The concordia-st. Paul defense stifled augustana college for much of the second half, sacking the vikings seven times in the game and holding them to -12 yards rushing in a 20-19 comeback victory. The bears start the season off with a win in their season opener played at howard wood field in sioux falls, s.d. While the vikings fall to 1-1.

ben schumacher (sr., dl, oskaloosa, iowa) led the pass rush with 3.5 sacks while jordan frain (sr., lb, treynor, iowa) had 11 tackles, a half sack and 3.5 tackles for loss. The bears defense also recorded 15 tackles for loss for a total of 79 yards.

concordia-st. Paul scored the go-ahead touchdown with 9:01 to play in the fourth quarter when kole goodchild (sr., qb, west bend, iowa) found tyrone ruffin (jr., wr, plymouth, minn.) for a 27 yard scoring strike.

it was the second time the pair hooked up for a go-ahead score as ruffin hauled in a 15 yard touchdown pass from goodchild to give the bears a 14-13 lead with 8:32 to play in the third quarter.

ruffin finished the game with five receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns while goodchild was 11-18 for 144 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

eric clinton (sr., rb, burnsville, minn.) anchored the ground game, carrying the ball 23 times for 125 yards for concordia.

the game started off rocky for concordia as augustana scored the first 13 points. The vikings scored on the opening drive of the game when daniel millus connected with tommy ellingworth from 30 yards out just over three minutes into the contest.

ellingworth finished with two receiving touchdowns on 10 receptions for 144 yards while millus was 21-30 for 277 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Tyler schulte threw the other augustana touchdown pass and needed just passing attempt, a 24 yard strike to ellingworth in the fourth quarter with 11:03 the put the vikings ahead 19-13.

with augustana leading 7-0 early, the bears marched down the field but in windy conditions, stephan bjerke's (so., k, stillwater, minn.) 39 yard field goal missed wide left following a 13 play, 56 yard drive that spanned 4:45.

the vikings would follow suit as augie placekicker ryan grossman would miss a 35 yarder wide left after they chewed up 6:17 of clock on a nine play drive.

concordia's offense continued to move the ball efficiently on their second drive, marching 51 yards on six plays to augustana's 29 yard line in scoring position. But goodchild's pass was intercepted by dustin rice, ending the bears second scoring threat with zero points to show on the scoreboard.

grossman would convert a 42 yard field goal on the ensuing drive, pushing augustana's lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter.

on fourth and 13 from their own 22 yard line following a three-and-out, the bears' punt was blocked with augustana recovering on concordia's six yard line.

that is when the vaunted "dark side" defensive unit stepped up for the golden bears, stopping augustana to a field goal as the vikings pushed the lead to 13-0 with 9:14 to play.

the bears offense marched down to the augie three yard line, but a fourth down pass from goodchild to eric tonkin (sr., te, ft. Collins, colo.) was batted down in the end zone, leaving the bears coming up empty for the third time on a productive drive.

but the vikings offense sputtered, starting on their own three yard line, they were able to pick up a first down before dalton outlaw (jr., db, st. Paul, minn./ndscs) intercepted millus and sprinted into the end zone for a defensive touchdown.

the score for the bears cut the gap to 13-7 following bjerke's extra point. The vikings would take the six point lead into the halftime break.

from there it was all concordia as the defense held augustana without a first down for the entire third quarter.

on the defensive side, linebackers shane roach (jr., minnetonka, minn./ndscs), duy huynh (jr., apple valley, minn.) and mark mullaney (sr., eden prairie, minn./univ. Of minnesota) each had eight tackles and all had at least 2.0 tackles for loss led by mullaney's three.

the bears, who were outgained 289 to 282 in total offense, used ball control to win the game. They outrushed augustana 138 to -12 and held the vikings to a paltry 6-17 in third down conversions.

the golden bears are now 3-1 all-time against augustana but are being outscored 100-86 in the four games. The teams have met in each of the last four seasons, with concordia a perfect 2-0 in sioux falls.

concordia returns to action on saturday, sept. 8 when they travel to warrensburg, mo. To take on the university of central missouri.

box score - csp 20, augustana 19