MINNEAPOLIS - Concordia-St. Paul (5-6 NSIC, 2-5 South) had the ball for over 40 minutes, forced four turnovers and had six sacks in a dominant 23-13 win over Winona State (6-5 NSIC, 4-3 South) in the final college football game ever played at Metrodome.

The win snaps a seven game losing streak to the Warriors and is the program's first win over Winona State since the 2005 NSIC Championship season, a game that was also a season finale played at Metrodome (35-21).


CU Football vs Winona State 11.17.2013 - Images by Justin Oakman

Concordia held WSU to 27 rushing yards (22 attempts) and 233 yards of total offense as the Warriors had just 11 first downs and 19:26 of time of possession.

It all happened in the first half, as Concordia stifled the Warriors to -2 rushing yards, 52 passing yards. Concordia had the ball for 21:05 to WSU's 8:55 in the half as the Golden Bears were 7-of-10 on third downs to WSU's 1-of-4.

Turnovers also played a big role as Concordia forced four in the game, three fumbles and an interception and also stopped the Warriors on downs twice.

Part of Concordia's ability to force turnovers was the aggressive play up front as the Golden Bears had seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss along with seven quarterback hurries on WSU quarterback Jack Nelson's 12 incomplete passes.

Senior defensive end Zach Moore led the group up front with 2.0 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss to finish his career with 33 sacks, seven coming this year. He also had a fumble recovery, two hurries and batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

While Concordia's defense had a big day, the offense was extremely efficient and kept the defense off the field to stay fresh for four quarters.

The Golden Bears had 149 rushing yards on 43 attempts while junior Jared Russo completed 22-34 for 225 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Concordia totalled 374 yards of offense while running 77 plays and converted all three red zone trips into points. Concordia also picked up 20 first downs in the affair.

In the first quarter, Concordia's defense held WSU on a three-and-out to start the game while the offense produced an efficient 11-play, 59-yard drive spanning nearly six minutes. Junior Tom Obarski hit the first of three field goals on the day from 36 yards out to give Concordia the lead.

After another stop by the defense which was keyed by a third down sack by senior Willie Nunnery, the Golden Bear offense went to work.

Russo and the offense started with the ball on their own 10-yard line with 5:48 to play in the first quarter.

Russo completed passes on 3rd-and-6, 3rd-and-7, senior Ronald Zollicoffer rushed for a first down on 3rd-and-5 and Russo delivered a 3rd-and-goal touchdown pass to Cordell Smith from eight yards out.

The drive that included four third down conversions including three passes by Russo, spanned 18 plays and 9:09. The Russo to Smith connection came with 11:40 to play in the second quarter and gave Concordia a 10-0 lead.

The game would never be closer than 10 points the rest of the way as the long drive set the tone for the contest.

Before the half ended, Obarski delivered his second of three field goals, a season-long 51-yarder that gave Concordia a 13-0 lead at the break.

Obarski's three field goal day tied two records, as he became the third player to hit three field goals in a game, which has now been done five times in program history. He also tied Brody Johnson's (2003-06) career record for field goals made with 25. The 51-yard field goal was his fourth from 50-plus in his career.

Russo and Smith would connect again in the third quarter, this time from 28 yards out. It was Smith's sixth career touchdown in the Metrodome as he's scored two receiving touchdowns in all three games he's played in the building.

The second Russo-Smith connection gave Concordia a 20-0 lead with 9:56 to play in the third quarter.

Obarski's third field goal, a 32-yarder, gave Concordia a 23-7 lead late in the third quarter as the defensive pressure closed the game out in the fourth.

Obarski also punted three times for a 45.3 yard average.

Smith finished the game with six catches for 71 yards with the two touchdowns as Russo completed at least two passes to seven different targets.

The ground game was led by junior Tre Spears, who fell 33 yards short of a 1,000 yard season. He had 27 carries for 77 yards on the day while Zollicoffer added 12 carries for 63 yards. The backfield duo was also active in the pass game, as Zollicoffer had three catches for 24 yards and Spears had two catches for 16 yards.

While sacks, turnovers and tackles for loss told the story of the Concordia defense, sophomore Josh Trifunov led the team with seven tackles and had at least six tackles in all 11 games this year. He finished the year with 99 tackles.

Winona State's defense was busy with being on the field all afternoon as Colin Corcoran led the team with 16 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 3.0 tackles for loss. Pat Lazzara added 13 tackles and an interception.

WSU quarterback Jack Nelson completed 13-25 for 206 with two touchdowns. His top target was Alan May with four catches for 78 yards and a score.

The Golden Bears held WSU running back Chichi Ojika to eight carries for 16 yards while backup Anthony Resnick had four carries for 45 yards with a long of 37.