MINNEAPOLIS - Concordia-St. Paul (4-6 NSIC, 1-5 South) couldn't slow down one of the top offensive attacks in the country in a 55-24 loss to Southwest Minnesota State (6-4 NSIC, 4-2 South) on Saturday afternoon at Metrodome.

Concordia returns to Metrodome next Sunday, November 17 for a 1 p.m. season finale contest against Winona State in the last college football game ever played at the 31-year old facility.


CU Football vs SMSU 11.9.2013 at Metrodome - Images by Justin Oakman

The Golden Bears had to deal with the nation's leading rusher, Tyler Tonderum who set the NSIC single-season rushing record already this year. He set the tone early, rushing in from 23 yards out to put the Mustangs on top under five minutes into the game.

The Mustangs never trailed from there, although Concordia's offensive attack picked up steam throughout the first half.

Late in the first quarter, junior Tre Spears scored from six yards out after getting set-up by a 72-yard kickoff return by senior Ronald Zollicoffer. Spears finished the day with 84 rushing yards on 19 carries while Zollicoffer had 142 yards on seven kickoff returns while also rushing for 21 yards on seven carries. Zollicoffer also had 20 receiving yards on four receptions while Spears pulled in a career-high three receptions out of the backfield.

Zollicoffer had a game-high 183 all-purpose yards.

In the second quarter, it was junior receiver Cordell Smith that got hot, grabbing a touchdown from 14 yards out to cut the score to 21-14 with 8:27 to play in the half before ending the half with a 37-yard touchdown catch to make the halftime margin 35-21.

Smith finished with his first 100-yard game of the year, the first 100-yard receiving game by any Golden Bear receiver this year, as he had five catches for 102 and the two touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Jared Russo connected with him both times and one of his better passing days this season, completing 23-37 for 227 yards and the two strikes to Smith.

Concordia compiled 370 yards of total offense in the game, with 143 coming on the ground.

But the high-powered Mustang offense continued to roll with 571 yards on the day including 254 rushing and 317 passing.

In the second half, SMSU started with the ball and promptly took a three touchdown lead on the opening drive of the half for a 42-21 margin.

Concordia responded by playing its best defense of the day - on offense. The Golden Bears enjoyed a 14 play, 73 yard drive that drained 8:11 off the clock in the third quarter. But it didn't result in any points as the Mustangs held the Golden Bears on a 4th-and-5 on the SMSU 7-yard line.

The scoreless drive sapped Concordia's comeback hopes, although junior Tom Obarski would convert a 35-yard field goal later in the quarter to narrow the margin back to 42-24.

In the fourth quarter, Concordia had another long, plotting drive as they marched 83 yards on 15 plays over 7:50. Once again, SMSU would stop Concordia on downs in the red zone as the Golden Bears were stuffed on 4th-and-2 from the SMSU 3-yard line with 1:14 to play in the game.

Concordia held Tonderum to over 33 yards below his national leading average but he still rushed for 156 yards on 22 carries. SMSU quarterback Charlie Kern made up for Tonderum missing his averages as he passed for 317 yards and five touchdowns while rushing 57 more yards on 11 attempts with another touchdown.

Tight end Cody Condon led the Mustang receivers with six catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns while receiver Anthony Dean had two receptions - both touchdowns - for 71 yards including a 63-yarder. Jordan Cross added six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown as well.

Obarski snapped a field goal slump with his 35-yard connection in the third quarter and also had a good all-around day. The special teams standout punted four times for a 40.5 average with a long of 50 and one inside the 20. He also delivered four of his five kickoffs for touchbacks and had a 13-yard fake punt run.

Concordia's defense was led by sophomore Josh Trifunov with 12 tackles, giving him a team-high 92 for the season. Prince Agyekum and Willie Nunnery each had 1.5 tackles for loss, with Agyekum getting a sack.