bemidji, minn. - concordia university (2-4, 1-4 nsic) dropped their third straight game after starting off the year winning two of their first three, losing 20-7 on saturday afternoon to bemidji state (5-1, 4-1 nsic) at chet anderson stadium for bsu's homecoming game. Concordia's 442 yards of total offense, led by senior spencer ohm (blooming prairie, minn.) with 301 yards passing in his first start of the year, was spoiled by six turnovers, all inside the bsu 25 yard line. box score
ohm, injured early in fall camp, was cleared late in the week and deemed ready to start. His play backed it up, as he had concordia moving up and down the field at ease against one of the top defense's in the nation. He completed 18-26 for 301 yards in the game.
but bemidji state had four interceptions (three by safety brody scheff), and four sacks (three by j.j. Reinke), kept the golden bears out of the end zone.
concordia's first turnover was an interception at the bsu 21 yard line to stall their opening drive, with their second turnover a fumble inside the bsu five yard line on a fourth down play on their second drive.
the two drives and no points set the tone of the game, as rarely does a team rack up 442 yards of offense with a 300-yard passer and 100-yard rusher and only score seven points.
concordia would also fumble at the bsu eight yard line, and had interceptions at the bsu five yard line twice along with another at the 20 yard line.
the golden bear defense held strong against a bsu team averaging over 200 rushing yards per game. The beavers did roll up 175 yards on 38 attempts, but concordia's defense produced a number of key 3-and-out stops to keep the team in the game.
they had five 3-and-out stops and another 6-and-out stop as the defense helped the offense dominate possession time, 33:12 to 26:48.
bsu also completed only five total passes, but one of those being a 56-yard touchdown.
concordia's lone score came in the third quarter as redshirt freshman jared russo (milwaukee, wis.) was inserted for a 3rd and 29 play from the bsu 46 yard line. And in a tough spot, russo connected with senior charles gilbert (jacksonville, fla.) for a 46-yard touchdown, cutting the score to 14-7 with 9:10 to play in the third quarter.
russo filled in on a few drives for ohm, completing 3-7 for 67 yards and the touchdown. Gilbert finished with five catches for 142 yards and the score.
on the ensuing drive, bemidji state didn't even bother passing as they rumbled 68 yards on 10 plays capped by a 10 yard lance rongstad keeper with 4:09 to play in the quarter.
the extra point was blocked and returned for a two point conversion, but a costly penalty on the play negated the points and the 20-7 score would hold up through the fourth quarter.
rongstad, the quarterback, passed for 106 yards on 5-13 passing but rushed for 52 yards on seven attempts withe keeper score.
concordia out gained bemidji state 442 to 281 in total offense and had 21 first downs to bemidji state's 13.
golden bear senior running back sam campbell (cary, ill.) made it four straight games with 95-plus rushing yards as he topped 100 for the second time, carrying 23 times for 107 yards including a season-long run of 41 yards.
ohm and russo found their tight ends often, with junior nate thienes (mahtomedi, minn.) and redshirt freshman jermaine clemon (racine, wis.) combining for 121 yards on nine catches. Clemon had 64 yards on five catches while thienes had 57 yards on four catches. Each of them had key fourth down conversion receptions.
redshirt freshman receiver cordell smith (mequon, wis.) also had a nice day with four receptions for 70 yards with a long of 42 on the opening drive.
defensively, senior al quaye (brooklyn park, minn.) led concordia with 13 tackles while senior jake vann (plymouth, minn.) added 11 stops.
concordia converted just 5 of 13 on third down, but was able to put through 3 of their 4 fourth down attempts.
the golden bears return home next saturday, october 15 for a 1:00 p.m. Game against wayne state. It will be military appreciation day at sea foam stadium.
