minot, n.d. - in his second career start at quarterback, sophomore james peterson (blaine, minn.) threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns of 77, 46 and 56 yards to lead concordia university (1-0) to a 43-31 victory at minot state (0-2) at herb parker stadium. Senior wide receiver charles gilbert (jacksonville, fla.) hauled in the 77 and 56 yard scores and finished with six receptions for 190 yards as concordia extends their road winning streak to eight games. Concordia held a 43-10 lead into the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach with gilbert's second touchdown before minot state scored three fourth quarter touchdowns. box score
concordia used dominant offense, defense and special teams in the first two and a half quarters with their starters, getting a defensive touchdown, a safety off a blocked punt, two long field goals and the three long touchdown strikes from peterson in addition to one rushing touchdown in a balanced team game.
the game started relatively quiet considering the final score. Concordia scored the game's first touchdown when senior linebacker taylor selby (stratford, wis.) intercepted minot's first play of the drive and returned it 12 yards for a score midway through the first quarter. Selby finished with a pair of tackles and 0.5 tackle for loss in addition to the int.
the touchdown was set up by the golden bears winning the field position game, as freshman tom obarski (apple valley, minn.) pinned the beavers at their own eight yard line with a 33 yard punt.
obarski would make an impact in his collegiate debut later in the half, when he drilled a 56 and a 47 yard field goal within a three minute span in the game. The 56-yarder established a new school record and was just the second field goal of 50-plus yards in school history. The previous 50-yarder was in concordia's last game of 2010 when steven king made a then-record 51-yarder early in the second quarter of the mineral water bowl against pittsburg state.
earlier in the second quarter, the golden bears scored their first offensive touchdown of the year as senior jerry shaw (oak creek, wis.) carried it in from one yard out on a 4-play, 78 yard drive that was set up by a 47 yard reception from peterson to gilbert that was nearly a touchdown.
in between obarski's field goals in the second quarter, sophomore linebacker chris sesson (chicago, ill.) blocked a punt which led to a safety.
and just a few minutes later, peterson delivered a 46-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman cordell smith (mequon, wis.) for smith's first career reception.
it was just the 7:01 mark of the second quarter, and already concordia had scored two touchdowns, two long field goals and a safety for a commanding 29-0 lead.
they weren't done, either, as peterson fired the first of two long touchdowns to gilbert at 3:24, this one from 77 yards on the first play of the drive. It is the longest pass play in each of their careers for the golden bears and gave them a 36-0 lead at the half.
they'd connect again for the 56-yard touchdown with 4:10 to play in the third quarter to extend the lead to 43-10 to put the game out of reach.
concordia racked up 437 yards of total offense in the contest on just 58 plays as they averaged 7.5 yards per play. The defense held minot to just 43 rushing yards on 34 attempts while the beaver passing attack went for 313 yards on 45 attempts (7.0 yards per attempt).
selby's interception was one of two for the concordia defense on the day, as sophomore cornerback denzell blackmon (chicago, ill.) had the other with a 45 yard return late in the second quarter. It was blackmon's second career interception, and he took it one yard further than his previous int return last season, a 44-yard touchdown at minnesota crookston.
they also had 14.0 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks in a dominant performance up front. Junior nathan maher (rockford, minn.) had a pair of sacks and tackles for loss while junior chris campbell (san marcos, calif.) and redshirt freshman nick jauch (middleton, wis.) each had 1.5 sacks and tackles for loss with a host of others getting at least a half sack.
concordia didn't need to do much damage on the ground, which was led by senior sam campbell (cary, ill.) with 51 yards on 12 attempts while shaw added 18 yards and the touchdown.
junior tre mason (league city, texas) added 76 receiving yards on three receptions with a long of 33 as concordia had five pass plays go for at least 30 yards in the game.
peterson, who completed 17-28 for 357 yards, is now 2-0 as a starter with a pair of road wins and has thrown for at least 300 yards in each of his starts.
concordia opens northern sun play next saturday at 6:00 p.m. At st. Cloud state in their first-ever trip to st. Cloud in a non-divisional game.
