The 21st Century has been really, really good for the Coe College football team in its ancient rivalry with Cornell.

On second that, make that tremendous.

The Kohawks amassed an eye-popping 729 yards of total offense Saturday and squashed the Rams, 50-3, for their 16th straight victory in the series that began way back in 1891.

The 729 yards are the second-most for Coe in school history, trailing a 771-yard performance against Grinnell in 1993.

This was the 125th renewal of the series and the Kohawks have prevailed every time since the 21st Century began in the year 2000, extending their lead in the series to 71-50-4.

Despite the video-game stats Saturday, the Kohawks did not score in the first quarter and led only 16-3 at halftime.

"Man, I was a little concerned," said Coach Steve Staker. "It took us awhile to get going. I thought, 'Oh-oh, what's going to happen here?' But we got some things ironed out."

The Kohawks (1-1) passed for 411 yards and ran for 318 as they sliced through the Rams most of the afternoon. Josh Rekers hit 24 of 32 passes for 377 yards and two touchdowns, the fifth-best day in school history and just five yards behind his 382 showing against Buena Vista last year.

It's hard to believe that Coe trailed 3-0 after the first quarter Saturday with all that offense, but they did.

"Missed opportunities in that first quarter, I think," said Rekers. "I made a bad read on that interception I threw. But they (the Rams) played hard that first quarter.

"I think we wore them down. Their defensive line was getting kind of tired. I think their whole defense was getting tired at the end of the game."

As you might expect, lots of Kohawks shared the fun. Sam Lahr rushed for 165 yards and one touchdown, Elijah Phillips caught seven passes for 101 yards and Demetrius Harper grabbed six passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Freshman running back Quincy Porter joined the party when he raced 90 yards for a touchdown with 46 seconds left in the game.

"That Quincy Porter, how cow!," said Staker. "He got around end and he was gone."

Harper, who graduated from Cedar Rapids Prairie in 2013, spent one season at Iowa Western Community College and one year at Ellsworth Community College before returning home to play for the Kohawks.

"It's been a struggle just to get back into football," said Harper. "The coaches gave me a good opportunity here and I'm just trying to take advantage of it.

"It's pretty exciting to get back out there and play, get some catches. It was just a good game."

Harper once had his sights set on Division I college football, but sounded happy to be at Coe after bouncing around for two years. "I was disappointed, but this is an opportunity to play," he said. "D3, it's still football. Football is football."

Staker thinks Harper can help the Kohawks this season as a wide receiver and kick returner.

"He's an athlete. He's a great athlete," said Staker. "And I think this game will really help him."

Staker said the Kohawks adjusted their blocking scheme at halftime, helping them produce 34 points in the second half. He also praised his defense for a strong effort, holding the Rams to 198 yards and six first downs.

"Defense was key to this ballgame for us," he said. "We were able to keep them under control until we got the offense clicking."

Kennedy grad Trevor Heitland caught a 47-yard touchdown pass and his brother, Drew, intercepted a pass on defense. Tyler Gunderson caught a 69-yard TD pass from Rekers and Lahr scored on a 20-yard run. Brandon Abbas kicked three field goals.

The Kohawks welcomed the laugher after getting belted by Wheaton, 52-14, last Saturday.

"We still need to finish some of those drives," said Rekers. "We could have put up a lot more. We settled for field goals a few too many times, I thought. Se we'll try to sharpen that up for next week."

The Kohawks visit Wisconsin-Stevens Point next Saturday. Staker thinks he'll see a little extra pep in practice next week after what happened against Cornell.

"I think it's good for our morale," he said. "We'll be excited next week here in practice to get after it. I would see us picking up the tempo in practice, picking up the enthusiasm."

COE 50, CORNELL 3

CORNELL      COE

First downs                 9           31
Rushes-yards            29-60     51-318
Passing yards            138         411
Comp-Att-Int          12-33-0   27-37-1
Fumbles-lost              1-1         1-0
Punts-avg.               9-40.7    2-40.0
Penalties-yards          3-45        3-24

Cornell     3   0   0   0 - 3
Coe         0  16  20  14 - 50

Scoring Plays

CORN - Kalel Whiting 38 FG
COE - Josh Rekers 1 run (kick failed)
COE - Trevor Heitland 47 pass from Rekers (Brandon Abbas kick)
COE - Abbas 25 FG
COE - Abbas 33 FG
COE - Abbas 20 FG
COE - Tyler Gunderson 69 pass from Rekers (Abbas kick)
COE - Sam Lahr 20 run (Abbas kick)
COE - Demetrius Harper 13 pass from Gavin Glenn (Abbas kick)
COE - Quincy Porter 90 run (Adrian Castanon kick)

Individual Statistics

Passing

Cornell - Brown 11-30-0, 126; Riedy 1-3-0, 12.
Coe - Rekers 24-32-1, 377; Glenn 3-5-0, 34.

Rushing

Cornell - Clark 10-41, D.Brown 6-14, P.Brown 5-13, Lee 3-10.
Coe - Lahr 26-16, Porter 1-90, T.Heitland 3-34, Martin 10-24.

Receiving

Cornell - Knake 6-44, Zilaitis 2-67, Dorsey 2-9, MacDowall 1-12.
Coe - Phillips 7-101, Harper 6-60, Malloy 4-62, T.Heitland 3-61.