st. Paul, minn. - concordia university (2-1, 1-1 nsic) rushed for a season-high 151 yards while redshirt freshman quarterback jared russo (milwaukee, wis.) guided the offense to a 27-22 victory over northern state (1-2, 0-2 nsic). It was russo's first career start under center and the golden bears 2011 home opener at sea foam stadium. The concordia defense had three sacks and three first half interceptions as well. box score

the team atoned for their six turnover performance last week when they allowed 43 points in a loss at st. Cloud state. This week, the offense committed just one turnover and forced three which led to a five-point victory.

all three turnovers came in the first half via the interception as sophomore corner back and return specialist jay moten (spicer, minn.) had a pair of interceptions and added a 52-yard kickoff return in the second half during a run in which moten used every inch of the width of the field to get into nsu territory before finally being tracked down.

senior cornerback cedric okoi (st. Paul, minn.) also had an interception in the concordia end zone and returned it 35-yards to set the offense up with solid field position and stop a northern state drive.

the three sacks by the defense push their early season total to 14.0 while adding nine more tackles for loss to the team ledger which gives them 32, an average of over 10-per game which is nearly an unsustainable pace and among the nation's best.

concordia used touchdown strikes from russo to junior receiver tre mason (league city, texas) of 59-yards in the first quarter (the only points of the quarter); and 11-yards in the third quarter to give concordia their largest lead, 21-10 with just under nine minutes to play in the quarter.

russo passed for 208 yards and three touchdowns, completing 13 of 27 with just one interception while not taking a sack while mason led concordia with four catches for 85 yards and the two scores.

northern state struck back, with a 44-yard pass play five minutes later, and an eight yard touchdown run with 11:34 to play in the game to take their only lead, 22-21, after missing two point conversions on both touchdowns.

now, the wolves had a tough decision: kickoff to concordia's dangerous return game or let them start on the 40-yard line. The golden bears had returns of 29, 32, 52 and 33 yards on their four kickoff returns, led by senior charles gilbert's (jacksonville, fla.) three returns for 94 yards and moten's explosive 52-yarder. Gilbert also had three catches for 33 yards and an 8-yard td catch, the shortest td of his 16 career scores, with all others coming from 23-yards or longer.

the wolves elected to kick the ball straight out of bounds, setting up cu in excellent field position.

with the redshirt freshman under center, concordia responded. Russo, buoyed by a strong veteran offensive line and senior running back sam campbell (cary, ill.), was able to engineer a game-winning 9-play, 60-yard drive over the next three and a half minutes.

they got help from northern state miscues, with a pair of 3rd down penalties that helped concordia sustain their drive. And on 3rd and 1 from the nsu 38 yard line, campbell eluded wolves' defenders for an 8-yard first down carry.

a few plays later, on 2nd and 10 from the nsu 16, campbell dodged nsu linebackers and plowed through their secondary before plunging into the end zone for a 16-yard td run to put cu back on top, 27-22, with the team missing the two point conversion.

campbell finished with 98 rushing yards on 24 attempts with one catch for 15 yards.

the wolves got the ball back on their own 30 with just over eight minutes to play. Face with a 3rd and 6 from their own 34, quarterback nick wanner found mark hanley for a 23 yard first down connection into concordia territory.

wanner ran for five more yards before reconnecting with hanley for 21 yards to the cu 17 yard line.

but the young concordia defense matured in a big situation led by a senior as johnny johnson (minnetonka, minn.) sacked wanner for a three yard loss on 3rd and 9 from the 16 yard line. On 4th and 12 from the 19, wanner went back to hanley but sophomore mike willett (woodbury, minn.) stopped the drive by breaking up the pass play.

wanner finished with 277 yards passing on 18 of 27 completions with three interceptions and a touchdown. Hanley finished with 94 yards on six receptions.

willett, meanwhile, had a career-high 12 tackles including a half tackle for loss and the pass breakup.

back on offense, concordia took over with just under three minutes to play on their own 19 yard line, meaning they had to move the chains to seal the game.

after a pair of one yard runs by campbell, russo connected with redshirt freshman tight end jermaine clemon (racine, wis.) for the longest catch of his young career, a 28-yarder over the middle for a first down near midfield. From there, concordia iced the clock on the ground for the win.

concordia's defense, which held nsu to just 3.3 yards per carry on 41 rushing attempts including 23-lost yards, was led by senior inside linebacker al quaye's (brooklyn park, minn.) 13 tackles, sack and 1.5 tackle for loss effort.

the golden bear ground game, meanwhile, gained positive yardage on every run that wasn't a team kneel down to drain the clock, as they averaged 4.1 yards per attempt on 37 attempts. Senior jerry shaw (milwaukee, wis.) added 52 yards on nine first half attempts, averaging 5.8 per carry.

concordia improves to 7-4 in the all-time series against northern state, dating back to 1999 when the wolves won their only game in st. Paul at griffin stadium. Concordia has since won five straight at home against nsu, including tonight's first-ever meeting between the schools at sea foam stadium.

the golden bears return home next saturday, september 24th for a noon kickoff against minnesota state university, mankato for homecoming.