ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (1-6 NSIC, 0-3 South) put up a fight early on against #1 Minnesota State (7-0 NSIC, 3-0 South) on a cool and sunny Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium, but the Mavericks put up 24 points in the second quarter en route to a 51-10 final score.

Concordia returns to the road next Saturday with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Wayne State (3-4 NSIC, 0-3 South). The Wildcats are riding a three game losing streak, allowing 50-plus points in each of the games including twice at home.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Trevor Tillett put together a solid second half, completing 13-27 for 106 yards and his first career touchdown pass, a 4-yard strike to redshirt freshman Alquawn Vickers over the middle on 4th-and-goal in the fourth quarter. CSP was 3-3 on fourth downs in the game. His top target in the game was sophomore Jason Oney who had six catches for 73 yards including a big 30-yard haul on 4th-and-6 from the MSU 31 in the fourth quarter which set up the Vickers touchdown three plays later. Tillett and Oney hooked up four times for 64 yards in the second half.


CU Football vs. MSU Mankato 10.17.2015 - Images by Justin Oakman

Aside from the touchdown grab, Vickers had another big all-around day which included a 43-yard kickoff return, four receptions for 24 yards and a score, 12 rushing yards and a 15-yard punt return. The league leader in all-purpose yards, Vickers once again reached the 150 mark with 15 touches for 150 yards. He's also the combined return yardage leader in the country, adding 114 more yards to his total which now stands at 851 yards. His 769 kickoff return yards (29 attempts) on the year is just 40 shy of tying Joseph Mapson's 2003 record of 809 yards on 35 return attempts.

Concordia's defense was stout in the first quarter, holding the Mavericks scoreless on their first trip to the red zone with a missed 22-yard field goal. Although MSU scored on it second possession, the Golden Bears forced a quick punt on MSU's third drive as the game was close at 7-0 at the first quarter break.

But MSU scored on its first possession of the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0 and would string together a field goal and a pair of touchdowns to end the half for a 24-point second quarter. The two touchdowns occurred with 2:15 and 35 seconds to play before halftime, stealing the game's momentum.

The Mavericks scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter to extend the lead to 45-0 when freshman kicker Jonas Schenderlein delivered a 42-yard field goal which was set-up by a 43-yard kickoff return by Vickers into MSU territory.

Following the Schenderlein field goal, Concordia linebacker Sam Johnson stepped in front of a pass for the interception and took it back 43 yards to the MSU 25-yard line, although the Maverick defensive front would get a pair of sacks to push the Golden Bears out of field goal range.

On Concordia's fourth quarter touchdown drive, prior to the Tillett-to-Oney 30-yard 4th down connection, senior running back Charles Arnold had 26-yard burst to push the ball into Maverick territory. Arnold was once again solid with six rushes for 33 yards and a 5.5 yard average while Darius Chapes also had a strong average with 6.0 yards per carry on four attempts for 24 yards including a long of 16 in the second quarter.

Concordia's defense was able to slow down the Mavericks at times, holding MSU to just 2-10 on third downs while keeping the Maverick offense off the field as CSP had a 32:21 to 27:39 time of possession advantage.

Breon Hoosier led the defense with nine tackles, adding a pair of pass breakups including one in the end zone and had a half tackle for loss. Linebackers Josh Trifunov and Jordan Halverson each had seven tackles while Brandon Russell and Jahphet Grant each had six tackles. Grant also recorded a sack, with Ryan McKee getting Concordia's other sack in the game.

But the Mavericks were able to rush for 236 yards on 33 team attempts and wound up with 412 yards of total offense with an average of 6.8 yards per play. Concordia finished with 174 yards of offense at 2.5 yards per play.

Virgil Hammond led MSU with 116 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown while Chad Zastrow had 12 carries for 88 yards and two scores.