BEMIDJI, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul football improved to 2-0 with a 17-14 come from behind victory to spoil Bemidji State's (1-1) home opener at Chet Anderson Stadium on Saturday night. It's Concordia's first win at "The Chet" since 2001 and just the second-ever win there for the program.

Concordia starts 2-0 for the first time since the 2004 season, and just the seventh 2-0 start in the history of the football program dating back to 1969.

The win sets up a showdown of 2-0 squads next Saturday night, September 21 at Sea Foam Stadium against St. Cloud State with a 6 p.m. kickoff for Day of Heroes, Concordia's annual Military Appreciation Day.

Junior quarterback Jared Russo completed a 19-yard touchdown pass under pressure on 4th-and-6 to sophomore Gabe Boyce over the middle in traffic to put Concordia ahead 17-14 with 46 seconds to play. It was Boyce's only reception of the game while Russo completed 14-24 for 139 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

On Bemidji State's ensuing drive, senior safety Mike Willett stepped in front of Ryan Shields' pass on 2nd-and-9 from BSU's own 23 yard line. Willett picked off the pass at the BSU 39 yard line with 28 seconds to play.

Concordia trailed 14-7 for a good part of the second half before a 38-yard field goal by Tom Obarski with 9:18 to play in the game brought the Golden Bears within four points. The Obarski field goal was set up by a fumble recovery by senior defensive end Zach Moore at the BSU 21 yard line to give Concordia excellent field position. That particular turnover was vital for the Golden Bears, as they had just turned the ball over on a 13-play, 77-yard drive to give BSU the ball at their own 20 yard line on the previous drive.

Following the Obarski field goal, the Beavers responded with a drive that consumed nearly four important minutes of game time but resulted in a missed 48-yard field goal by Zac Pulkinen to keep the margin at four points.

Concordia took over on their own 31 yard line with just under five and a half minutes remaining, down by four points. The key plays on the drive included a 17-yard first down run by junior Tre Spears and back-to-back eight-yard rushes by senior Ronald Zollicoffer which gave Concordia a first down on BSU's 23 yard line.

Three plays later, Russo hit Boyce in the front of the end zone over the middle for the go-ahead score.

Spears was the offensive catalyst throughout, with a career-high 34 carries rushing for 162 yards including countless yards after first and second contact. Zollicoffer complimented him with nine rushes for 40 yards.

The Golden Bears produced more team rushing yards (183) than Bemidji State had of total offense (157) as Concordia's defense stifled BSU's passing game to just 75 yards.

Concordia also dominated in first downs, with a 20-to-9 margin and in time of possession, with nearly a 13-minute advantage in the game (36:21 to 23:39).

The defense forced six BSU punts including three 3-and-outs and forced two fourth quarter turnovers as well.

The dominant defensive performance comes on the heels of the program's first shutout since 2007 in the season opener in a 29-0 win over Minot State.

It was truly a team defensive effort as well, with three players tied for the team lead with eight tackles (Abdullah Asad, Jordan Halverson, Josh Trifunov) and another with seven (Willett). Six different players accounted for at least a half tackle for loss, three different players had pass breakups.

Senior Thomas Flack picked up a sack early in the contest and added three tackles, while Willett added a breakup to go with his interception.

Bemidji State's defense, meanwhile, had major individual stats with Scott Christensen leading the way with 17 total tackles and two others in double-digits. But Concordia was able to run 18 more total plays including 15 of them on the ground, combined with BSU needing multiple tacklers to bring down Spears on his 34 rushes.

In the first half, the two teams came out in a defensive slugfest as predicted. After each team had two offensive possessions, only one first down was gained - by penalty on a fourth down play.

BSU had the early edge in field position, starting with the ball on average on their own 39 yard line compared to Concordia starting on the 21 yard line throughout the first quarter.

The field position advantage came to fruition as the Beavers went ahead first on a 2-yard touchdown run by Avery Walker on BSU's third possession with 2:15 to play in the first quarter. It capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive that spanned just over four minutes.

Concordia tied the game with 4:26 to play in the second quarter as Russo hit Cordell Smith for a 5-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-goal. Smith led the team with four catches for 39 yards.

The Golden Bears looked to gain even more momentum after the defense held BSU on a 3-and-out, getting the ball back on their own 43 yard line with 2:52 to play in the half.

After a first down to get across midfield, on 3rd-and-6, Russo misfired on a short pass with Buckley Wright picking it off and returning it 47 yards to the Concordia 10 yard line where Russo dragged him out of bounds with 31 seconds to play before intermission.

Three plays later on 3rd-and-goal from the eight yard line, Shields found Jordan Noskowiak for a touchdown to put BSU ahead 14-7.

The Beavers would only cross their own 30 yard line once in the second half, however, on the drive that resulted in the Pulkinen missed field goal.