See photo posted here from Linfield Athletics/Sports Info showing Roy Helser, Linfield assistant football coach, and Linfield football player Jim Dimit on sidelines of 1964 “Concordia Ice Bowl.”
SCORES: LINFIELD FOOTBALL 1964 REGULAR SEASON
In 1964, Linfield regular season scores in chronological order: 7-0 Eastern Wash., 42-0 British Columbia, 25-13 Whitman, 32-7 Willamette, 14-14 Western Wash., 6-0 College of Idaho, 31-0 Portland State and 63-0 Pacific.
LINFIELD FOOTBALL vs. CONCORDIA OF MINNESOTA
As this is written (8/27/2016), “Wildcats” of Linfield and “Cobbers” Concordia of Moorhead, Minn., have met three times (1964, 1978 and 2005) in football:
1964 in Fargo, N.D.:
Concordia 28, Linfield 6, NAIA playoffs, opening round.
Also known as "Concordia Ice Bowl"
1978 in McMinnville:
Concordia 24, Linfield 23, NAIA playoffs, second round
2005 in McMinnville:
Linfield 28, Concordia 14, NCAA D3 playoffs, second round
POSTED HERE, COVERAGE OF 1964 GAME FROM SALEM NEWSPAPER
=Posted here is coverage from the Oregon Statesman daily
newspaper of Salem, Ore., about the 1964 game.
BELOW, COVERAGE OF 1978 GAME FROM CONCORDIA
=A story from Concordia about the 1978 game includes:
Concordia's next opponent was "… the NAIA's
number-one-rated team from Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore.
“While a few Cobber fans managed to get to Oregon, most contented themselves with the play-by-play on radio station WDAY, Fargo. It was a thriller all the way.
"On the first play from scrimmage, the Cobber backfield intercepted a Linfield pass. It was a good omen. The natural turf, muddy from snow and rain earlier in the week, was very slippery and led to a controversial call by the referee. With the game tied at 17 in the last quarter, a Linfield ball carrier slipped and apparently fumbled the ball to Concordia on the Linfield 8-yard line. But the referee overruled the official and Linfield retained possession.
“But the Cobbers won this game the way they had played all season: by forcing the other team to make big mistakes and not making any themselves. With about three minutes left and leading 23-17, Linfield was unable to move the ball on the ground and sent in their punter.
"The snap from center was low and their kicker chose to run toward the sideline rather than attempt a kick on the slick field against a horde of charging Cobbers. And Concordia had a first down on the Linfield 17. Concordia … did the unexpected to Linfield. A perfectly thrown pass and a good point-after kick gave Concordia a 24-23 win…”
BELOW, 2005 GAME STORY FROM FARGO NEWS PAPER
Story in the Fargo Forum (Nov. 27, 2005) about the 2005
game:
Sixty minutes proved too long for Concordia to contain the
high-powered Linfield offense Saturday at Maxwell Field.
The No. 1 Wildcats scored on three consecutive second-half
possessions, including two in the fourth quarter, to rally for a 28-14 victory
in the second round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
"It's tough," Concordia safety Dave Moll said.
"They get you on the move. You have to keep trying to keep them down,
catch your breath, get up and do it again on the next play."
Linfield (10-0) scored on an 89-yard touchdown drive late in
the third quarter and added touchdown drives of 96 and 73 yards in the fourth
quarter.
"Holding a team like that to 28 points is a great
effort," Concordia coach Terry Horan said. "It's too bad we didn’t
outscore them today."
Concordia (10-2) led by seven points midway into the third
quarter before the Wildcats made their move.
"I think it took us that long to get a handle on what
they were trying to do defensively," said Linfield quarterback Brett
Elliott, who completed 31 of 39 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns.
Linfield tied the score at 14 late in the third quarter.
Elliott threw a screen pass to wide receiver Brandon Hazenberg on the left
side. It appeared that Hazenberg would be stopped for a short gain.
However,
the senior wideout broke a few tackles, cut back toward the sideline and
powered into the end zone. The 16-yard score came with 4:28 remaining in the
third quarter.
"We missed some tackles, but they made some
plays," Horan said. "They have some great athletes."
Linfield took its first lead, 21-14, with 13:50 remaining
when Elliott hit wide receiver Brad McKechnie over the middle for a 7-yard
touchdown pass. A 53-yard Hazenberg catch that took the ball to the Concordia
2-yard line set up the score.
"We've just got so many playmakers," Hazenberg
said. "We knew if we played our hardest, someone would make a play."
The Cobbers made most of the plays in the first half,
holding the ball for 21 minutes, 15 seconds and running 40 plays to Linfield's
20.
"That first half went really fast," Hazenberg
said. "We didn't have the ball that much and that was really
frustrating."
Concordia took momentum into halftime, scoring with 57
seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Quarterback Brian Schumacher capped a six-play, 43-yard
drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to running back Ben Thoreson.
On the play, Schumacher faked a handoff into the line before
floating a pass over the middle to Thoreson behind the Linfield defense.
Thoreson hauled in the throw in the end zone for a 14-7 lead.
"We knew that our best defense would be to keep their
offense off the field," Schumacher said. "We did a good job of
keeping them off the field in the first half."
Concordia could have taken a two-score lead into halftime,
but, a 61-yard touchdown pass from Schumacher to Lucas Brott with 16 seconds
left was called back for holding.
"I'm proud of our young men and the way they
played," Horan said. "That was 60 minutes of hard-fought football,
but we just came up short."
