ST. PAUL, Minn. - For the first time since December 6, 2003, the Concordia-St. Paul football team took the field under head coach Shannon Currier and for the first time since September 7, 2013 the defense pitched a shutout as the Golden Bears defeated U-Mary 17-0 in the season opener at Sea Foam Stadium.

The win snaps a program record 8-game losing streak and was the first shutout for the program since the season opening win in 2013 over Minot State (29-0) to snap a 32-game streak without shutting out an opponent. It's Currier's first shutout as Concordia's coach since October 5, 2002 in a 63-0 win over Minnesota Morris at Griffin Stadium, his fourth career shutout at CSP and his second on a season opener.
 
The secondary held U-Mary to 63 passing yards on 13 attempts and limited the Marauders to 207 yards of total offense including 3-14 third down execution and 1-3 on fourth down. The Golden Bears had four sacks and nine tackles for loss with redshirt freshman linebacker Antonio Zepeda leading the squad with 14 tackles while senior Sam Johnson had 12 tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss.
 
Concordia rolled up 222 rushing yards behind an offensive line that featured sophomore Terrell Taylor as the only returning starter and the most experience Division II lineman on the squad with 11 starts last year. Concordia averaged 6.3 yards per carry led by a career-high 113 yards from senior Darius Chapes on just 13 carries including a touchdown run early in the fourth quarter for a 10-0 lead.

Chapes' touchdown capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive that broke a scoreless streak in the game following Concordia's opening drive 43-yard field goal by sophomore Jonas Schenderlein. Combined, the two teams over 46 minutes without scoring from the 10:57 mark of the first quarter to the 9:55 mark of the fourth.

Chapes had 46 combined yards during the 80-yard scoring drive including two catches for 35 yards with his 17-yard catch and run putting CSP at the goal line as he did a complete flip to the pylon, going out of bounds just before getting the score on the play to set up his own short burst on the next play.

Overall, Chapes had 148 combined yards on 15 touches, gaining nearly 10 yards per touch in the game.

Concordia added insurance to the lead after stopping the Marauders on downs on the ensuing drive near midfield following a second sack by redshirt freshman Kelly Pierce.

With Chapes gashing the Marauder defense, it was senior running back Alex Carr's turn as he broke open a 36 yard run to put CSP inside the 10 yard line and had 45 yards on three runs on the drive to set up junior quarterback Ron Johnson's keeper for a two yard touchdown.

Johnson had 50 yards on 14 rushing attempts and completed 11-20 for 116 yards while Carr had 74 combined yards (45 rushing, 29 receiving) on five touches. Johnson's top target was freshman receiver Marcus Gustaveson with five catches for 51 yards in his debut.

After Johnson's touchdown made it 17-0 with 1:22 to play, Concordia halted U-Mary's last comeback attempt when junior Billy Brown batted down a Ben Jolliffe pass on third and four from near midfield with senior defensive lineman Re'Shon Howard picking off the deflection to seal the win. Brown had eight tackles, 1.5 for loss and a sack while Howard was in on six tackles with a half tackle for loss.

It was the only turnover in the contest as the Golden Bear offense protected the ball throughout.

Jolliffe had 21 rushing attempts for 50 yards in the game and was sacked four times while completing 9-13 for 63 yards and the interception to lead U-Mary's offense.

On special teams, sophomore Alquawn Vickers finished with 70 all-purpose yards including a 48-yard kickoff return on the opening kickoff to help set-up the Schenderlein field goal. Junior punter Sam Maedke had a 37.2 average on five punts with one inside the 20 and a long of 43 in the kicking game.

Concordia hits the road for the first time next Saturday, September 10 with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Minnesota Crookston (0-1).