ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (4-6 NSIC, 3-3 South) muscled its way to a third straight victory behind 206 rushing yards and two touchdowns from senior Tre Spears in a 17-7 win over Augustana (5-5 NSIC, 2-4 South) on Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.

In the home finale, the team produced a big win for the 11-man senior class as Concordia is now tied with Wayne State for third in the NSIC South Division with a shot to finish with a winning division record next Saturday with a noon kickoff at Winona State.

For the second-straight week, Concordia's offensive line imposed its will on a defense by paving the way for a 300-plus yard team rushing attack while Spears put up his second straight 200-yard game. The Golden Bears rushed for 328 yards on 47 attempts (7.0 per carry), and controlled the clock for 35:48 of play to Augie's 24:12. Spears rushed 25 times for 206 yards (8.2 per carry) and two touchdowns for his second career 200-yard performance. Spears, with his first career 1,000-yard season (1,123), is now 28 yards away from NSIC leader Logan Lauters of Minnesota Duluth for the league rushing title.
 

While the Concordia ground game was the offensive highlight, Concordia's defense produced big plays in big moments to hold the Vikings to just seven points.

The two teams each made four trips to the red zone, with Concordia scoring three times to Augustana's one and each team was 5-of-14 on third down but the Vikings missed their only fourth down while Concordia converted its only fourth down of the game in a big spot.

Leading 10-7 midway through the fourth quarter with a 4th and 4 from the Augie 27 yard line and facing a 15-plus mile per hour wind, redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Schramski connected with senior wide receiver Cordell Smith for 13 yards and a first down. On the next play, the offensive line parted the Augustana defense as Spears burst up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown run.

The result gave Concordia a 17-7 lead with under four and a half minutes to play.

Augustana came storming back, hitting on a pair of big plays - a 50-yard kickoff return and a 43-yard pass to the Concordia 7-yard line. But junior Jordan Nieuwsma wrestled an interception away from an Augie receiver on a fade right in the corner of the end zone with under four minutes to play.

The Vikings stopped the Golden Bears on three plays and blocked Concordia's punt, setting up the Vikings at the 7-yard line again with just under two minutes left. But a strong defensive stand forced the Vikings to attempt a 29-yard field goal that was wide left with under a minute to play, allowing Concordia to run the clock out.

Turnovers in the red zone would not only be the story of the game's finish, but how the game started as well. Augustana quarterback Trey Heid entered the game with 22 touchdowns and two interceptions on the season, but Concordia wasted no time in doubling that total as junior Jimmy Mireri picked off a Heid pass at the 10-yard line in the first quarter and senior safety Abdullah Asad picked off a Heid pass at the 38-yard line in the first quarter.

In between the two Concordia interceptions, Augustana forced a fumble by Spears at the 2-yard line as he was bowling his way to the end zone from the 8-yard line, but that was Concordia's only turnover as the Golden Bears forced three turnovers for the second-straight game.

With the run of red zone turnovers in the first quarter, it was Concordia that finally reached the end zone in the second quarter as Spears appeared stopped up the middle before getting around the left end for a 15-yard score with 10:27 to play in the half. The score remained 7-0 at the break despite Concordia rushing for 204 yards and Augie running for 153 as each team averaged nearly 10 yards per carry to start the day.

The final game stats indicated a close contest, as Concordia had 391 yards of total offense to Augie's 373 with Augie gaining one more first down (17) than Concordia (16). In the end, it came down to turnovers, red zone execution and Concordia's clutch fourth down play in the fourth quarter.

Schramski finished the day 9-15 passing for 63 yards, but added 55 yards on eight rushing attempts. He was only sacked once and didn't throw any interceptions while guiding Concordia to a third straight win under center in just four career starts.

Sophomore Darius Chapes supplemented the running game with nine carries for 68 yards including breaking off a 44-yard long.

Schramski's favorite target was Smith as they connected four times for 40 yards while senior tight end Jermaine Clemon had three catches for 22 yards.

Augustana's offense was led by running back CJ Ham with 12 carries for 94 yards and three catches for 27 yards. Dajon Newell added six runs for 51 yards and Matt Heller had five catches for 118 yards.

Concordia held Heid to just 108 passing yards as he completed just 11 of 26 while taking two sacks and throwing two interceptions. Backup Chase Marso completed 4-7 for 111 yards and a touchdown but was also intercepted in the end zone.

Concordia's defense provided a solid team effort as junior Jordan Halverson led the team with nine tackles and 1.5 for loss and Mireri added eight tackles and an interception. Junior defensive end Dion Roche picked up 1.5 sacks on five tackles. The team had eight tackles for loss and three sacks in the game, hurrying Augie's quarterbacks five times and breaking up four passes downfield.  Eight different defenders were in on Concordia's eight tackles for loss.

Meanwhile, Concordia's offensive line protected its backfield once again, allowing just four tackles for loss and a sack while Augie had just two quarterback hurries and one breakup. Ben Skelly led the Augie defense with 15 tackles including 1.5 for loss and a fumble recovery.