st. Paul, minn. - in the first-ever meeting between concordia university (1-1, 0-1 nsic) and st. Cloud state (1-1, 1-0 nsic), the visiting huskies prevailed 35-10 in front of 1,634 fans at sea foam stadium on the second annual military appreciation day. The game was also each team's northern sun season opener in an nsic north-south matchup. Concordia trailed 14-10 late in the second quarter but scsu scored 21 unanswered in a span of just over six minutes of football at the end of the first half into the early part of the third quarter. box score | gallery
all four of st. Cloud state's first half touchdowns were scored on extremely short drives under a minute and a half each including 75 and 83 yard touchdowns through the air.
concordia, meanwhile, looked poised to stay in the hunt with 14 first downs in the first half as they amassed 274 yards of total offense in balanced fashion with 117 on the ground (22 attempts) and 157 through the air.
but the yardage totals didn't translate into points as a fumble and missed field goal cost them on drives to the scsu 23 and 22 yard line, respectively, in the first quarter.
third down conversions were also costly, as cu field to convert any of their six chances in the second and third quarters after a 2-4 start in the opening frame. The finished the game converting just 25.0% (3-12) of their third down attempts.
in the first half, junior quarterback spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.) threw for 157 yards on 16 completions in 21 attempts with a 31 yard scoring strike to junior charles gilbert (right, jacksonville, fla.). Gilbert hauled in five receptions for 56 yards in the first half as he finished with 72 yards on six catches for the evening. Gilbert also had a 35 yard kickoff return in the first half and led cu with 107 all-purpose yards on the night.
the run game was solid as well led by junior sam campbell (cary, ill.) with a 10.3 per carry average on seven attempts as he tallied 72 yards. Junior jerry shaw (oak creek, wis.) added eight attempts for 44 yards as the duo was able to find the gaps in scsu's front seven.
a 37 yard field goal by senior steven king (johnston, iowa) brought cu to within four points with under three minutes to play in the half until scsu rallied for two late scores.
concordia's two scoring drives were eight plays, 96 yards in 2:53 for a touchdown (ohm to gilbert) and eight plays, 73 yards in 3:04 (king 37 yard fg). Scsu's four first half touchdowns totaled 12 plays just over three cumulative minutes.
but st. Cloud state's first half was led by redshirt freshman quarterback philip klaphake who completed 10 passes for 247 yards with three touchdowns and only four incompletions in just his second career game under center.
concordia controlled the clock in the first half with a 21:05 to 8:55 time of possession advantage.
with a 28-10 first half score in favor of the visitors, things slowed considerably in the second half as scsu started grinding out the concordia defense, flipping the time of possession scale in their favor with the final tally going 31:41 to 28:19 - a complete turnaround.
that turnaround was due to scsu rushing for 176 of their 217 yards in the second half as klaphake only needed to hurl for 54 in the second half. He finished with his second straight 300-yard game with 301 including four scores.
ohm would finish the day 20-38 for 216 yards and the gilbert touchdown pass. He was sacked five times on the day for a total loss of 42 yards, negating his five rushes for 42 yards to give him 10 total rushing attempts for no yardage.
campbell finished with 80 yards on 10 attempts as cu rushed for 124 yards as a team.
senior calvin simon (shakopee, minn.) kept his reception streak alive at 34 games with four catches for 67 yards and moved into fifth on the all-time list with 143 career receptions.
defensively, sophomore zach moore (chicago, ill.) had a breakout performance with a career high 10 tackles including a sack while fellow sophomore alex helms (naperville, ill.) had nine tackles and forced a fumble inside the five yard line that teammate micah koehn (jr., lino lakes, minn.) recovered to thwart a second half scsu scoring opportunity. Koehn finished with six tackles. Senior safety travis meyer (champlin, minn.) also added seven tackles, a half tackle for loss and a pair of breakups downfield. Senior outside linebacker tyler johnson (st. Paul, minn.) picked up a sack with 2.5 tackles for loss and senior trevor glomski (wabasha, minn.) picked up a sack as well finishing with five tackles.
the cu defense registered seven tackles for loss as a unit with three sacks and forced one turnover but the offense was sacked five teams, threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. A blocked punt by scsu in the first quarter also set up a 1-play, 11 yard scoring drive as well.
scsu's fred williams, the reigning nsic offensive player of the week, made a case to keep the award in his possession with seven receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns while teammate tyler allery had three catches for 100 yards and a pair of scores as well. Dante steward rushed 16 times for 134 yards and a score while chad peterson backed him up with 17 carries for 73 yards.
the golden bears hit the road for the first time next weekend when they travel to aberdeen, s.d. To take on nsic north division foe northern state.
