ST. PAUL, Minn. - When Concordia-St. Paul (0-2) quarterback Ben Schramski connected for an 11-yard touchdown strike to Vantwon Melton with 1:31 to play, the Golden Bears felt good about a 28-24 lead over visiting MSU Moorhead (2-0).

But on this Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium in front of 2,368 spectators, the Golden Bear defense knew it had its hands full against Jake Hodge and the efficient Dragons offense. Concordia's defense was up for the challenge, pressuring Hodge on multiple plays before forcing him to squirm up the middle for a few yards when he was hit on the play by Chazz Roberts, knocking the ball loose. Teammate Jackson Dobbs recovered for Concordia, and after a penalty on MSUM the Golden Bears had a 1st and 10 at the MSUM 40 yard line with 49 seconds to play. Roberts and Dobbs each had five tackles in the game.

And although the Dragons had all three timeouts, because of the field position, the Golden Bears were poised to win their home opener. After MSUM stuffed Concordia's three running plays, sophomore Sam Maedke delivered a perfect punt, which was signaled for a fair catch at MSUM's own six yard line with 28 seconds to play.


CU Football vs. MSU Moorhead 9.12.2015 - Images by Justin Oakman

Hodge wasted no time, completing a deep pass down the right sideline to Damon Gibson for 39 yards. Two plays later on 3rd and 10, Hodge found Gibson again, this time down the left sideline for 40 yards to the Golden Bear 15 yard line, a difficult catch as the ball was tipped by CSP corner DeCeon Schumann, with Gibson coming down with it on the ground. Schumann finished with eight tackles.

The Dragons spiked the ball with three seconds left, setting up the final play. Hodge was pressured by CSP senior linebacker Jordan Halverson and flushed out of the pocket by senior defensive lineman Hank Goff. Rolling to his right, Hodge tossed the ball up for grabs in the back right corner of the end zone to Gibson for a final time. Gibson nearly came down with another tough catch in traffic, but the ball deflected off his finger tips where teammate Cory Ambrose had hustled across the back of the end zone to come down with the ball in bounds for the victory and a 30-28 final score.

MSUM went six plays for 94 yards in 28 seconds with Hodge completing 3-4 on the drive.

Schramski was fantastic making his sixth career start and 2015 debut start under center. He appeared poised to extend his winning streak as starting quarterback to five games, but Hodge and the Dragons had the ball last. Schramski finished the day 14-29 for 264 yards and two touchdowns through the air and led the team in rushing with 55 yards on 15 attempts including a touchdown run. He tossed a 69-yard touchdown to Sammy Baucham early in the fourth quarter to give his team a lead for the first time in the game at 21-17 with 13:34 to play, as well. The play was a career-long for both players.

Hodge finished the day 22-39 for 330 yards and two touchdowns, adding 26 rushing yards on seven attempts. Gibson, a big and physical receiver had 137 yards on four catches including 79 yards on his two catches on the final drive.

The game snapped MSU Moorhead's four game losing streak to Concordia, as the Dragons picked up just their second win in 11 meetings between the programs in the series dating back to 2001. It was MSUM's first win in St. Paul in five trips in what was also their first trip to Sea Foam Stadium.

The Golden Bear defense came up big a number of times against a strong Dragon offense, forcing MSUM to just 2-of-13 on third downs including stopping them on their first nine third downs of the contest. Concordia, meanwhile was 9-for-18 on third down and did not commit a turnover while converting all three trips to the red zone into touchdowns. MSUM countered by putting four red zone trips in the end zone, although MSUM committed one turnover at a costly moment late in the fourth quarter.

Despite being out-gained 506 to 382 in the game, Concordia held a decisive 33:05 to 26:55 time of possession advantage.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver and return specialist Alquawn Vickers made plays in a variety of ways today, hauling in three catches for 66 yards with a long of 36 and adding a pair of punt returns for 30 yards (long 23) and five kick returns for 110 yards (long 41) to total 206 all-purpose yards to lead all players.

MSU Moorhead running back Zayne Medhaug led the Dragons with 197 all-purpose yards including 100 rushing and two touchdowns, eight receiving yards and 89 kick return yards on four attempts (long 40).

Concordia's defense was aided by Josh Trifunov, who matched Schumann's eight tackles while adding a sack while inside linebackers Halverson and Jahphet Grant each had seven tackles. Halverson is now 26 tackles shy of Brian Doyle's career record (342, 2001-04).

The Golden Bears will look to bounce back next Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. road game at Minot State.