10-31-15FBvsCUWPreview

Football

Lakeland to defend Cheese Bowl, first place Saturday at Concordia

The Lakeland College football team will look to stay on top of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference standings and to keep the Cheese Bowl trophy for another year when it travels to face Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tomasini Stadium in Mequon.

Lakeland and Concordia are playing for the Cheese Bowl trophy for the 23rd time, and last year the Muskies won it back for the first time since 2010 with a 27-10 win over the Falcons at Taylor Field. Kezlow Smith (Sr.-Pontiac, Mich.) caught seven passes for 127 yards and two touchdown and the defense limited Concordia to 251 yards of offense and forced three turnovers.
 
Lakeland (5-2 overall, 3-0 NACC) enters the game after a 47-40 double-overtime victory over Aurora last week to remain undefeated in the NACC. The Muskies overcame five first-half turnovers and six turnovers in the game, coming back from a 20-7 second quarter deficit to win. Michael Whitley (So.-Vidalia, La.) piled up huge numbers once again, completing 28 of 45 passes for 363 yards and three touchdown passes while also rushing 26 times for 84 yards and four touchdowns. Michael Esiobu (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) caught eight passes for 141 yards and a score and Smith added two more touchdown catches. The defense also came up with stops in both overtime periods as the Muskies won their fourth straight game.

Concordia (3-4 overall, 3-1 NACC) continued to stay close behind league-leading Lakeland and Benedictine in the NACC standings with a 15-7 win on the road at Rockford last week. Aaron Nixon completed 27 of 40 passes for 257 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Concordia's defense held the Regents to 233 yards of offense in the low-scoring game. Like the Muskies last week, Concordia won despite being well on the wrong side of the turnovers battle-the Falcons were minus-four with two interceptions and two lost fumbles against Rockford.

Lakeland College will be providing a live audio broadcast of the game available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lc/. Baxter Colburn will call the play-by-play with Corey Plath on the analysis. Concordia University also will provide live video and statistics for the game. Live video will be available at http://www.cuwfalcons.com/FAN1, while live stats will be at http://www.cuwfalcons.com/sports/fball/2015-16/boxscores/20151031_hwc2.xml.

For the rest of this week's game notes please click here.
 
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Players Mentioned

Michael Esiobu

#6 Michael Esiobu

WR
6' 2"
Senior
Kezlow Smith

#10 Kezlow Smith

WR
6' 0"
Junior
Michael Whitley

#5 Michael Whitley

QB
6' 0"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Michael Esiobu

#6 Michael Esiobu

6' 2"
Senior
WR
Kezlow Smith

#10 Kezlow Smith

6' 0"
Junior
WR
Michael Whitley

#5 Michael Whitley

6' 0"
Sophomore
QB