ST. PAUL, Minn. - Facing one of the toughest defenses in Division II football, Concordia-St. Paul (1-7 NSIC, 0-4 South) went toe-to-toe with #15 Sioux Falls (7-1 NSIC, 3-1 South) before falling short 27-9 on a warm, overcast Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.

Strong late morning thunderstorms subsided during pregame warmups as the teams kicked off to a still mild afternoon. Next Saturday, the Golden Bears hit the road for two weeks, traveling to Wayne State on October 28 before heading to Augustana on November 4. Both road games feature 1 p.m. kickoffs.

Concordia entered the game facing the nation's second ranked scoring defense (9.9), run defense (55.1) and total defense (236.0) and an offense that averaged 200 yards on the ground and 392.4 yards of total offense.

After three quarters, the Golden Bears had six scoring chances and only had a 251-202 margin in total offense, rushing for 91 yards in three quarters against the Cougar defense.
 

When the field flipped for the final time and the Cougars had the wind at their backs in the fourth quarter, they were able to run the ball effectively to erase CSP's hopes for a fourth quarter comeback and upset bid. USF finished with 231 yards on the ground, 386 yards of total offense and held CSP to 28-93 rushing and 238 yards of total offense including a 24-13 edge in first downs.

The fourth quarter total offense margin was 135 to 37 in favor of the visiting Cougars, leading to a touchdown and field goal to take the one possession game (17-9) at the turn of the quarter into a 27-9 final.

Concordia eclipsed USF's season average in rushing yards on the opening drive with one play as sophomore quarterback Maxon Hutton ripped off a 61 yard run on the second play of the game to put CSP deep into USF territory at the 27 yard line.

Concordia converted the big play into points as junior Jonas Schenderlein buried a 46 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead just two and a half minutes into the game. The 3-0 lead for CSP was its second straight week holding a 3-0 lead over a nationally-ranked opponent in the first quarter.

It was the first of three made field goals on the day for Schenderlein, tying Concordia's program record in a mark that's been hit nine times in school history and the first of his career. He would also convert from 29 yards in the second quarter to extend his streak to 16 consecutive made field goals of inside of 50 yards, a mark that would finally be snapped just before halftime, a 44 yard miss.

Schenderlein continued his big performance in the third quarter, hitting a new career long 58 yard field goal to make it 17-9 with 7:40 to play. The 58-yarder is the second longest in school history and just one yard shy of Tom Obarski's 2012 school record 59 yard kick against Augustana.

Schenderlein also nearly buried a 63-yard attempt early in the second quarter as he nearly tied the Northern Sun record long. His kick had the distance, but was pushed just inches right with the wind at his back but also a slight left to right. He was 3-for-6 in the game, as a 54-yarder at the end of the third quarter was blocked. His game also included knocking back three touchbacks on four kickoffs.

While CSP had six scoring chances, all Schenderlein field goal attempts, the defense limited the Cougars offense to five scores in the game, three touchdowns and a pair of field goals. Concordia also held a 1-0 turnover margin through the first three quarters, finally throwing interception into a stiff double-digit wind in the fourth quarter.

Concordia's defense held USF to 6-of-14 on third downs and forced six Cougar punts. CSP countered with five Sam Maedke punts, averaging 45.8 for the day with a pair inside the 20 and a long of 58. USF averaged 33.3 and didn't pin any inside the 20 as Concordia's special teams enjoyed a +14.8 yard advantage in the punting game.

Senior wide receiver and kick returner Elias Arlington led Concordia's offensive output with 168 all-purpose yards, hauling in five catches for 82 yards with a long of 31 and returning three kicks for 86 yards and a long of 34.

As a team, CSP completed 13-34 for 145 yards passing with Hutton throwing for 111 before Johnson took over for the final two possessions, passing for 34 yards on eight attempts. Hutton also had 48 net rushing yards when his four sacks were factored into the total.

Sophomore Darnell Rolle rushed nine times for 37 yards, averaging 4.1 per carry while freshman Lajuan Preston chipped in three carries for 13 yards and a long of nine.

Sioux Falls' offense was led by Jason Towns with 25 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown with Colton Myles adding 10-62. CSP held Sioux Falls quarterback Ian Fieber to 13-22 passing for 155 yards, although he found the end zone twice and wasn't intercepted despite CSP's secondary breaking up seven of his nine incomplete passes.

Sophomores Dion Wallisch and Brian Szutkowski each had a pair of the pass breakups in the game with Szutkowski adding eight tackles to give him a team-high 68 on the year. Adding punch in the secondary was freshman Lorenzo Kendricks who had seven tackles including a forced fumble recovered by senior corner Andrew Capirchio to set CSP up in scoring position at the 33 yard line, leading to Schenderlein's 29 yard field goal which made it 10-6 Cougars with 5:23 to play in the first half. Capirchio also had seven tackles and added a pass breakup.

Sophomore Antonio Zepeda was the team's top tackler with 14 in a second straight start and second straight solid performance. Freshman Blake Evans added another double-digit tackle effort with 11 while senior Billy Brown had nine tackles with 1.0 for loss to give the Bears' starting linebackers 34 tackles.

Up front, sophomore Dylan Wood was a force in a big performance as he made seven tackles including 3.0 for loss and his first career 2.0 sack performance while matching his career high in TFL from two weeks ago at Upper Iowa. Freshman Chris Garrett added six tackles, 0.5 for loss, batted down a third down pass and had a hurry.

The overall improved play up front was a key in the defense's ability to be a physical force against the nationally-ranked Cougars as sophomore Jackson Dobbs returned to the lineup and played alongside Garrett for the first time this season while senior Chazz Roberts continues to be a problem for opposing offensive fronts on the interior.

The Cougar defense was led by Dennis Gardeck who added 2.0 more sacks to his nation leading 1.43 average to go with 4.0 tackles for loss to increase his ninth-ranked national average of 1.9 per game.