ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday at 1 p.m., Concordia-St. Paul (1-6 NSIC, 0-3 South) will take on Wayne State (3-4 NSIC, 0-3 South) at Bob Cunningham Field (Memorial Stadium) in an NSIC South Division contest.

A perfect fall day is in the forecast with a high of 60 degrees and winds out of the NNW at 15 miles per hour.

THIS WEEK: FIRST ROAD NSIC SOUTH GAME
Concordia-St. Paul (1-6, 0-3 South) looks to snap a four game skid against Wayne State (3-4, 0-3 South) as the Wildcats are also on a three game losing streak. Each team seeks its first NSIC South Division victory as well.

Wayne State has been outscored by an average of 57-11 during its three game losing streak while Concordia has been outscored by a similar margin, 50-11 during its four game skid.

ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY TO FEATURE HANK GOFF
A project that has been in the works since August, an ESPN camera and audio crew was at the October 17 game against #1 Minnesota State at Sea Foam Stadium to gather footage of Hank Goff.

ESPN College GameDay will run a Veteran's Day feature segment on Saturday, November 7, the same day Concordia will honor Goff and the senior class for Senior Day against Southwest Minnesota State with a noon kickoff at Sea Foam Stadium.

An ESPN producer along with veteran journalist Gene Wojciechowski will be in St. Paul to collect interviews and day-to-day footage of Goff the week of October 26 for the piece.

ESPN has gravitated towards Goff's background as a top prep state champion recruit who started his career at FCS South Dakota State where he led the Jackrabbits in tackles for loss as a true freshman before leaving the program due to academic issues. Goff then enlisted in the Marines and was deployed to Afghanistan as a machine gunner. His story came full circle when adapting to his post-military life when he returned to college football with Concordia.

Goff is a returning All-NSIC South Division honorable mention performer and was tabbed by USA College Football as a Preseason All-America Second Team selection.

His story was first published by his uncle, Austin Murphy in Sports Illustrated with other media outlets including Fox Sports 1 and now ESPN College GameDay publicizing Goff's background which is punctuated by his military service and redemption on the college gridiron.

As a Golden Bear, Goff has made 50 tackles with 12.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, also breaking up nine passes with a pair of interceptions. As a senior, Goff has faced constant double teams while opposing offenses have intentionally avoided his side of the line of scrimmage. He's still managed to tally 12 tackles, 4.0 for loss and a pair of sacks with three pass breakups.

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 TEAM 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.

SERIES NOTES: CONCORDIA 9, WAYNE STATE 7
The Golden Bears and Wildcats have played every year since CSP joined the NSIC in 1999 with the road team prevailing in the last three matchups, five out of six and in seven of the last nine. Last year, it was visiting WSC who crashed Sea Foam Stadium with a 54-14 win over Concordia.

Two years ago, Concordia won its second straight trip to Wayne, Neb. with a 28-24 win and are now 4-3 in seven games played at Cunningham Field.

While the road team has dominated the last nine games, the teams also have a long history of playing in October. The teams will meet for the seventh consecutive time in the month of October and 15th time out of 17 all-time meetings.

Although WSC won last year's meeting handily, Concordia has won three of the last five contests overall with WSC and the Golden Bears have not lost on the road at Wayne State since November 1, 2008.

LAST MEETING, 2014: WAYNE STATE 54, CONCORDIA 14
Although Concordia fell 54-14 at home, senior Cordell Smith became Concordia's sixth 2,000-yard receiver with a first half touchdown reception.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead 17-0 in the first 20 minutes of game action. Concordia rallied back as quarterback Jared Russo connected on a pair of second quarter touchdown passes, a 36-yarder to cornerback Jimmy Mireri on his only career reception and a 12-yarder to Smith with 1:08 to play in the half to cut it to 24-14.

But Wayne State scored with just seven seconds to play in the half to extend the lead back to 17 points, 31-14 at the break. Coming out of halftime, WSC scored on its opening drive to push the lead to a game-high 24 points, 38-14 to put the game out of reach.

WSC continued to rally early in the third quarter by returning a fumble for a touchdown and returning an interception back to the CSP 12-yard line before scoring on the next play.

A 24-14 game with 1:07 to play in the second quarter quickly became a 51-14 contest with 10:36 left in the third, a 27-0 run in 5:31 of game action.

Russo finished the day 11-24 for 166 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Smith three times for 51 yards and his fourth TD catch of the year and 24th of his career.

Tre Spears led CSP's ground game with 19 carries for 75 yards.

WSC quarterback Zach Osborn completed 30-45 for 361 yards and three touchdowns, was sacked once (Nick Jauch), hurried seven times and intercepted once (Abdullah Asad).

Cole McDaniel led the Wildcats with seven catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns while Lane Yates led the rushing attack with 11 carries for 121 yards and two touchdowns.

LAST WEEK: MINNESOTA STATE 51, CONCORDIA 10
Concordia played the top team in the country strong in the opening quarter, as the Mavericks only led by a touchdown, 7-0 at the first break.

In the opening quarter, Concordia's defense held tough despite playing with short fields as MSU won the field position battle in the early going. The Mavericks opened play with the ball on their own 32 and drove to the CSP 5-yard line before stalling in the red zone and missing a 22-yard field goal.

The Concordia offense wasn't able to break through the highly touted Maverick defense, though, punting from its own 15 on the opening drive. MSU started from the CSP 49 on its second possession and scored in three plays.

In the first quarter, MSU started at its own 32, CSP's 49, it's own 30 and the CSP 41, resulting in 7 points. Concordia started at its own 20, own 15 and own 5 yard line on three first quarter possessions, resulting in one first down.

The first quarter field tilting paid off for the Mavericks in the second quarter, scoring four times (3 TD, 1 FG) including a 41-yard fumble recovery return for touchdown with just 35 seconds to play before halftime to make it a 31-0 margin.

Concordia started moving the ball more effectively in the second half behind backup quarterback Trevor Tillett, a redshirt freshman. A 43-yard kickoff return by Alquawn Vickers put the Golden Bears in MSU territory at the 49. A third down conversion from Tillett to Jason Oney but the Golden Bears in scoring position, setting up a 42-yard Jonas Schenderlein field goal to get on the scoreboard.

Tillett engineered a late third quarter drive that moved to the MSU 20 yard line before a missed field goal.

In the fourth, Tillett put together a third quality drive in a string of four possessions, marching 75 yards on 12 plays over 5:27 resulting in his first career touchdown pass to Vickers on 4th and goal from the 4-yard line. The TD pass was set up by another key 4th down conversion when Tillett found Oney for 30 yards down the middle at the 1-yard line on 4th and 6 from the 31.

In his most extensive playing time of his career, Tillett completed 13-27 for 106 yards and a touchdown in a half of play.

Oney was the top target of the day for Concordia, catching six passes for a career-high 73 yards.

Vickers had another big all-around day with 150 all-purpose yards on 15 touches, getting involved every way possible with four carries for 12 yards, four catches for 24 yards, six kick returns for 99 yards and a punt return for 15 yards. He even had a pair of pass attempts (0-2).

Charles Arnold led the run game with six carries for 33 yards and a long of 26 and Darius Chapes had four carries for 24 yards and a long of 16.

HALVERSON BREAKS CAREER TACKLES RECORD
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 broke the career tackles record with 12 tackles in week five against Winona State.  He also ranks eighth in team history in tackles for loss with 32.5.

In 2015, Halverson has 65 tackles (9.3/game) to rank third in the NSIC while leading the Golden Bear defense. Fellow inside linebacker Jahphet Grant ranks 16th in the NSIC with 7.7 tackles per game (46 total) including an 18-tackle outburst against Bemidji State. Grant has two double-digit tackle games while Halverson has four.
CAREER TACKLES LEADERS
363 - Jordan Halverson (2010-2015)
342 - Brian Doyle (2001-04)

MIRERI PROVIDES A BLANKET ON THE CORNER
Senior cornerback Jimmy Mireri is etching his name into the Concordia record books as well. With a pass breakup in the opener at SCSU, Mireri became the sole record holder for career passes defended (INT + PBU) and now has 42. His 38 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 addition to his strong cover skills, Mireri is also a strong tackler and is able to make plays with the ball. He made 63 tackles each of the last two seasons including 41 and 45 solo stops, respectively. He has 201 career tackles, including 36 as a senior in 2015 with seven pass breakups in seven games played.

Last year, Mireri scored a pair of touchdowns as well, one via a 36-yard reception and the other on a 90-yard kickoff return.

Starting opposite Mireri at the corner has been a combination of DeCeon Schumann and Jordan Nieuwsma. Schumann has four starts, has made 28 tackles with two interceptions including a 42-yard INT return for touchdown in CSP's 28-13 win at Minot State. He also has five pass breakups. Nieuwsma has started five times this year, mostly at safety. He's made 27 stops with 2.0 tackles for loss and five pass breakups.

SENIOR OLB JOSH TRIFUNOV
Senior outside linebacker Josh Trifunov has been one of Concordia's top tacklers over the last two years with 99 as a sophomore and 89 last year. He has 252 career tackles, ranking ninth in school history and just 10 shy of eighth. He's also made 24.5 tackles for loss, 12.0 sacks and nine pass deflections in his career.

In 2015, Trifunov ranks second in the Northern Sun and 16th in Division II with 7.0 sacks (1.0/game). He also ranks ninth in the NSIC with 8.0 tackles for loss (1.1/game) and 25th in the league with 6.6 tackles per game (46 total).

QUARTERBACK NOTES
For the second straight season, opening day starting quarterback Corey Cole suffered a season ending injury. Last year, it was in the second quarter of week two. In 2015, Cole went down in the season opener at the end of the third quarter. Cole has played parts of three games under center for the Golden Bears, passing for 306 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 179 yards (6.8 avg) and a touchdown in that limited time. Prior to making the conversion to quarterback, Cole spent two years as a receiver/returner, registering 22 catches for 264 yards and a touchdown and compiling 450 kick return yards (26.5 avg) and a 100 yard touchdown along with 86 punt return yards (6.1 avg).

Sophomore Ben Schramski has assumed the starting nod for the Golden Bears. In 2014 as a redshirt freshman, Schramski started the final five games and sent the team into the offseason with a four game winning streak under center.

In 2015, Schramski has completed 48.0 percent of his passes (72-150) for 808 yards and five touchdowns while adding another touchdown on the ground.

With 11 career starts, Schramski has 1,602 passing yards and nine touchdowns with 239 rushing yards and three TDs.

Concordia's backup is redshirt freshman Trevor Tillett, who is 14-29 for 119 yards and a touchdown. He had his first extended action under center in week seven against MSU, completing 13-27 for 106 yards and a touchdown while playing the entire second half.

VICKERS BREAKING OUT AS ALL-PURPOSE ALL-STAR
Redshirt freshman wide receiver and return specialist Alquawn Vickers has been one of the most dynamic playmakers in the Northern Sun, leading the league with 169.3 all-purpose yards per game which ranks 12th in the country.

He is the national leader with 851 combined return yards, is one of four players in the country with two kick returns for touchdown (99, 91), and ranks third in the NSIC with a 26.5 kick return average. His

He's been one of the top receiving targets on the team as well, leading the squad with 315 receiving yards and is second in receptions (25) and average per catch (12.6).

His big play ability also leads the team as he has 12 plays of at least 25 yards including a 99-yard kickoff return for touchdown to earn NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week honors in week three in CSP's 28-13 win at Minot State. He also has kick returns of 91 for a score, 80, 43 and 41 yards among his nine returns of at least 25 yards.

RUNNING BACK COMMITTEE
Concordia has featured three different running backs as starters and four different players have led the team in rushing through seven games. Alex Carr leads the team with 242 rushing yards while averaging 4.2 per carry. He has the team season high 144 yards on 16 carries in the opener at St. Cloud State.

Darius Chapes leads the team in carries (59) to Carr's 57, rushing for 227 yards and a team-high two touchdowns. Charles Arnold started in week five and is third on the team in yards (94) and has a 4.9 average.

Carr, Chapes and Arnold have each led the team in rushing twice this year while Carr and Chapes have each started three games with Arnold getting the nod in the other.

Quarterback Ben Schramski led the team in rushing with 55 yards in week two against MSU Moorhead, adding a touchdown among 15 carries but sacks have taken a toll on his overall net rushing with 25 total yards on the year.

JASON ONEY A FAVORITE TARGET
Sophomore Jason Oney has been a favorite target of CSP's quarterbacks, leading the team with 27 receptions. He's hauled in multiple catches in six of seven games including four games of four or more grabs. He had a career high eight catches in week five against Winona State for 59 yards, while his 30 yard touchdown grab at Minot State in week three was a career long and his first TD. He had a career-high 73 yards (on six catches) in week seven against Minnesota State, matching his career long reception of 30 yards.

BIG CHANGES TO THE KICKING GAME
The Golden Bears have featured one of the top kickers and punters in the country the last four years in Tom Obarski, who was with the Cincinnati Bengals training camp into September until the final roster cuts. Obarski was an All-America kicker and punter and holds numerous game, season and career records.

This year, sophomore Sam Maedke has handled punting duties while freshman Jonas Schenderlein won a competitive four player battle for placekicking duties.

Maedke ranks sixth in the NSIC with a punting average of 36.6 yards and is tied for second in the league with nine punts inside the 20. Maedke has also limited returns this season as he leads the league with 16 punts fair caught and only has two touchbacks among his league-leading 51 punts.

Schenderlein has only had five field goal attempts on the year, making his first career try from 43 yards in the second quarter of the opener at SCSU. His other make this year was also from 40-plus, making a 42-yard try against Minnesota State in week seven. He has converted all 14-15 PAT's and opponents have an average starting field position at the 27 yard line.

ROBERTS & DOBBS IMPACTING THE DEFENSIVE LINE
While Hank Goff grabs the headlines on the defensive line, younger players Chazz Roberts (sophomore) and Jackson Dobbs (R-Fr.) have been solid additions to Goff up front.

Roberts leads the defensive line with 6.5 tackles for loss and has been consistent in collecting at least a half TFL in all but two games including 3.0 in week five against Winona State. He also has 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a blocked field goal while racking up 31 tackles.

Dobbs also has a 3.0 TFL performance to his credit as part of a 6-tackle, 3.0-TFL, 1.0-sack effort in a 28-13 road win at Minot State in week three. Dobbs has 27 tackles, 4.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks and has recovered both of Roberts' forced fumbles. He has had at least a half tackle for loss in four of Concordia's seven games.

RETURNING AWARD WINNERS
The Golden Bears return a pair of All-NSIC South Division Second Team linebackers in Jordan Halverson on the inside and Josh Trifunov on the outside. Additionally, All-NSIC South Division Honorable Mention picks Josh Coyne, Brett Morris and Hank Goff return.

All five players were named USA College Football Preseason All-Americans with Halverson, Trifunov and Goff named to the second team with Morris and Coyne honorable mention.

Senior left tackle Cole Parker was an Academic All-America First Team selection last season, recognizing athletic and academic excellence.

GRADUATING PLAYERS TO THE NFL
Concordia has had a player sign an NFL contract each of the last two seasons, starting with the program's first-ever NFL Draft Pick, Zach Moore who was selected by the New England Patriots in the 2014 NFL Draft in the sixth round. In 2015, Tom Obarski signed a free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals shortly after the conclusion of the 2015 NFL Draft, on draft day.

Moore made the Patriots roster in 2014, playing in eight games including one start. He registered a sack, stripping Jay Cutler which led to a touchdown on the play. Moore would earn a Super Bowl ring in his rookie season. He did not make the roster in his second year in the league, but signed with the Minnesota Vikings practice squad while drawing offers from over a dozen teams including the Patriots.

Obarski was with the Bengals all the way through training camp before being part of the final roster cuts. During the preseason, Obarski made 5-7 field goals with a long of 46, made both PAT's and delivered five of 14 kickoffs for touchbacks.

Moore and Obarski were not Concordia's first players to sign NFL contracts, though. Mike Bailey signed with the Dallas Cowboys after his All-America career with Concordia ended in 1970. Tyler Hendrickson (Chicago Bears) and Charles Gilbert (Jacksonville Jaguars & St. Louis Rams) also inked deals in 2012.