WAYNE, Neb. - Concordia-St. Paul (4-4 NSIC, 1-3 South) completed an 11-point road comeback victory with less than four minutes to play on Saturday afternoon at Wayne State (2-6 NSIC, 1-3 South). The Golden Bears prevailed with a 28-24 win over the Wildcats. The Golden Bears improve to 3-1 on the road this season including two fourth quarter comeback wins.

Concordia's comeback chances looked bleak when junior Tom Obarski was not able to convert a 42-yard field goal with 5:10 to play on the sunny, breezy day in western Nebraska, with NNW winds around 15 miles per hour.

The Wildcats took over at their own 24 yard line with a 24-13 lead poised for their first home win in four tries at Memorial Stadium in the 2013 season.

The Concordia defense held strong, though, and the Wildcats fumbled at the line of scrimmage on a 3rd and 16 from their own 18 yard line with sophomore Josh Trifunov recovering on the WSC21 yard line with 3:42 to play.

That's all the time junior quarterback Jared Russo would need, as he converted a 2nd and goal pass from 10-yards out for the touchdown to junior tight end Jermaine Clemon, with the duo also connecting on a roll out pass for the two-point conversion to bring Concordia within three points, 24-21, with 2:37 to play.

With their timeouts remaining, Concordia opted to kickoff to the Wildcats as WSC started on its own 25 yard line and went 3-and-out.

Concordia took over on its own 33 yard line and on the first play Russo hit junior Cordell Smith for 25 yards to get into WSC territory to the 42 yard line. After two more completions of 14 and 12 yards to Clemon, Russo found Smith again for a 21-yard touchdown with Obarski hitting the PAT to give Concordia a 4-point lead (28-24) with 1:12 to play.

Russo completed 13-24 for 183 yards and two touchdowns in the game with Smith leading the team with 99 receiving yards (four catches) and Clemon leading the team with six catches (58 yards).

Concordia's defense would have to come up with a third key stop down the stretch as Wayne State started on its own 32 yard line with 1:06 to score the game-winner.

The Wildcats got the ball to the Concordia 31 yard line with 43 seconds when Wildcat quarterback Zach Osborn was forced out of the pocket and caught from behind as Trifunov made another big play, sacking Osborn and forcing the fumble with senior Chris Campbell recovering to end the Wildcats last minute comeback attempt.

Trifunov had a big day defensively with 10 tackles, the sack/tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a recovery. Junior safety Abdullah Asad led the defense with 11 tackles while sophomore cornerback Jimmy Mireri had five tackles, a big late game pass breakup and a first half interception in the end zone to halt a Wildcats scoring drive.

Concordia led early in the game, scoring on its opening possession as Russo connected with Smith for a 50-yard pass on a 3rd and 7 to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by junior Tre Spears.

Spears was the most consistent offensive player for the Golden Bears, rushing for 134 yards on 19 attempts (7.1/carry). Senior Ronald Zollicoffer added 47 on the ground on eight attempts as Concordia rushed for 152 yards on 38 team carries.

After WSC tied the game late in the first quarter, sophomore Corey Cole took the ensuing kickoff back for a 100-yard touchdown return to reclaim a 13-7 lead which would hold until halftime (PAT blocked).

The Wildcats scored twice in the third quarter, a 59-yard touchdown run by Charlie Davidson and a Tyler Basch 36-yard field goal. In the fourth, WSC scored again on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 10:16 to play to give the Wildcats the double-digit lead.

Once again, Concordia won the time of possession battle with 32:42 of clock time to 27:18 as the team improves to 4-1 when winning the time of possession war.

While Obarski missed his only field goal attempt on the day, he was outstanding punting the ball helping Concordia in the field possession battle. He punted seven times for a 40.9 average including three inside the 20 and a long of 51 and added a kickoff touchback.

Field position was key in the fourth quarter as Concordia had an average start at its own 42 compared to Wayne State's average at its own 29.

Concordia also won the turnover battle, forcing three turnovers (1 INT, 2 FR) while committing two (1 INT, 1 FR).

Concordia's third down defense was also a key factor, stifling WSC to 2-of-13 on third downs in a game when the two offenses gained similar yardage (WSC 379, Concordia 347).

Concordia remains on the road next Saturday in its 2013 road finale at Augustana's Kirkeby-Over Stadium with a 1 p.m. kickoff in Sioux Falls, S.D.