Lakeland University takes aim at a fifth straight year of holding the Cheese Bowl trophy when it travels to face Concordia University Wisconsin Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Tomasini Stadium in Mequon.
The 27th annual Cheese Bowl game features a pair of teams that won their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference openers last weekend. The Muskies (1-3 overall, 1-0 NACC) picked up their first win of the season last week, getting the offense rolling in a 61-28 victory at home on Homecoming over Concordia Chicago in both teams' NACC opener.
Dezmon Eddie (
Jr.-Alexandria, La.) caught 13 passes for 146 yards and four touchdowns, all career highs, and Lakeland scored 41 points in the first half and churned out 597 yards of total offense for easily its best offensive showing of the season.
Washington Vivanco (
Jr.-Houston, Texas) also finished with 10 tackles, including four tackles for loss and three sacks, as the Muskies began their journey to a possible fifth straight conference championship.
Concordia (3-1 overall, 1-0 NACC) also played its NACC opener last week and went on the road and defeated Benedictine 48-40 in Lisle, Ill. Josh Turner rushed for 176 yards and Aaron Nixon threw for 410 yards on just 16 completions, finishing with four touchdown passes plus another three touchdowns rushing. Cameron Kohler led the defense with 13 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and the Falcons came up big in the second half, forcing the Eagles to punt on three of four possessions over the third and fourth quarters while the CUW offense scored 27 points in a span of less than 15 minutes.
Lakeland and Concordia will be playing for the Cheese Bowl trophy for the 27th time. The Cheese Bowl originated in 1992 as a traveling trophy for the winner of the two teams' annual game when they were the lone two Wisconsin members of the old Illini-Badger Football Conference. Lakeland and Concordia were conference rivals in the IBFC from 1980 through its final year in 2007, when both joined the NACC for football. Concordia holds a 14-12 edge in Cheese Bowl games, though the Muskies have held the trophy for the last four years.
This is the 39th meeting all-time on the gridiron between Lakeland and Concordia. The Falcons hold a 21-17 lead in a series that began in 1980 and has been played every year since. The Muskies have won the last four meetings, though, including a 60-14 trouncing on the road in Mequon last year as
Eldrada Meeks rushed for a career-high 220 yards and Lakeland rolled up 37 first downs and 704 yards of offense.
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