ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-3 NSIC, 0-1 South) opened NSIC South Division play on Homecoming at Sea Foam Stadium, but it was visiting Wayne State (2-3 NSIC, 1-0 South) who came away with a 45-10 victory. The Wildcats outscored Concordia 24-3 on turnovers as the two teams combined for nine in the game with Concordia committing six of them.

Concordia hits the road next Saturday 2 p.m. kickoff at #19 Minnesota State.

The game started close, after Wayne State scored a touchdown on its opening possession the Golden Bears picked off a pair of passes and forced a punt on the Wildcats next three possessions in the first quarter.

The first Concordia interception was by senior Dominic Nabak on the third play of WSC's second drive 25 yards down the right sideline. The Golden Bears scored 10 plays later on a Jonas Schenderlein 35-yard field goal. The sophomore kicker is perfect on his four field goal attempts this season and the interception for Nabak was his second of the year.
 

Following the Schenderlein field goal, Concordia would sputter offensively with three punts, two fumbles and an interception the rest of the half. The Wildcats would utilize Concordia's turnovers to get back on the scoreboard in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown on a short field on a 5-play, 24-drive and then converting a field goal on a 3-play, 30-yard drive just before halftime for a 17-3 lead.

The Golden Bears had success on the ground in the first half, ripping off 70 rushing yards on 15 attempts while limiting WSC to 58 yards on 23 first half rushing attempts. But the Wildcats completed 15-23 for 158 yards although CSP intercepted WSC quarterback Zach Osborn three times in the first half.

At the break, the turnover margin was even at 3-3 with points off turnovers going 10-3 in favor of WSC.

In the second half, redshirt freshman Maxon Hutton took over under center and ran the ball downfield against the Wildcat defense. Runs of two, eight and 49 yards by Hutton put Concordia in the red zone at the Wildcat 18 yard line. But on first and goal from the seven, the Wildcats registered an interception in the end zone to thwart Concordia's momentum to start the second half.

The Golden Bear defense held WSC, forcing a punt on the ensuing possession, backing Concordia up to its own 10 yard line. On 3rd and 23 from their own nine yard line, Hutton's pass over the middle for first down yardage was snatched out of the air by WSC defensive back Glenn Harris, who returned it for a touchdown.

The string events, Concordia misfiring in the red zone and WSC's pick-six was a 14-point swing in the Wildcats direction for a 24-3 lead with 6:38 to play in the third quarter. On WSC's next drive, the Wildcats executed a third and six for a 78-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach late in the third quarter, 31-3.

In the fourth, Concordia's offense got going as junior Ron Johnson re-entered the game to engineer an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that he punched in the end zone on a keeper from seven yards for his fifth rushing touchdown of the year.

Johnson completed 10-28 for 78 yards while Hutton completed 5-8 for 52 yards as the duo teamed up for 130 yards through the air. Junior Elias Arlington was the top target with four catches for 37 yards. Johnson had six rushes for 31 yards and the score while Hutton had eight carries for 36 yards.

Darius Chapes led the ground game for Concordia with 52 yards on 10 carries, averaging a solid 5.2 per attempt. He also had two catches for 27 yards.

Osborn would finish the day on the other side for WSC by completing 18-28 for 251 yards and four touchdowns. Shymere Williams led WSC with six catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns including the 78-yarder.

Rashad Trimble was WSC's leading rusher with 94 yards on 27 carries.

Concordia's defense was led by the NSIC's tackles leader Sam Johnson with 10 stops, his third double-digit tackle performance of the year. He added 1.5 tackles for loss as Concordia had 8.0 tackles for loss in the contest.

David Reed added eight tackles, one for loss and an interception with junior Andrew Capirchio recording his first Golden Bear interception as well. Ryan McKee led the defensive front with six tackles and a sack.

Sophomore Alquawn Vickers returned to the century mark in all-purpose yardage (113), with 3-83 and a long of 31 on kickoffs, 29 receiving yards and a rushing yard.