BISMARCK, N.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (0-3) falls to 0-3 on the year with a third straight seven point loss, dropping a 20-13 road game to the University of Mary (2-1) on Saturday afternoon at the Community Bowl on Military Appreciation Day. Concordia looks to get in the win column next Saturday with a noon kickoff for Homecoming 2014 at Sea Foam Stadium against Minnesota Crookston.

Concordia trailed by 15 points late in the fourth quarter with the defense forcing a U-Mary punt from its own 25-yard line. The Marauder punt went out of bounds at the line of scrimmage, setting Concordia up with an 8-play, 25-yard scoring drive capped by a Jared Russo to Tre Spears 3-yard touchdown pass to make it 18-10 with just over six minutes to play.

Once again the defense produced a stop, forcing a U-Mary punt from its own 26 yard line. However, the Marauders forced a Cordell Smith fumble on the return and recovered at the Concordia 37 yard line with 3:09 left.

Concordia's defense held U-Mary again despite the tough field position, forcing another punt but the Marauders pinned Concordia on its own 1-yard line with 2:47 to play and the Golden Bears still trailing 18-10.

On the first play, Russo dropped back and unloaded a deep pass down the right sideline but a holding penalty in the end zone awarded U-Mary a safety to extend the lead to 20-10 with 2:35 remaining and the Golden Bears forced to kick from their own 20 yard line.

Senior Tom Obarski delivered a rocket onside kick that the Marauders weren't able to handle, with the deflection bouncing back to the Concordia 18 yard line as the Golden Bears recovered.

From there, Concordia executed an efficient two minute offense as Russo completed 5-of-6 for 50 yards and added a 16-yard scramble. A defensive holding and a pass interference penalty on U-Mary gave Concordia 21 more free yards along with a pair of first downs. A Russo to Vantwon Melton completion over the middle gave Concordia a 1st and goal from the U-Mary 4-yard line and Russo spiked the ball to kill the clock.

Obarski then delivered a 22 yard field goal with four seconds to play to pull Concordia within seven points, 20-13.

But Concordia wasn't able to recover a second consecutive onside kick as the Marauders were able to kneel out remaining seconds.

Concordia was charged with eight dropped passes and had a pair of fumbles along with season-highs with nine penalties for 71 yards.

The defense played a strong game for the third week in a row, limiting U-Mary to 96 passing yards including Jimmy Mireri's first interception of the season. But the Marauders rolled up 167 rushing yards and won the turnover margin, forcing two turnovers and only committing one on the interception.

A number of individuals contributed to the defensive effort led by Jordan Halverson's 13 tackles while Marc St. Louis made his first start of the year with 10 tackles. Nick Jauch made an impact with nine tackles, three for loss and one of three Concordia sacks. Josh Trifunov added nine tackles and broke up two passes.

Overall, the defense combined for 10 tackles for loss and three sacks along with three pass breakups, an interception and a block.

While Concordia's defense held U-Mary under 300 yards of total offense (263), the offense struggled for much of the contest until the final two drives. In the end, Concordia only gained 241 yards including a season-low 61 on the ground on 20 attempts. Russo completed 24-of-42 for the game, but the eight dropped passes kept his passing yardage down to 180.

Spears finished the game with 12 carries for 42 yards including a long of 19, and also added a team-high six receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown to give him 68 all-purpose yards.

Freshman Uzziah Davis led the team with 85 all-purpose yards, 43 coming on a long punt return. He had five touches in the game, adding two kickoff returns for 40 yards and a run for two yards.

Smith added five receptions while Sammy Baucham hauled in four receptions for 37 yards. The tight ends combined to get six receptions for 60 yards led by Anton Bedeaux with three receptions for 28 yards.

Mary's defensive effort was led by NSIC tackles leader Grant Singer, who produced 13 tackles and has 42 in three games. Troy Guptill added a pair of sacks.

The Marauders didn't have anyone gain more than 56 rushing or receiving yards, although three running backs had between 52 and 56 yards and Elby Pope had 55 receiving yards along with 10 rushing and 24 returning.