WAYNE, Neb. – In a game that featured a strong passing attack by visiting Concordia-St. Paul (1-7 NSIC, 0-4 South), it was host Wayne State's (4-4 NSIC, 1-3 South) that prevailed 20-17 in NSIC South Division play at Cunningham Field. Concordia returns home next Saturday against #5 Sioux Falls at noon at Sea Foam Stadium for Beary Scary Halloween featuring trick-or-treating 45 minutes before the game and donations for Make-A-Wish.

For the first time in 2015, Concordia had a receiver top 100 yards individually as the duo of redshirt freshman Alquawn Vickers and sophomore Jason Oney each topped the century mark. Vickers had nine catches for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Oney had four catches for 104 yards including a long of 81 that set up a first quarter field goal by Jonas Schenderlein for a 3-0 lead.
 
The Golden Bears passed for 272 yards in the game, completing 22-45 as a team with redshirt freshman Trevor Tillett getting his first start. He completed 18-36 for 217 yards and a touchdown including the long of 81.
 
Entering the game, CSP intended to use its two quarterbacks as sophomore Ben Schramski also received significant playing time. He completed 4-9 for 55 yards including a 28-yard touchdown to Vickers with 2:37 to play in the game to cut the score to 20-17.

While Concordia's tandem quarterback play performed well, the Wildcat passing game produced the opposite results with two quarterbacks. WSC completed 4-15 for 31 yards on the day, but the duo of Layne Sullivan (3-11, 20 yds) and Taylor Reedy (1-4, 11 yds) wasn't sacked or intercepted. Concordia was sacked three times and intercepted once near midfield in the fourth quarter when the Golden Bears trailed 13-10.

WSC capitalized on the game's only turnover, putting in a touchdown for a 20-10 lead with 8:36 to play.

After the Schramski to Vickers touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Concordia's defense was faced with the task of stopping the WSC run game which had compiled 255 yards on the ground up to that point.
 
Concordia had Wayne State with a third and inches situation with 2:21 to play at the WSC 34 yard line and a timeout remaining, but the Wildcats picked up the crucial first down and would ice the game three plays later with a 37-yard run to end the contest.
 
Wayne State's ground game produced 304 yards on 54 attempts to offset Concordia's dominant pass defense in the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcats shut down the Golden Bear run game to 38 yards on 17 attempts including a 43-yard first quarter run by Alex Carr.
 
Carr's 43-yard run helped set up Concordia's first touchdown of the day, a 4-yard pass from Tillett to Vickers. But it was all Concordia could muster on the ground in the game.
 
The Tillett to Vickers touchdown gave Concordia a 10-7 lead in the first quarter, just the second game this year in which the Golden Bears have scored in the opening quarter of play. The defenses kept the score at 10-7 throughout the second quarter as Concordia led at the half.

The defense was led by senior defensive lineman Hank Goff who produced a career-high seven tackles and matched his career high of two tackles for loss. His two tackles for loss were part of a team effort that produced 11 in the game as Jackson Dobbs, Sam Johnson and Chazz Roberts each had a pair as well. Goff also had a blocked point after touchdown in the third quarter that nearly played a key factor down the stretch as CSP could have tied with a field goal with one more possession.

Dominic Nabak led the team with 10 tackles, his second double-digit tackle performance of his career.
 
Vickers big all-purpose season continues as he averaged 38.0 yards on two kickoff returns with a long of 44 and had a punt return of four yards to total 188 all-purpose yards on 12 touches, nearly 20 yards more than his average of 169 per game entering play.

The 76 kickoff return yards also set the single season school record as his 845 yards on 29 returns breaks Joseph Mapson's 2003 record of 809 on 35 returns.