bismarck, n.d. -- concordia university (3-3, 2-3 nsic) rebounded from back-to-back losses, storming the university of mary's (2-4, 2-3 nsic) homecoming at the bismarck community bowl with a 17-7 road victory on a windy saturday afternoon. Redshirt freshman quarterback spencer ohm's (blooming prairie, minn.) touchdown run at the end of the first half gave concordia the lead for good while senior cornerback dalton outlaw (st. Paul, minn.) had a third quarter interception for touchdown to give cu the 10 point margin of victory. Concordia's defense held the marauders to a season-low seven points to help the golden bears snap a six game road losing streak.

concordia's defense held u-mary to just 234 yards of total offense, with the secondary limiting the marauders to just 99 passing yards, a season-best for the cu defense. Concordia's offense didn't fare better, though, as the golden bears managed just 205 yards of their own, but the defensive touchdown by outlaw undoubtedly aided cu in the 10 point road victory.

ohm led a ball control-oriented offense, an offense that ranked at the bottom of the league in turnover margin. But ohm managed the game, and for the first time this season, the golden bears won the turnover battle, forcing two interceptions and only turning the ball over once.

ohm finished his first collegiate start 13-22 for 133 yards through the air with an interception. He had 16 rushing attempts for 12 yards, but was sacked five times as his yards gained were 58 without factoring in the sacks.

the defense was led by cu's leading tackler, sophomore linebacker rojeer wright (minneapolis, minn.) who had nine stops including a sack. Cu's defense registered three sacks and seven tackles for loss. Along with outlaw, fellow st. Paul como park graduate dario moore had cu's other interception, his first of the year.

the golden bear defense started the game with a bend-but-don't-break attitude, shutting u-mary down on a key fourth and six play from the cu 32 yard line, stalling a six play, 48 yard drive by the marauders to set the tone for the game.

concordia took over for their first drive on their own 32 and marched 45 yards on nine plays in just over three and a half minutes as junior kicker stephan bjerke (stillwater, minn.) connected from 39 yards out to put cu on the board first, 3-0 with 8:44 left in the first quarter.

u-mary's second drive was stalled at the cu 41, this time the marauders electing to punt on fourth and four. Concordia's offense sputtered, going three and out, but a booming 76 yard punt by sophomore t.g. Schoenberg (woodbury, minn.) pinned the marauders inside their own 20. The 76 yard blast is two yards shy of a school record long, set by jon piepher in 1981 against concordia-wisconsin.

schoenberg was busy, punting eight times in the game for a 39.4 yard average with two inside the 20 and two touchbacks. Schoenberg entered play as the nsic's top-ranked punter. He would boot a 67 yard punt early in the third quarter as well.

neither team scored again in the quarter, as u-mary continued to see drives fizzle out in cu territory while the golden bears' offense was slow to get going after the field goal by bjerke.

in the second quarter, a 19 yard punt by schoenberg gave the marauders excellent field position at the cu 41. This time, u-mary would march to the end zone as jamal lomax broke free for a 27 yard run to the red zone on the first play of the drive to put the marauders in the red zone, where they were a perfect 12-12 coming into the game.

they didn't disappoint, as lomax carried three straight times to the one yard line before he was stuffed on his fifth run of the drive by senior linebacker duy huynh (apple valley, minn.) and junior defensive lineman kyle tidemand (st. Francis, minn.).

but on third and goal from the one, jesse kozak found jesus gallegos for a score to give u-mary their only lead of the game.

later in the quarter, u-mary was forced to punt with less than two minutes to play. A solid 47 yard punt by da. Moore at his own 14 yard line. The leading returner for the golden bears would dash 25 yards to give the golden bears decent field position at their own 39 yard line with 1:34 to go until half.

after a key third and four completion by ohm and a pair of penalties, one on each team, concordia wound up with a first and 10 from the u-mary 25 yard line. Ohm dished the ball of to freshman running back sam campbell (cary, ill.), who tip-toed the sideline for 24 yards before he was stopped at the one yard line.

sophomore hayden vavra (rb, cambridge, minn.) was stuff on first and goal from the one, forcing cu to use their last timeout with nine seconds to play.

on second and goal from the one, ohm tried a play-action and was nearly sacked in the backfield by u-mary's shawn melland, but eluded the linebacker and crossed into the end zone near the sideline with one second to play in the half to give concordia the lead, 10-7 after the bjerke extra point.

the outlaw interception came on u-mary's second drive of the third quarter on a third and 11 play from um's own 19 yard line. Outlaw picked the pass off at the 25 yard line and rumbled to the end zone. It was his second career interception for touchdown as he had a nine yard pick for six in the 2007 season opener at augustana.

the golden bears and marauders each had offensive troubles the rest of the game, with concordia's only scoring threat being stopped as greg williams intercepted ohm in the back of the end zone early in the fourth quarter.

vavra led cu's ground attack with rushes for 55 yards while lomax was a workhorse for the marauders, rushing 23 times for 130 yards.

but u-mary's ineffective passing was just 13-30 for 99 yards, throwing two interceptions and being sacked three times.

leading cu's receiving was campbell, who had four receptions for 52 yards, both career-highs. His 52 receiving yards were also a game-high in the low-powered offensive output between the two teams.

third down conversions were sparse as well, with cu converting 4-15 and um slightly better at 5-16. But concordia was 2-2 on fourth downs while the marauders failed on each of their fourth down attempts, once on their opening drive and again on their final drive of the game.

also adding solid individual defensive efforts were senior linebacker mike kudick (denmark, wis.) with six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack and senior defensive end tim oachs (mankato, minn.) with seven tackles, one for loss. Junior defensive end will brown (shoreview, minn.) had his first career sack for concordia.

with their six game road losing streak a thing of the past, the golden bears look to make it back-to-back road wins next saturday, october 11 when they take on nsic south division rival minnesota state university, mankato at blakeslee stadium.