MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears went toe-to-toe with the 15th-ranked Minnesota State University, Mavericks on the road in front of nearly 6,500 fans on homecoming at Blakeslee Stadium. Concordia trailed just 6-3 in a defensive slugfest at the half, before eventually falling 30-10 on Saturday afternoon in each team's first NSIC South Division contest.
Concordia falls to 1-4 on the season while MSU improves to 5-0.
Concordia struck first in the opening quarter on a 20-yard field goal by
Tom Obarski (Burnsville, Minn.). The play was set up after the Golden Bears stalled on their opening drive, with Obarski's punt fumbled by MSU returner Adam Thielen and recovered by
Jason White (Davenport, Iowa) on the MSU 45 yard line.
Concordia pushed the ball deep into MSU territory with the key play being a 17-yard connection from
James Peterson (Blaine, Minn.) to
Dustin Christen (St. Cloud, Minn.) on a 3rd and 3 from the MSU 38.
Peterson completed 19-for-44 with 223 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions while being sacked three times. The Christen reception was his only catch of the game.
The drive also featured three runs by
Tre Spears (Chicago) for 15 yards and a short three yard reception by the sophomore running back. Concordia had a 2nd and goal from the MSU 3-yard line but had a pair of incomplete passes to set up the Obarski field goal.
Spears finished the game with 11 carries for 41 yards and two receptions for seven yards.
It was Concordia's best scoring chance of the half, and their only points as well.
But the defense held strong to keep the game tight. In the opening half, Concordia forced a pair of turnovers while committing one, and held MSU to 184 yards of total offense and just 7-of-16 passing.
While the White fumble recovery and Peterson-to-Christen 3rd down plays were the catalysts to Concordia's first points of the half, the key defensive play was
Jeremy Randle (Minneapolis) interception in the end zone to stop a late first half scoring surge by MSU.
The interception came with MSU threatening on a 1st and goal from the CU 8-yard line, inetercepting the pass in the end zone with a 32-yard return with just 16 seconds to play in the half, taking away sure points from MSU.
With Concordia down by just a field goal at the break, the Mavericks opened the second half with the ball and drove nine plays, 70 yards and four minutes for the game's first touchdown to extend their lead to double-digits, 13-3.
After stalling on offense, the Concordia defense held the Mavericks again, getting a 3-and-out keyed by a
Chris Sesson (Chicago) sack on 3rd down.
On Concordia's ensuing drive, Peterson was intercepted on a pass deep down the left sideline 42 yards from the line of scrimmage at the MSU 21 yard line, and the Mavericks capitalized on Concordia's second turnover by scoring a touchdown of a nine play, 79 yard drive that lasted nearly five minutes to put MSU ahead 20-3 late in the third quarter.
The Golden Bears got another interception deep in their own territory from
Abdullah Asad (Chicago) on the CU 5-yard line, returning it 40 yards to give the Golden Bears some life.
But on 4th and 2 from the MSU 28 yard line, the Golden Bears were stopped with 9:50 to play in the game. Their next drive would result in a fumble deep in their own territory setting up an MSU field goal three plays later.
Concordia would be stopped on another 4th down play on their next drive, a 4th and 4 from their own 48.
After an MSU touchdown, the Golden Bears rallied for their first touchdown of the game, a 51-yard connection between Peterson and
Tre Mason (League City, Texas) with 2:24 to play in the game in what would be their last possession.
Mason finished with two catches for 74 yards.
The Golden Bears saw a breakout performance from freshman
Gabe Boyce (Minnetonka, Minn.), who posted career-highs with four catches for 68 yards and a new career-long of 31 yards.
Concordia managed just 69 rushing yards as a team on 25 attempts and had 292 yards of total offense against a defense that entered play allowing under 160 total yards per game.
Meanwhile, MSU rushed for 216 yards and three scores on 46 attempts and added 175 passing yards. Mitch Brozovich completed 12-of-26 for 175 yards and two interceptions and was sacked four times. He also rushed for 97 yards on 23 attempts with a touchdown.
Concordia linebacker
Jordan Halverson (Fridley, Minn.) posted his fourth 10-plus tackle performance with 11 stops, adding 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Adding a sack was
Denzell Blackmon (Chicago) who also made eight tackles.
Zach Moore (Chicago) also recorded a sack, his fifth of the season.
The Concordia defense made 8.0 total tackles for loss, had two interceptions and recovered a fumble on special teams.
Obarski had a busy day punting the ball, with six punts, two inside the 20, a touchback that nearly went out of bounds at the one yard line, and a 39.7 average.
The Golden Bears return home next Saturday, October 6 with a noon kickoff against Upper Iowa for Homecoming 2012 at Sea Foam Stadium.
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