ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, Concordia-St. Paul (1-2) will host Bemidji State (0-3) at Sea Foam Stadium with a noon kickoff in the final NSIC North-South Division contests around the league.

WHITE OUT
Concordia will be hosting a WHITE OUT, encouraging spectators to wear white in conjunction with the Concordia 4 Kirk softball tournament that will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes Field and hosted by the baseball team in honor of baseball alum Kirk Ingram who was paralyzed in a swimming accident last month.

SERIES HISTORY: Tied 7-7
Concordia and Bemidji State are even in 14 meetings dating back to Concordia's first year in the Northern Sun in 1999. Concordia is 5-1 in six home meetings against Bemidji State, but this will be BSU's third trip to Sea Foam Stadium (opened 2009) and the first since the 2010 season. Concordia has captured wins in two of the last three contests between the clubs, winning 17-14 last year in Bemidji, Minn. and 20-14 at Sea Foam Stadium in 2010. BSU won 20-7 in 2011 in Bemidji.

LAST MEETING (Sept. 14, 2013): CSP 17, BSU 14
The Golden Bears edged the Beavers 17-14 on the road to start the 2013 season 2-0, earning the #25 ranking in the D2Football.com Top-25. The team used dramatics to pull out the win, trailing 14-7 entering the fourth quarter. BSU had the ball and the seven point lead before Avery Walker fumbled 10-yards in the backfield with CSP's Zach Moore recovering on the BSU 21 yard line with 10:19 to play.

On a day when the offense was sputtering, Moore's fumble recovery set the team up with excellent field position. Although Concordia went 3-and-out, Tom Obarski converted a 38-yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-10.

BSU responded with a four minute drive on eight plays before the CSP defense stopped the Beavers at the 31-yard line with BSU kicker Zach Pulkinen missing wide left to give Concordia the ball with 5:24 to play.

The Golden Bears came back with a plotting drive that was sparked by a 17-yard run by Tre Spears into BSU territory to the 39 yard line. Ronald Zollicoffer followed with back-to-back eight yard runs to the BSU 23. But a pair of short runs and an incomplete pass put the Golden Bears with a 4th and 6 from the 19 with Jared Russo connecting on a 19-yard touchdown to Gabe Boyce to go ahead 17-14 after the Obarski PAT with just 46 seconds to play.

BSU started on its own 22 with 39 seconds following the kickoff and on the second play of the drive, Mike Willett intercepted Ryan Shields at the BSU 39 yard line to seal the victory.

The CSP defense held BSU to just 157 yards of total offense including 11-21 for 75 yards passing. Abdullah Asad, Jordan Halverson and Josh Trifunov each had eight tackles to lead the defense.

Concordia also chewed up the clock with a 36:21 to 23:39 time of possession margin, a 20-to-9 advantage in first downs and teh CSP offense topped 300 yards of total offense with 183 on the ground and 139 through the air.

Spears gashed BSU for 162 yards on 34 rushes with Zollicoffer adding 40 yards on nine runs. Russo was 14-24 for 139 yards and two touchdowns, finding Cordell Smith four times for 39 yards and a score.

LAST WEEK: CSP 28, Minot State 13
Concordia picked up its first win last week as the team started its scoring with a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown by Alquawn Vickers, who would earn NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts. DeCeon Schumann added a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:01 to play in the game to stop Minot State's game-tying drive attempt to extend a 21-13 game to a 28-13 lead.

Concordia's defense held Minot State to 192 yards of total offense including 64 rushing yards on 37 attempts. The Beavers only averaged 4.3 yards pass attempt while CSP added two interceptions and 11 pass breakups on Minot's 14 incomplete passes. Jahphet Grant led the defense with 11 tackles while Josh Trifunov added seven tackles, two for loss and two sacks. Jackson Dobbs had a big day up front with six tackles (five solo), three for loss and a sack.

Offensively, Ben Schramski completed 10-24 for 143 yards and a touchdown and had 42 rushing yards on eight attempts with a long of 39. He found Alquawn Vickers four times for 55 yards as Vickers had his third straight 150-plus all-purpose yard performance with 154 on five touches. Schramski also connected with Jason Oney for a 30-yard touchdown to end the third quarter as Oney had two catches for 50 yards in the game.

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.

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.

HEAD COACH RYAN WILLIAMS
The Golden Bears are led by fifth year head coach Ryan Williams. Prior to being named head coach, Williams had served as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for the previous six seasons at Concordia. He is a Wayzata, Minn. native and played collegiately as starting quarterback and team captain at former Division II-power North Dakota State from 1997-2000.

With an 18-29 career record, Williams is 1-1 against Bemidji State. He is 8-10 in his career in NSIC North Division play and carries an 8-11 career record at Sea Foam Stadium.

RECORD WATCH: JORDAN HALVERSON CAREER TACKLES
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 now has 321 and is 21 shy of matching the career record and also ranks 10th in team history in tackles for loss with 30.0. In his senior year, Halverson leads the defense with 23 tackles.
CAREER TACKLES LEADERS - TOP FIVE
342 - Brian Doyle (2001-04)
327 - Stan Tischer (1978-79)
321 - Jordan Halverson (2010-2015)
320 - Matt Woodford (1996-99)
319 - Al Quaye (2008-11)

MIRERI HOLDS CAREER RECORD FOR PASSES DEFENDED
Senior cornerback Jimmy Mireri is etching his name into the Concordia record books as well. He became the sole record holder for career passes defended (INT + PBU) with 38 and his 34 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 2015, Mireri has three pass breakups, averaging a solid one per contest and also has eight total tackles (seven solo).

MARINE-LED DEFENSIVE LINE: HANK GOFF
Senior defensive lineman Hank Goff has had a unique path to Concordia. A highly touted recruit out of MSHSL Champion Minnetonka High School, Goff landed at South Dakota State for his freshman season where he led the Jackrabbits in tackles for loss while starting most of his rookie season.

But he didn't produce in the classroom and left the program. Following in family history, Goff joined the Marines and was deployed as a top machine gunner to Afghanistan.

After returning, Goff found football and his eligibility with the Golden Bears in 2013. He's in his third season with the program and a returning All-NSIC South Division honorable mention performer. Goff has compiled 43 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and two interceptions in 24 games for the Golden Bears.

As a senior, Goff has five tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack.

QUARTERBACK NOTES
Opening day starting quarterback Corey Cole left the SCSU game due to injury at the end of the third quarter and did not return. He has been replaced on the depth chart by sophomore Ben Schramski who led the team to wins in Concordia's last four games of 2014. His backup will be redshirt freshman Trevor Tillett, who saw his first action last week in CSP's final drive against SCSU, but did not attempt a pass in his debut.

Schramski and the Golden Bear offense rank third in the conference and 24th in the nation in yards per completion (15.2) as a team while Schramski's individual mark of 15.9 is slightly better, ranking 12th in the country and second in the Northern Sun.

Schramski's long was a 69-yard touchdown to Sammy Baucham in week two. He's connected on four pass plays of 30-plus yards and has a long run of 39 yards. On the year, Schramski has passed for 445 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 102 yards and a touchdown with only one interception thrown.

BIG PLAY POTENTIAL
The Golden Bears have had 13 plays of at least 25 yards on the 2015 season and 12 going for at least 30 yards.

Alquawn Vickers leads the squad with five 25-plus yard plays including a 99-yard kickoff return for touchdown in week three at Minot State, the second longest of Concordia's football history (second to Corey Cole's 100-yard return at Wayne State in 2013) and the second longest in the Northern Sun in 2015. Vickers has been versatile with his playmaking, with three kick returns of 30-plus yards (99t, 41, 34) and three via the air (36, 35, 34).

Vickers is ranked 18th in the country in kickoff return average (30.0) on his 10 returns and leads the NSIC in kickoff return yards (300). He also leads the league in all-purpose yards per game (173.7) by a 20-yard margin per game and is CSP's leading receiver with 11 catches for 191 yards.

While Vickers ranks 18th in kick return average individually, he has taken all 10 kick returns for the team and as a unit, Concordia's kickoff return average of 30.0 ranks fifth in the country and leads the NSIC.

Overall, eight players have combined to provide the big-play moments through four different methods: kickoff returns (3), interception returns (1), pass plays (5) and run plays (4).

TRIFUNOV COMING OFF BIG WEEK
Senior outside linebacker Josh Trifunov had a big week three, making seven tackles with a pair of sacks and tackles for loss. On the year, Trifunov has 21 tackles to rank second on the defense while leading the team with three sacks. His 1.0 sack per game rate is third in the NSIC and 22nd in the country. In his career, Trifunov has made 227 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks and has defended nine passes including an interception.

DOBBS IMPACTING UP FRONT
Redshirt freshman Jackson Dobbs has made a solid impact on the defensive line, leading the team with 3.5 tackles for loss while adding a sack and fumble recovery. He also has 13 tackles, leading the defensive line.

STINGY DEFENSE
Concordia's early season defensive highlight has been its ability to limit opposing first downs and its play on third down. Concordia ranks 26th nationally in third down defense, as opponents convert just 28.6% which has resulted in just 50 first downs allowed, ranking 39th in the country. Both of those marks are third in the Northern Sun.

Concordia held St. Cloud State under 300 yards of total offense including 141 passing and last week held Minot State to 192 yards of offense (64 rush, 128 pass).

RUNNING BACK COMMITTEE
Concordia's rushing has been productive in 2015 as a group with three players over 100-yards rushing led by Darius Chapes with 165 yards and 42 attempts at a 3.9 average. Alex Carr has the team's lone 100-yard rushing performance with 144 yards on 16 carries in week one at St. Cloud State and has 162 yards on 34 carries on the year with a team-high 4.8 average. Ben Schramski has added 102 yards on 26 attempts, averaging 3.9 per attempt. Chapes, Schramski and redshirt freshman Jay Parker each have one rushing touchdown as well. Parker has played in all three games with five carries in his debut season.

VERSATILE PASS GAME
Ben Schramski, and prior to injury Corey Cole have been solid at spreading the ball around to numerous targets. Concordia has completed 38 pass attempts to nine different targets on the year with eight players catching at least two passes and six players catching at least three passes.

Last week, Schramski completed 10 passes to five different targets, in week two he found seven options among 14 completions while in the opener, he and Cole combined to complete 14 passes to nine players.