WINONA, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-9 NSIC, 0-7 South) closed out the 2016 season with a 38-0 loss at Winona State on Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Field at Altra Federal Credit Stadium.

Concordia's defense held WSU quarterback Jack Nelson, one of the most prolific passers in NCAA Division II football history to just 226 yards on 15-33 passing while snapping his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 42 - the first time he was held without a TD strike in his storied career.

The Golden Bear defense held strong in the game, limiting a Warrior offense that averaged 453.7 yards of total offense per game to just 327 yards on the day, falling more than 60 yards below their passing average and 65 yards below their rushing average. Further, the CSP defense held WSU to 18 first downs, nearly six per game less than their season average and held the Warriors to 4-15 (.267) on third down.

Senior linebacker David Reed led the CSP defense by making 5.0 tackles for loss, falling one shy of the school record set twice by Taylor Selby in the 2011 season. Reed joins Jon Voyda (1994), James Miley (2000) and Eric Power (2006) as the fourth player to register 5.0 tackles for loss in contest. He also had eight tackles and blocked a first quarter Warrior field goal attempt.

That first quarter field goal block by Reed was part of a team defensive effort that shutout Winona State for the first 15 minutes despite the first quarter being WSU's highest scoring quarter entering the game with 101 points in the first 10 games.

But WSU was able to score a pair of touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter to take a 17-0 halftime lead despite Concordia holding WSU to just 151 yards at the break. Concordia's offense was nearly as efficient, too, with 143 yards and the teams were even in first downs with eight apiece.

But turnovers were costly for Concordia, committing a pair of miscues in the first half and two more in the second half without picking up a takeaway which allowed WSU to score 17 points off turnovers including an interception returned for touchdown with 5:06 to play in the third quarter to close out a three touchdown quarter for WSU to put the game away 38-0. The pick-six followed a punt return for touchdown as the CSP defense did its best to keep the strong offensive Warriors out of the end zone.

While WSU has a prolific offense, averaging 37.0 points entering play with the 450-plus yards per contest, the defense was equally stout as it posted its third shutout of the year and held Concordia to 262 yards of total offense despite CSP running 89 plays, just four shy of last week's single game record of 93. The Warriors entered play allowing 323.8 yards of offense including a paltry 183.9 through the air.

Leading the way for Concordia's offense was senior running back Darius Chapes who combined for 83 yards, rushing 14 times for 47 yards and adding a pair of catches for 36 yards including a long of 36. Senior Alex Carr added five carries for 35 yards and a long of 21.

Sophomore Alquawn Vickers had a team-high 96 all-purpose yards with a team-best four catches for 41 yards in the pass game and three kickoff returns for 51 yards. He moved into second on the CSP career list with 1,453 kickoff return yards, just 76 behind record holder Joe Langevin (1988-91) with 1,529.

Junior quarterback Ron Johnson completed 15-39 for 110 yards on the day and although he was intercepted twice he finished his first full year as CSP's starting quarterback with just eight interceptions in 365 passing attempts, passing for 2,115 yards and 14 touchdowns while adding six rushing touchdowns. Sophomore Trevor Tillett received considerable playing under center in the contest, passing for 61 yards on four completions. Together, the duo found eight different targets and hooked up with seven of them multiple times.

Winona State was led by Paul Preston's three rushing touchdowns as he carried 22 times for 84 yards and added four catches for 40 yards. Cameron Johnson had a 100-yard receiving day with six receptions for 102 yards.

While Reed had five tackles for loss on his own, the defense posted nine total. Senior Sam Johnson also had eight tackles including a sack of Nelson for a loss of 11 yards deep in WSU's territory in the first half. Senior Dominic Nabak had seven tackles and a tackle for loss while Andrew Capirchio and Adam Miller each had four tackles with a tackle for loss.

Senior corner Jonathan Johnson matched Reed and S.Johnson with eight tackles and added a pair of pass breakups to finish the season with 14, matching James Dell's 2002 record. J.Johnson's solid season on the corner also including a pick-six in week three against Minnesota Duluth.