ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday at noon, Concordia-St. Paul football (1-3) opens NSIC South Division play on Homecoming against Winona State (2-2) at Sea Foam Stadium.

HOMECOMING 2015: oktoBEARfest
This Saturday marks Concordia's homecoming at Sea Foam Stadium with the day's festivities beginning with CSP's noon kickoff against WSU followed by Comet's Carnival from 2-5 p.m. and the #3 volleyball team hosting #11 Wayne State at 4 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center. Get involved with all of the action with Homecoming wristbands which include admission to all three events, plus unlimited rides, food & entertainment at Comet's Carnival. Tickets can be purchased online, prices are $25 for adults (21+), $10 for students (4-20) with children 3 and under free of charge. General admission football tickets will be $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Through the NSIC's agreement with Stretch Internet, all Northern Sun football games are broadcast online and provided free of charge. Concordia's home games are through Stream Powered Productions with on-air talent provided by the voice of the Golden Bears, Dan Flanagan along with former KSTP-5 intern Ren Clayton, a CSP alum who also was a multi-year contributor behind the scenes on the CSP webcasts. All games, home and away can be viewed through CSP's portal on Stretch Internet. The portal features a social stream (#NSICFB, #BeGolden & @CUGoldenBears) filtered in with the play-by-play and live stats.

SERIES HISTORY: WINONA 13, CSP 4
The Golden Bears have had the upper hand recently, winning each of the last two years in the season finale with the Warriors, 28-13 at the Metrodome in 2013 and 31-28 last year in Winona. The two wins snapped WSU's winning streak in the series at seven games dating back to CSP's 2005 35-21 win at the Metrodome that clinched its second NSIC Championship in three years. CSP's other win against WSU was in 2003, a 23-20 overtime triumph at Griffin Stadium which helped the team win its first NSIC Championship on a game played on October 4, nearly 12 years ago to the day of this Saturday's contest. The 2003 win was Concordia's only home win in the series with a 1-5 record in St. Paul against WSU, and teh Warriors have won their only two trips to Sea Foam Stadium in the first two years of the stadium in 2009 and 2010 and have not had a return trip since 2010.

LAST MEETING (11/15/14): CSP 31, WSU 28
The Golden Bears closed out the 2014 season with a fourth straight victory to finish 4-3 and in third place in the rugged NSIC South Division. It was Concordia's first win in seven trips to Warrior Stadium and second straight overall win against WSU in the all-time series. It was the program's first four game winning streak since the 2005 had a five game streak in its second NSIC Championship season in a three year span.

Ben Schramski engineered the win under center as a dual threat, rushing 12 times for 117 yards (9.8 avg) while completing 10-13 for 131 yards through the air, combining for three touchdowns (2 pass, 1 rush). While Schramski established the pass game early by completing 7-10 for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, the running game took control in the second half.

Tre Spears carried 28 times for 131 yards and had an 11-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to give Concordia a 31-21 lead with 13:13 remaining. It was his third straight 100-yard performance and gave him 1,254 yards on the season for the NSIC's rushing title, the first in program history. He finished as the NSIC's ninth-leading rusher in league history with 3,160 yards in NSIC contests and the program's fourth leading rusher overall with 3,173 yards in all games played.

CSP tight end Jermaine Clemon also hit a milestone, becoming the first tight end in program history to reach 100 career catches as he had three catches for 52 yards and a 27-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Cordell Smith, also a senior last year like Spears and Clemon, had a highlight reel 1-handed catch for a 35-yard touchdown in coverage and finished his career with 147 catches (6th), 2,237 yards (5th) and 26 receiving touchdowns (3rd). He had four catches for 65 yards to lead CSP's receivers.

Nick Jauch, also a senior in his last game had 10 tackles, 4.0 for loss and 2.0 sacks as the defense had nine tackles for loss and five sacks. Dion Roche, also in his last game as a senior had 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks off the defensive end spot while Jordan Halverson had six tackles to finish the season with CSP's DII-era record 108 tackles on the year.

Concordia kicker Tom Obarski had a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter and those three points ended up the difference in the final score. Obarski was the NSIC leader with 18 field goals with the next closest converting 12 as he set a school record. He also led the league in percentage at 85.7% (18-21) and the only kicker in the league perfect in PAT's (27-27).

NOTES ON THE 2015 HOME SCHEDULE
The Golden Bears look to play a six game home schedule for the first time since the 2010 Mineral Water Bowl season and just the second time since Sea Foam Stadium opened in 2009.

The team will welcome a pair of opponents who have never played at Sea Foam Stadium, MSU Moorhead in week two and Southwest Minnesota State in week 10.  Additionally, Sioux Falls (week nine) has only played at Sea Foam Stadium once (2013), while Bemidji State (week four) and Winona State (week five) have not appeared at Sea Foam Stadium since the 2010 Mineral Water Bowl season.

MEET THE 2015 CAPTAINS
Concordia head coach Ryan Williams has announced four captains for the 2015 season, junior Corey Cole (QB, Fillmore, Calif.) and senior Cole Parker (LT, Brookfield, Wis.) on offense and seniors Hank Goff (DL, Minnetonka, Minn.) and Jordan Nieuwsma (FS, Lakeville, Minn.) on defense.

LAST WEEK: BEMIDJI STATE 47, CONCORDIA 7
Bemidji State set the tone early in all three phases, stopping Concordia on its opening drive in three plays before a 42-yard punt return set up a touchdown on BSU's opening play, a QB keeper for 19 yards. With a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, the Beavers didn't look back.

Concordia's defense did its best to bend but not break, holding BSU to field goal attempts on its next three drives including a miss.

An 80-yard kickoff return by Alquawn Vickers, one of the top returners in the league this year, gave Concordia the ball in the red zone down 10-0 in the first quarter. But the offense stalled and the field goal was missed, allowing BSU to continue to build its momentum.

Late in the fourth quarter, Concordia's offense had just two first downs and 34 yards of total offense before backup running backs RaQuan Cunnigan and Charles Arnold exploded for a 6-play, 75-yard drive with Arnold punching it in from eight yards out with 3:50 to play.

The surge by Cunnigan and Arnold was a bright spot as Cunnigan carried the first three plays of the drive for 29 yards including a burst of 20 yards. Arnold filled in for the next three plays for 46 yards including a long of 35 and the eight yard touchdown.

Defensively, Jahphet Grant racked up 18 tackles, tied for the second most in a single game in team history and just two shy of the record.

On special teams, Sam Maedke punted nine times for 385 yards, the second most punting yards in a game in team history. He averaged 42.8 with a long of 54.
 
HEAD COACH RYAN WILLIAMS
The Golden Bears are led by fifth year head coach Ryan Williams. Prior to being named head coach, Williams had served as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for the previous six seasons at Concordia. He is a Wayzata, Minn. native and played collegiately as starting quarterback and team captain at former Division II-power North Dakota State from 1997-2000.

With a 19-29 career record, Williams is 2-2 against Winona State. He is 10-17 in his career in NSIC South Division play including a 4-3 third place finish in 2014, and he carries an 8-12 career record at Sea Foam Stadium.

RECORD WATCH: JORDAN HALVERSON CAREER TACKLES
Senior inside linebacker Jordan Halverson became the fifth player in program history to eclipse 300 career tackles with his 11 tackle performance at SCSU in the 2015 season opener.  He now has 331 and is 11 shy of matching the career record and also ranks 10th in team history in tackles for loss with 30.0. In his senior year, Halverson is second on the defense with 33 tackles.
CAREER TACKLES LEADERS - TOP FIVE
342 - Brian Doyle (2001-04)
331 - Jordan Halverson (2010-2015)
327 - Stan Tischer (1978-79)
320 - Matt Woodford (1996-99)
319 - Al Quaye (2008-11)

MIRERI HOLDS CAREER RECORD FOR PASSES DEFENDED
Senior cornerback Jimmy Mireri is etching his name into the Concordia record books as well. He holds the program record for career passes defended (INT + PBU) with 39 and his 35 pass breakups is also a career record. He was able to breakup 14 passes each of the last two seasons, adding an interception in 2013 and three INT's in 2014. In 2015, Mireri has four pass breakups, averaging a solid one per contest and also has 14 total tackles (12 solo).

MARINE-LED DEFENSIVE LINE: HANK GOFF
Senior defensive lineman Hank Goff has had a unique path to Concordia. A highly touted recruit out of MSHSL Champion Minnetonka High School, Goff landed at South Dakota State for his freshman season where he led the Jackrabbits in tackles for loss while starting most of his rookie season.

But he didn't produce in the classroom and left the program. Following in family history, Goff joined the Marines and was deployed as a top machine gunner to Afghanistan.

After returning, Goff found football and his eligibility with the Golden Bears in 2013. He's in his third season with the program and a returning All-NSIC South Division honorable mention performer. Goff has compiled 43 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and two interceptions in 24 games for the Golden Bears.

As a senior, Goff has seven total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

QUARTERBACK NOTES
Opening day starting quarterback Corey Cole left the SCSU game due to injury at the end of the third quarter and did not return. He has been replaced on the depth chart by sophomore Ben Schramski who led the team to wins in Concordia's last four games of 2014 as a redshirt freshman. His backup will be redshirt freshman Trevor Tillett, who completed 1-2 for 13 yards last week against BSU while making his first career pass attempts.

Schramski and the Golden Bear offense rank fifth in the conference and 39th in the nation in yards per completion (14.2) as a team while Schramski's individual mark of 14.5 is slightly better, ranking 31st in the country and third in the Northern Sun.

Schramski's long was a 69-yard touchdown to Sammy Baucham in week two. He's connected on four pass plays of 30-plus yards and has a long run of 39 yards. On the year, Schramski has passed for 493 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown with only one interception thrown.

BIG PLAY POTENTIAL
The Golden Bears have had 15 plays of at least 25 yards on the 2015 season and 14 going for at least 30 yards.

Overall, nine players have combined to provide the big-play moments through four different methods: kickoff returns (4), interception returns (1), pass plays (5) and run plays (5).

Alquawn Vickers leads the squad with six 25-plus yard plays including a 99-yard kickoff return for touchdown in week three at Minot State, the second longest of Concordia's football history (second to Corey Cole's 100-yard return at Wayne State in 2013) and the second longest in the Northern Sun in 2015. Vickers has been versatile with his playmaking, with four kick returns of 30-plus yards (99t, 80, 41, 34) and three via the air (36, 35, 34).

Vickers is ranked 20th in the country in kickoff return average (29.1) on his 14 returns and leads the NSIC in kickoff return yards (408). He is also second in the league in all-purpose yards per game (159.0) and is CSP's leading receiver with 198 yards with his 12 catches second on the squad.
While Vickers ranks 20th in kick return average individually, he is the leader on Concordia's kickoff return team which averages 25.2 yards to rank 13th in the country and third in the NSIC.

TRIFUNOV OFF TO A STRONG START
Senior outside linebacker Josh Trifunov had a big week three, making seven tackles with a pair of sacks and tackles for loss in a 28-13 win at Minot State.

On the year, Trifunov has four sacks in four games, with his 1.0 sack per game rate ranking 19th in Division II and third in the NSIC. He's also third on the defense with 26 tackles, adding 4.5 tackles for loss and a team-high three quarterback hurries.

A four year contributor, Trifunov has 232 tackles, 21.0 tackles for loss, 9.0 sacks and nine passes defended with an interception.

GRANT RACKING UP TACKLES
Senior inside linebacker Jahphet Grant leads the defense with 39 tackles, an average of 9.8 per game to rank sixth in the NSIC and 62nd among all Division II defensive players. He's posted back-to-back double-digit tackle performances, with 11 in a 28-13 win at Minot State before week four's 18-tackle performance against Bemidji State. The 18 tackles rank second in a single game in team history, just two shy of the single game mark.

DOBBS IMPACTING UP FRONT
Redshirt freshman Jackson Dobbs has made a solid impact on the defensive line, second on the team with 3.5 tackles for loss while adding a sack and fumble recovery. He also has 14 tackles to rank second among CSP defensive linemen.

RUNNING BACK COMMITTEE
Concordia's rushing has been a team concept in 2015 as Alex Carr leads the team with 172 yards, averaging 4.1 per carry while Darius Chapes leads the team in carries with 47 and is just behind Carr with 168 yards. Additionally, Ben Schramski is a quarterback with ability to run the ball (83 yards) while the team will also mix in Charles Arnold (46 yards), RaQuan Cunnigan (29 yards) and Jay Parker.

Through four games, the team has had a different player lead the unit in rushing each game. Carr had 144 yards in the opener, Schramski 55 in week two, Chapes with 70 in week three and Arnold had 46 yards last week.

Lastly, the players share goal line duty as well as four different players have a rushing touchdown: Chapes, Schramski, Arnold and Parker.

MAEDKE SETTLES IN AT PUNTER
Sophomore punter Sam Maedke has settled into a productive role as the team's punter, replacing four year veteran Tom Obarski. Maedke ranks fifth in the NSIC in punting average (38.2) on his 26 punts.

In week four, Maedke has his top game distance-wise with a 42.8 average on nine punts, racking up 385 yards, the second most in a game in team history. Of those nine punts, three were fair catches and his long was a 54-yarder.

His top game in terms of field position came in week two against MSU Moorhead, placing five of his seven punts inside the 20 including six fair catches with a 34.1 yard average.

On the year, Maedke has five punts inside the 20 while 10 of his 26 punts have been fair catches.