RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Rockford opened Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon on the road at Concordia University Chicago. Both teams were coming off bye weeks and went into the game looking for their first win of the season. In the end it was the Cougars who came out victorious with a 38-28 win.
It was a close game throughout with both teams leading in each of the two halves. Rockford jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when quarterback Aabed Nekrawesh (Fremont, Calif./Fremont) connected on a 93-yard touchdown pass to Delroy Russell Jr. (Richmond, Calif./Albany). The scoring play broke the Rockford University record for longest pass completion, which was previously an 83-yard touchdown pass by Travis Stocker in 2003. Concordia Chicago then scored the next 14 points to take a 14-7 lead late in the second quarter. The Regents answered right back when Nekrawesh again connected with Russell this time on a 47-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 14-14.
The second half began very similar to how the first half did with the Regents striking first. Rockford used a 5-play 80-yard drive capped off with a 2-yard touchdown run by Seth Swinehart (Rockford, Ill./East) to regain the lead at 21-14. However, that turned out to be the final time the Regents had the lead as the Cougars went on a 24-0 run to make it a 38-21 game. The Rockford offense was able to punch the ball into the end zone with a 1:34 remaining in the game on an Andrew Stochl (Fox Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) 1-yard touchdown run, but it was not enough as Concordia Chicago won by a final score of 38-28.
Offensively the Regents broke three additional school records on Saturday. Delroy Russell Jr. broke his own record for receiving yards in a game that he set earlier this year with 201 yards against UW-Stevens Point. On Saturday, Russell had 6 receptions for a new school record 247 yards and 2 touchdowns. The other two records came courtesy of quarterback Aabed Nekrawesh. Nekrawesh shattered Rockford's school record for passing yards in a game finishing with 435 yards. The previous record was 302 yards, which was set back in 2003 by Travis Stocker. Nekrawesh also broke the school record for total offense in game. The senior finished with 398 yards of total offense surpassing the previous record of 344 yards by Marcus Howard in 2000.
Defensively the Regents forced three turnovers and had two players with at least ten tackles. Kendell Lee (Poplarville, Miss./Poplarville) and Nicholas Lloyd (Rosamond, Calif./Rosamond) had 12 and 10 tackles respectively. Sophomores Reginald Haynes (Chicago, Ill./Prosser Career Academy) and Jared Baldonado (Phoenix, Ariz./Copper Canyon) each intercepted a pass while Jordan Blair (Lanark, Ill./Eastland) recovered a fumble.
The Regents return home on Saturday, October 12th for their homecoming game against Lakeland College. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m.
