Concordia university (4-6, 3-4 nsic) was unable to upset northern sun leader bemidji state (8-2, 7-0 nsic) in a 27-7 defeat to the beavers on saturday afternoon at palmer field at o'shaughnessy stadium on the campus of the university of st. Thomas in st. Paul, minn.

the win for bemidji state clinches a share of the nsic championship, who is a perfect 7-0 in league play with one to play. They lead winona state at 6-1, by one game.

the bears fortunes for a comeback win took a hit when junior quarterback kole goodchild left the field with an injury sustained after a first down scramble. Goodchild, a back-to-back nsic offensive player of the week who led cu to two consecutive road wins, would not return for the bears. He finished with 70 passing yards on 7-17 passing with one interception. He faced an intense bsu pass rush and managed to rush for 16 yards on nine attempts.

he was backed up by senior jay schauder, who passed for 119 yards on 11-18 attempts with a td and one int in a solid performance. He connected with senior wide receiver cecil elekwachi (below left) from 15 yards out for cu's lone score to cut the score to 20-7 midway through the fourth quarter.






leading the offense was sophomore wide receiver tyrone ruffin with six receptions for 65 yards while elekwachi added four catches for 32 yards and the score. Junior wide receiver antwon williams and senior wide receiver jason simmons each hauled in three receptions for 46 and 38 yards, respectively.

the bears went into halftime down 14-0, but were able to move the ball on the stingy beaver defense. But a missed field goal off the upright by senior brody johnson and another blocked field goal held the bears scoreless through the first 52 minutes of action. B.johnson (right), who was last week's nsic special teams player of the week, highlighted his performance with a 61 yard punt from cu's own 29 yard line to pin bsu on their own 20.

the bear defense held bemidji state to just 244 yards of total offense and only 142 passing yards. The defense was led by senior linebacker brad scherer with 10 tackles while freshman joey lehman (below) added eight. Freshman strong safety rojeer wright (below) added seven tackles, 1.5 for loss and a sack.

the bears fall to 0-6 on the season when not rushing for 100 yards as they mustered just 23 rushing yards on 21 attempts against the nation's best rushing defense.

concordia has one game remaining in their season next friday, november 10 when they face the university of minnesota, crookston at 4:00 in the nsic/merchant's bank metrodome classic in minneapolis.