Bryce Marquardt's first season of baseball at Bethel University showed more promise than did an autumn on the football team.

"There was a lot of debate as to whether I was going to play football this season,'' Marquardt said. "Baseball is my best sport, and I was wondering if I should spend the fall working on that.''

Eventually, Bryce had a sit-down with his father Eric, a Bethel player during the non-glorious years of 1981-85, and his brother Brandon, a senior running back for the Royals.

"I finally said to my brother, 'OK, I'm going to play football, but only if I call which one of us gets the return on kickoffs,'" Bryce said.

The Marquardts had been the Bethel kickoff returners in 2013, with Brandon using his seniority to make decisions on the returns.

It's safe to say Brandon has no complaints with his kid brother's work as the captain of the kickoff returns this fall. Last week, Brandon had his first collegiate touchdown return with a 99-yarder in a 38-7 rout of Carleton.

Bethel senior running back Brandon Marquardt came up short of the goal line thanks to the efforts of Concordia’s Tyler Hansen in the fourth quarter Saturday.

On Saturday, the stakes were higher, when Brandon went 94 yards with a kickoff in what would become a 27-17 victory for Bethel over visiting Concordia.

There were a handful of momentum changers in this meeting of expected MIAC powers, and none created the swing that did Marquardt's touchdown return.

Bethel had a touchdown drive triggered by a 40-yard screen pass to Bridge Tusler, the former Osseo star who transferred from South Dakota State. Erik Peterson threw a 23-yard pass to tight end Drew Neuville, and a missed PAT made it 6-0 late in the first period.

Concordia and Griffin Neal, the large dual threat of a quarterback, came back with a relentless drive to take a 7-6 lead with 12 minutes, 19 seconds left in the second quarter. It was tough work, that 75-yard march, and rewarding when Neal threw an 8-yard touchdown to Jon Baune, his tight end and No. 1 target.

Concordia fans in the south bleachers were still celebrating when the kickoff sailed toward the Marquardts and Bryce shouted to his brother, "You take it.''

Brandon took the football, started to move, and then what did he see?

"A great big hole … to the right,'' he said.

Soon, he was headed down that sideline for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead that wiped away all those good feelings on the Concordia side.

Bad things continued to happen to the Cobbers for the remainder of the half. First, there was a Bethel touchdown assisted by an extremely shaky pass interference call in the end zone.

Concordia put together a pre-intermission drive to Bethel's 15, before cornerback Josh Treimer had an interception at the goal line. The interception kept Bethel's lead at 20-7, and the Royals survived a blocked punt and other Concordia threats in the second half.

Bethel now has a 13-game winning streak in the MIAC and has won six in a row against Concordia.

Sort of.

Two years ago, Concordia came to Bethel as a substantial underdog, put up a magnificent defensive effort and was leading the Royals 14-7 with one play left — from the Cobbers 17 with 1.9 seconds left.

Peterson was sacked, the football came loose and the upset was complete. Except, Concordia's Tim Garry picked it up and headed down the sideline, giving the officials time to notice that a Cobbers player had come onto the field while the play was alive.

A flag was thrown. Bethel had one more play, scored, went for two points and made it. It was a 15-14 victory for the Royals and the worst loss ever for the Cobbers.

Saturday, Brandon Marquardt had the TD return, 11 carries for 72 yards and finished 4-0 for his career vs. the Cobbers.

"You still owe them one,'' someone said.

Brandon smiled and said: "Probably, but when it comes, I won't be here.''

Brother Bryce is a sophomore. He had four catches for 43 yards and now has 18 for 242 yards and four touchdowns — quite a contrast to last season when he was behind a fleet of senior receivers.

All of this is also quite a contrast to father Eric Marquardt's four seasons in the early '80s.

"Macalester was in the league then, and we usually could beat Mac,'' Eric said. "And we gave St. John's a scare once. That was about it. This is different. This is a lot of fun.''

Patrick Reusse can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on AM-1500. preusse@startribune.com