COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – It may not be the most fashionable statistic in college football, but time of possession is the most important number in Terry Horan's playbook. "It's the first stat I look at every week,'' the Concordia coach said. "In the day of spread offenses, it's kind of gone by the wayside, but not with us.''

The Cobbers' philosophy starts with hogging the football as much as possible. Saturday, that methodical approach led them to a 23-14 victory over St. John's at Clemens Stadium — and extended their winning streak over the Johnnies to three games, a feat they hadn't achieved since the late 1950s. Quarterback Griffin Neal ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Concordia (3-0) controlled the ball for more than 40 minutes, allowing it to dominate the first half and withstand a Johnnies rally in the third quarter.

St. John's (2-1) had the ball only 7 minutes, 34 seconds in the first half and ran just 19 plays as Concordia built a 16-0 lead. Quarterback Johnny Benson — a grandson of legendary Johnnies coach John Gagliardi, making his first college start — jolted the Johnnies back to life with a pair of touchdown passes that cut the lead to 16-14 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

The Cobbers answered with a scoring drive that lasted 7:40, ensuring their coach's favorite statistic would be one to remember.

"[Possession time] is our game,'' Horan said. "We want to dominate the game by hanging on to the football, moving the sticks and being two-dimensional, taking what the defense gives us. We had a little bit of adversity, but we found a way to get it done.''

Concordia hadn't beaten St. John's three times in a row since a string of five consecutive victories from 1956-60. Saturday, its defense bottled up a Johnnies running attack that surpassed 300 yards in each of its first two games. The Cobbers held St. John's to 95 rushing yards, with 93 of those coming from Sam Sura, who averaged 225.5 rushing yards in two nonconference victories.

The Johnnies also were without starting quarterback Nick Martin, who sustained a concussion near the end of last week's victory over Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Benson, a senior from Becker who has been beset by injuries for much of his career, found rough going early in the game.

Neal directed a 16-play drive on the opening possession that lasted 7:40 and ended with a 23-yard field goal by Ben Wagner. The Cobbers' ball-hogging offense allowed the Johnnies to run only four plays for 11 yards in the first quarter, and they continued to play keep-away in the second as Neal ran for a 4-yard touchdown and passed to Jon Baune for a 45-yard score.

"Our offensive line and fullbacks played with a lot of heart today,'' said Neal, who completed 18 of 32 passes for 248 yards and ran for 58 yards and two touchdowns. "It's special to shut a team down like this three years in a row, and it's not an easy task.''

The Johnnies flipped the script in the third quarter. Benson connected with Dan Harrington for an 8-yard touchdown, and after Wagner missed a 36-yard field-goal try, Benson found Zack Sundly in the end zone for a 4-yard score that pulled his team within two.

But Concordia forced two Johnnies turnovers and got another touchdown from Neal, giving Horan another stat to love: his longest winning streak against the Johnnies.

"I wasn't alive in 1960,'' he said. "So this is pretty sweet.''