ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul (1-9 NSIC, 0-6 South) offense topped the 400-yard mark  and the passing game topped 300-yards for the first time this season in a 48-24 loss to Southwest Minnesota State (7-3 NSIC, 3-3 South) on senior day at Sea Foam Stadium.

Concordia will close out the 2015 season on the road next Saturday at Augustana.

The Golden Bears rolled up 411 yards on 82 offensive plays in consuming 35:27 in time of possession. Concordia passed for 321 yards, completing 25-50 with three touchdowns. The run game added 90 yards on 32 carries.

SMSU countered with 522 yards on 77 plays despite possessing the ball for nearly 11 fewer minutes (24:33). SMSU converted 29 first downs to Concordia's season-best 23.

The CSP offense was engineered in the first half by redshirt freshman Trevor Tillett who completed nine passes for 148 yards, an average of 16.4 per completion. Sophomore Ben Schramski came in for the second half and completed 16-30 for 173 yards and two touchdowns.


CU Football vs. SMSU Mustangs 11.7.2015 - Images by Justin Oakman

Junior Sammy Baucham had a pair of touchdown receptions including a game-tying 20-yard score from Tillett with 12:24 to play in the second quarter. He hauled in a seven yard touchdown from Schramski in the fourth quarter to pull Concordia within 41-17 with 9:09 to play in the game. Baucham had three catches for 31 yards in the effort.

Concordia did a nice job slowing down the Mustangs in the opening quarter after their opening drive which resulted in a touchdown. Concordia forced SMSU to turn the ball over on downs and then Brandon Russell intercepted Blake Gimbel to shut down a pair of Mustang scoring chances in CSP territory.

After Baucham tied the game with his first touchdown in the second quarter with 12:24 to play, SMSU running back Ashanti Payne dashed 56 yards for a touchdown just over a minute later.

Concordia continued to run with the Mustangs in marching 65 yards on 12 plays before stalling out in the red zone with Jonas Schenderlein converting a 23-yard field goal for a 14-10 deficit with 6:22 to play in the half.

SMSU struck quickly, however, scoring just over a minute later to counter a Concordia score for the second straight time and scored again with 12 seconds to play in the half to cap off a 12-play, 76-yard drive that covered just 2:16.

The result of the quick scores was a 28-10 halftime lead for visiting SMSU which was too large for Concordia to come back from.

Senior tight end/h-back Jake Munkwitz had his best career day offensively, catching five passes for 53 yards and a 14 yard touchdown with 5:31 to play in the game to make it 48-24.

Munkwitz wasn't the only tight end to have a career day for the Golden Bears as Anton Bedeaux had a career-high 72 yards as well coming on four receptions with a long of 32.

Concordia's tandem quarterbacks completed passes to 10 different players while seven different targets had at least two catches.

The backfield was led by Alex Carr's six runs for 49 yards and a long of 16 while Charles Arnold got the start in the backfield and added six carries for 34 yards.

The Mustangs were led by quarterback Blake Gimbel who completed 25-35 for 243 yards and three touchdowns while adding 14 yards and a score on the ground. Four different SMSU ball carriers had a rushing touchdown led by Payne's 109 yards on 11 carries. Nate Huot was the top target downfield with eight catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

The Concordia defense was led by safety Jamie Fore's 11 tackles while Josh Trifunov, Jordan Halverson, Chazz Roberts, Jackson Dobbs and Sam Johnson all had eight tackles.

SMSU's defense was led by AJ Page, who was a constant source of disruption in Concordia's backfield. He had seven tackles, 2.0 for loss and a pair of sacks along with two hurries.