SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (1-4 NSIC, 0-1 South) opened NSIC South Division play with a 38-9 loss at #21 Sioux Falls (5-0 NSIC, 1-0 South) on Saturday night at Bob Young Field. The Cougars are now 48-3 all-time at Bob Young Field.

The game was much closer than the final 29-point margin indicated as Concordia held the first lead (3-0) of the night which was USF's first time trailing all season, the game was tied at 3-3 late in the 2nd quarter and Concordia was within a score (8-points) at the end of the third quarter. Sioux Falls would scored 21 unanswered points to close out the fourth quarter.

Concordia took the first lead of the game and is the first team to hold a lead over the Cougars when Tom Obarski hit one of three field goals with 10:19 to play in the first quarter.

Not only was Concordia's lead over USF the first time a team held a lead over the Cougars, it was also the first time a team scored any points against USF in the first quarter of a contest. Entering play, the Cougars had outscored opponents 70-0 in four games in the opening frame.

Concordia's defense came ready to shut down the high-powered Sioux Falls offense. The Cougars came into the game averaging over 50 points and 500 yards per game, ranking fifth and 15th in the country, respectively.

Tonight, the Golden Bears shut down the Cougars to five three-and-outs in the first half and without a third down conversion. One of USF's three-and-outs did result in a field goal after a second quarter Golden Bear fumble set up the Cougars with the ball at the CU 16 yard line.

On Concordia's next drive in the second quarter, redshirt freshman receiver Vantwon Melton had an 18-yard catch to the Cougars' 22 yard line but a fumble turned the ball over to Sioux Falls. Although USF didn't score on the drive, the turnover stripped Concordia of an opportunity to reclaim the lead midway through the second quarter.

Concordia's defense continued to hold the Cougars until late in the half. The Cougars started on their own 8-yard line and faced a 2nd and 14 from their own 4-yard line. Under pressure in the end zone, Cougar quarterback Luke Papilion completed a 15-yard first down pass as part of a drive that he went 8-for-8 passing including a 12-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds to play before halftime.

The late second quarter Sioux Falls touchdown drive put Concordia behind for the first time in the game. Sioux Falls would start the second half with the ball and march down the field for another touchdown to steal the momentum with a 17-3 lead early in the third quarter.

The rest of the third quarter was dominated by Concordia and at the end of three quarters Concordia had a 28:39 to 16:21. Concordia had the ball seemingly the entire third quarter, aided by a pair of fumble recoveries deep in Cougar territory.

But the offense wasn't able to punch it in the end zone as a pair of Obarski field goals in the third quarter had the USF margin back down to a one score game, 17-9 at the end of three.

Sioux Falls stepped on the gas in the fourth quarter. Like its first quarter dominance through the first four games, the Cougars dominated the fourth quarter as well. Entering tonight, USF had a 63-0 scoring margin in the fourth quarter and unlike Concordia's first quarter performance the Cougars would hold strong in the fourth with three unanswered touchdowns to close out the game.

Despite holding USF to under 100 yards of total offense until the Cougars' final drive of the second quarter, USF ended up gaining 468 yards of total offense as Concordia allowed a season-high 287 yards through the air and 181 on the ground.

Concordia had 249 yards of total offense but dominated the final time of possession line with nearly 37 minutes of clock (36:56 to 23:04). The final turnover tally was even as each team coughed up three fumbles to the opposition.

Senior Tre Spears led Concordia offensively with 119 combined rushing/receiving yards on 33 touches. He had 33 rushes for 86 yards and six catches for 33 yards. Senior Jermaine Clemon led the passing game with six catches for 79 yards while sophomore Sammy Baucham had his third straight 4-catch game for 27 yards.

Senior Jared Russo completed 21-39 for 167 yards in the contest, connecting with seven different targets.

While Obarski converted all three of his field goals, he also had a busy day punting the ball with eight punts for a 36.4 average and three inside the 20 with a long of 50.

Linebackers Cale Dester and Jordan Halverson led the defense with eight tackles each as Halverson forced a fumble and Dester had a recovery. Junior defensive lineman Dion Roche had another sack, giving him 5.5 on the year.

The Sioux Falls offense was led by Nephi Garcia with 24 carries for 146 yards along with a reception for nine yards. He scored twice, once on the ground and once through the air. Papilion completed 23-33 for 287 yards and three touchdowns and while he completed passes to six different receivers it was Brady Rose and Garrett Shutt who did the most damage. The duo combined for 15 catches and 226 yards. Rose had 8-128 while Shutt was 7-98. Josh Angulo had four catches for 35 yards with two of his catches being touchdowns.