Football | 9/3/2018 3:35:00 PM

One can't talk about 100 years of Dragon football without talking about the intense rivalry between MSUM and neighboring Concordia College.

While Concordia led the all-time series 49-25-12, that doesn't mean there weren't many memorable moments and wins for the MSUM teams and fans.

In the 1970s and 1980s the rivalry hit its peak with some unforgettable games. From 1970-92, it was a battle of the two winningest coaches at each other's schools — Ross Fortier at MSUM and Jim Christopherson of Concordia. That encompassed 23 meetings, with Christopherson holding a 12-9-2 series edge. The final meeting between the two coaching legends came in 1992, when the Cobbers stopped an MSUM two-point conversion to take a 13-12 win. Fortier would retire from coaching following that season.

Here are some highlights of the Dragon-Cobber rivalry:
1916-MSUM won the first meeting between the two schools.

1920-The Dragons pitched a shutout for first-year head coach Litz Rusness in a 21-0 victory, which was the first recorded meeting

1946-The first game after the World War II hiatus resulted in a 7-7 tie.

1957-Under the direction of second-year coach Loel Fredrickson, MSUM defeated the Cobbers 10-9. The Cobbers would win the next 19 meetings, however.

1976-MSUM ended a 19-game losing streak to their neighboring rivals with a 14-10 win over the Cobbers. MSUM's defense was stellar — recovering six fumbles and recording two interceptions. Tom Eldred had two punt returns for 55 yards while Steve Sandberg averaged 41.6 yards per punt in a game where field position played a vital role. Safety Steve Jappe led the defensive effort.

1979-In a year where MSUM would win the NIC regular-season title, the Dragons would pull off a dramatic upset of Concordia, which was the top-ranked team in NAIA. John Lind ran an interception back 35 yards to key a dramatic 13-10 lead in front of 5,400 fans.  Lind had 14 tackles while Randy Bishoff kicked a pair of key field goals.

1981-In what was a low-scoring defensive slugfest, the Dragons and Cobbers battled to a 3-3 tie (there was no overtime in that era of college football). Randy Bjorklund rushed for 72 yards on 22 carries while Greg Martin kicked a 40-yard field goal to account for only Dragon points. Paul Brigandi had 22 tackles and a fumble recovery. MSUM qualified for the playoffs that season and finished 10-1-1.

1987-MSUM beat the Cobbers, 31-22 in a game that propelled the Dragons in a NAIA playoff berth. Quarterback Mark Adams completed 14-of-27 passes for 222 yards, while David Haselhorst caught seven passes. John Dallman rushed for three touchdowns while Dave Lawrence had a pair of interceptions to lead the defense.

1999-The game was moved to the Fargodome as a result of poor weather, and MSUM dominated. Tony Duerr rushed for 202 yards and two scores while throwing for two more. Mark Rylance ran an interception 47 yards for a score to get MSUM on the boar.

2000-In one of the most unusual games in the history of the rivalry, the game was stopped in the second half because of weather, and was continued on Monday. The Cobbers scored in the final two minutes but the Dragons stopped the two-point conversion in a 21-20 win.

2002-Brad Duerr rushed for three touchdowns to leda the Dragons to a 41-17 rout at Nemzek Stadium.

2007-The final meeting in the rivalry, MSUM rallied from a 14-0 deficit to take a 32-27 lead with 14:02 left. The Dragons had the ball late into Cobber territory but instead of running out the clock in the final two minutes, elected to throw which resulted in two incompletions and a sack. Concordia scored with three seconds left to win 34-32.