ST. PAUL, Minn. - In head coach Shannon Currier's second year in his second stint at the helm of the Concordia-St. Paul football program, the Golden Bears (1-0) open the year with a shutout win for the second consecutive year. CSP blanked Minot State (0-1) 24-0 on Thursday night at Sea Foam Stadium on the NSIC Thursday Night Football Game of the Week, televised regionally by Midco Sports Net.

The Golden Bears have a tough opponent on the road next Saturday, September 6 at #25-ranked Bemidji State, although the Beavers will likely drop from the AFCA Top-25 following a road loss at Winona State tonight. BSU was picked third overall in the 16-team NSIC Preseason Poll and second in the NSIC North Division.

The shutout was the fifth in Currier's six seasons at Concordia and the eighth opening game shutout in school history including the third in the last five years. It's the second time CSP has shut out Minot State in the seventh all-time meeting, also blanking the Beavers in the 2013 season opener at Sea Foam Stadium. Concordia has now won five in a row against MSU and is 6-1 against the Beavers in the series.

Sophomores Marcus Gustaveson, Darnell Rolle and Maxon Hutton provided the offensive firepower for Concordia. It was Hutton to Gustaveson in the first half as the first year starting quarterback hit his 6-foot, 5-inch wide receiver five times for 111 yards and a touchdown in the first half in building a 7-0 lead at the break. Gustaveson hauled in five of Hutton's eight completions.

After being contained to 23 yards on 11 carries in the first half, Rolle exploded in the second, wasting no time on the opening drive of the third quarter that included a 56-yard burst to set up his eight yard touchdown. Rolle had 73 of the team's 78 yards on the six play drive to make it a 14-0 lead.

He finished the night with a career-high 107 yards on 17 carries, his first career 100-yard performance and added three special teams tackles. Rolle's 100-yard rushing performance was the first by a Golden Bear since Darius Chapes opened the 2016 season with 13 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown in the season opening 17-0 win over U-Mary.

Gustaveson had his third career 100-yard game and finished with 6-116 and the score. Hutton also had a career-best effort, finishing 12-22 for 168 and adding 31 yards on the ground on six attempts. He was not sacked, had one touchdown strike and one interception.

Concordia's third touchdown was scored by true freshman running back Shaq Johnson, a five yard run in the fourth quarter to cap the night's scoring with 12:44 to play. He had five rushes for 27 yards.

Concordia overcame a sluggish start as Minot State drove into the red zone on the opening possession of the game and moved to the 22 on its second possession. But the Beavers missed a pair of field goals on their two scoring chances to leave the door open for Concordia to strike first.

On CSP's second drive, the Golden Bears marched to the Minot State one yard line on an impressive 12 play drive taking nearly five minutes off the clock before turning it over on downs at the goal line.

The Beavers posted 106 yards on their first three drives of the game before the Concordia defense took control. Minot State would post just 42 yards on its next 14 plays over a span of four possessions from midway through the second to midway into the third quarters.

By then, Concordia had tacked on two touchdowns and a field goal for a 17-0 lead.

The Golden Bear defense under defensive coordinator Craig Stern in his second stint in the program working with Currier in the same capacity held Minot State to 2-13 on third down, 0-1 on fourth and scoreless in three trips to the red zone.

CSP stymied Minot State to 64 rushing yards on 30 carries and held sixth year senior quarterback Zac Cunha to 15-35 passing for 175 yards. The CSP pressure produced four sacks including a pair for senior strong safety Breon Hoosier who also had one of CSP's four pass breakups.

Additionally, Concordia's team defense accounted for 9.0 tackles for loss with 10 different players contributing to that total. In addition to Hoosier's 2.0 tackles for loss, sophomore defensive tackle Cole Riemer added 1.5 to go with six tackles, second most on the team behind junior cornerback Dion Wallisch's eight (seven solo, one for loss).

One of Minot State's three missed field goal attempts was blocked by sophomore defensive end Dylan Wood, who also made four tackles on the night.

True freshman Chris Garrett had an impactful debut at defensive end, recording a strip-sack that he recovered to end another Minot State scoring opportunity.

While Rolle was a standout special teams player, senior punter Sam Maedke had another steady performance by averaging 40.2 yards on five punts including three pinned inside the 20 and one inside the five with a long of 46. Junior kicker Jonas Schenderlein had six points in the game, converting all three extra point tries and delivering a 22 yard field goal.

In the return game, junior Jake Tanner had a big CSP debut after sitting out 2016 as a redshirt transfer. He compiled 68 punt return yards on three returns including a long of 43 that set up Schenderlein's field goal to give CSP the three-score lead (17-0) in the third quarter.

The excellent special teams play is validation for the program for spending more time on the unit than during any other fall camp in Currier's career.

Comparing the teams head-to-head, CSP was 1-1 on field goals and 3-3 on PAT attempts compared to Minot going 0-3 on field goal attempts including the block by Wood. Both kickers had perfect touchback rates, but Schenderlein had five kickoffs compared to Minot's one. Maedke's 40.2 average and three punts inside the 20 on five punts compares favorably to Minot State's seven punts for a 39.9 average and two inside the 20. Both teams had strong games on the punt return but CSP (3-68) came out slightly ahead of Minot (3-62).