Concordia University St. Paul Athletics

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ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, September 21 at 6 p.m., the 25th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul football team will host #24 St. Cloud State for Day of Heroes at Sea Foam Stadium. The game pits two of the NSIC's four remaining undefeated teams head-to-head, each with 2-0 records.

WHAT TO WATCH
The intriguing early season contest pits one of the top defenses in the league (Concordia), led by the top defensive player (Zach Moore) against one of the top offenses (SCSU) led by the top offensive player (Phillip Klaphake). more below

DAY OF HEROES
The event is Concordia's fifth annual Military Appreciation Day and for the second straight year will also honor local heroes from the fire and police force in addition to the country's military servicemen and women. Concordia's Military Appreciation Day has earned two NCAA Game Environment Awards in the previous four events.

HISTORICAL NOTES: HOT STARTS & SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are off to the program's first 2-0 start in Ryan Williams' third year as coach, and the first 2-0 start since 2004. It's the seventh 2-0 start in the history of Concordia football dating back to 1969. The Golden Bears will look to improve to 3-0 for the first time since the same 2004 season, and just the fifth time in program history.

The Huskies are seeking their first 3-0 start since the 2007 campaign.

Concordia is 0-2 head-to-head against St. Cloud State in a series that opened with 2010's Military Appreciation Day at Sea Foam Stadium. The last meeting between the schools was in 2011 at St. Cloud State.

In the last meeting between Concordia and St. Cloud State, current starting quarterback Jared Russo (Milwaukee) received his first extended action under center as a redshirt freshman. Entering fall camp as the third quarterback on the depth chart that year, Russo quickly ascended into a backup role when starter Spencer Ohm was injured early in camp.

Russo received his opportunity as a starter when James Peterson (Blaine, Minn.) left the SCSU game early in the second quarter with a season-ending injury. Russo proceeded to throw his first two career touchdown strikes, going 17-27 for 184 yards but five interceptions led to a defeat.

The next week, Russo earned his first career start on Military Appreciation Day against Northern State, guiding the Golden Bears to a 27-22 fourth quarter comeback victory with three touchdown passes against the Wolves.

The Golden Bears are coming off a dominant defensive victory to spoil Bemidji State's home opener last Saturday night, a 17-14 comeback win. In that game, Russo engineered a fourth quarter comeback win, throwing the game-winning touchdown strike with 46 seconds to play from 19 yards out to Gabe Boyce (Minnetonka, Minn.) on a 4th-and-6 play.

Russo is now 3-2 as starting quarterback for the Golden Bears.

BALL CONTROL OFFENSE
He's engineered a strong ball control offense that's led by junior running back Tre Spears (Chicago). Spears is third in the league in rushing with 280 yards in two games. The combination of Russo and Spears has helped Concordia convert third downs at the second-highest rate in the NSIC (44.8%) while the passing game is also second in the league in pass effeciency (155.1).

DOMINANT DEFENSE
The offense's efficiency has led right into the strength of the toughest early season defense in the conference and one of the stingiest in the nation. Concordia leads the league and is fourth in the nation in total defense (174.0), leads the league and is sixth in the nation in scoring defense (7.0 ppg) and pass defense (106.0 ypg) and leads the league and seventh in the nation in fewest first downs (20). The defense also ranks second in the NSIC in third down percentage (22.2% - 11th in NCAA) and in third in run defense (68.0 ypg - 17th in NCAA).

Concordia's defense is led by NSIC Preseason South Division Defensive Player of the Year, senior defensive end Zach Moore (Chicago). Moore is a consensus preseason All-America First Team selection as well. He's off to a strong start with a sack in the opener and a key fumble recovery in week two.

The result of the ball control offense and dominant defense leads to Concordia holding 35:00 of time of possession per game, ranking 13th in the nation.

ST. CLOUD STATE OFFENSE
They'll have to stop St. Cloud State quarterback Philip Klaphake, the NSIC North Division Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, has led the Huskies to the second ranked scoring offense (39.0 ppg) so far this year. He's second in the conference with 620 passing yards in two games and leads the league in total offense with 360.5 yards per game as he's already rushed for 101 yards as well. He's thrown four touchdown passes with just one interception and rushed for three more scores on the ground.

NSIC's FOUR UNDEFEATED TEAMS TO BE CUT IN HALF
Adding intrigue to the match-up is what happens with the #2 Minnesota State at #7 Minnesota Duluth game at 6:05 p.m. in Duluth, Minn. Concordia, SCSU, UMD and MSU are the only four remaining undefeated football teams in the conference.