SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (0-1) dropped its 2018 season opener in the closing seconds, 27-24 at #20 Sioux Falls on Thursday night at Bob Young Field in front of 3,132 fans.

Concordia looks to continue to play the strong football it displayed in hostile territory next Saturday, September 8 with a noon kickoff against Upper Iowa. Concordia's home opener at Sea Foam Stadium has been designated Billy Brown, Jr. Day as the football team and campus community pay respects to the late linebacker.

Fate seemed to be on Concordia's sideline tonight, as Golden Bear senior kicker Jonas Schenderlein converted a 35 yard field goal with 32 seconds left.

The host Cougars, who had trailed for nearly half of the fourth quarter when junior Marcus Gustaveson hauled in a 33 yard touchdown from senior Dom McKinzy with 7:41 left, took over for a final time at their own 40 yard line with 26 seconds to play.

On the first play of the drive, sophomore defensive end Chris Garrett rushed hard from the blind side, connecting with USF quarterback Caden Walters as he released the ball. The hit caused the ball to veer off course, just out of the reach of junior cornerback Dion Wallisch, who was poised to make a play had the ball been delivered on target.

After nearly a minute for an injury timeout, the timeout-less Cougars put together a pair of passes to put the ball on the 26 yard line with nine seconds to play. Walters then delivered the game-winning strike over the middle to Clint Sigg, who barreled into the end zone with three seconds left.

The game started sour for Concordia on an overcast, windy evening in eastern South Dakota as the Cougars won the toss and elected to play with the wind at their backs in the first and fourth quarters. The Golden Bears were penalized on their first play from scrimmage and went 3-and-out while USF marched down the field in three plays on a 63-yard scoring drive to take the early lead.

From there, Concordia was able to slowly turn the momentum, and on its third drive of the game, used over six minutes of clock to drive into USF territory. But a 3rd and 16 pass from the Cougar 30 yard line was intercepted, ending the scoring threat despite the lengthy drive.

After Sioux Falls took the ensuing drive to the CSP 26 yard line, a third down sack pushed the Cougars out of field goal range for a 4th and 17 at the CSP 35, forcing a punt to end a scoring threat.

Concordia then used the win to its advantage, marching 91 yards on 11 plays and covering over five minutes of play. The team didn't need to pick up a third down on the drive until McKinzy completed a touchdown strike to sophomore running back Shaq Johnson from seven yards out on a 3rd and six.

It was the first of two third down 7-yard touchdown passes from McKinzy to Johnson, who connected on CSP's next drive which started at the USF 40 yard line after an interception by redshirt freshman Marcus Haskins. On the second scoring drive of the second quarter, McKinzy started the drive with a 16-yard connection to senior Jake Tanner and had a 14-yard pass to sophomore Keyon Walters before Jeremiah Johnson bruised his way through the line to convert the fourth down and short.

Tanner had four catches for 69 yards and a long of 38 and Walters had four catches for 36 yards.

McKinzy was strong in his debut for Concordia as the graduate transfer completed 19-of-32 for 236 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Johnson had 66 rushing yards on 17 carries and added four catches for 23 yards and the two touchdowns.

Concordia carried the 14-7 lead into the break along with the wind and momentum into the second half.

But the Cougars made a change at quarterback after Concordia's defense continually pressured opening day starter Mitchell Martin who finished the day 5-for-10 with 69 yards, two sacks and an interception.

The change made an immediate impact for USF as the Cougars scored midway through the third quarter to tie the game in the quarter's only score for either team.

The Cougars then took the lead back early in the fourth quarter on a 93-yard scoring drive but missed the extra point to leave the door open for Concordia to swipe the lead back with a touchdown.

That's exactly what the Golden Bears did, as the defense scored a stop and the Cougars fumbled the snap on the punt to turn it over at the USF 35 yard line.

Two plays later, McKinzy rolled to his right and lobbed a pass to Gustaveson down the right sideline. After the long, physical Gustaveson secured the pass, he ran through the USF defensive back to muscle his way into the end zone to tie the game. The Schenderlein point after gave Concordia the lead back with 7:41 to go.

Gustaveson had five catches for 96 yards and a long of 38.

Concordia's defense responded to the challenge in protecting the one point lead with 7:41 to play as the Cougars ran twice before Dylan Wood picked up a big sack of Walters on 3rd and 6.

Keyon Walters came up with a big punt return, dashing 24 yards to his left before heading out of bounds at midfield, allowing Concordia to start a drive in excellent position with 5:50 to go and the lead.

The Golden Bears put together an impressive, time consuming possession, taking 5:24 of the 5:50 left in the game. McKinzy tossed a 17-yard laser on a timing route to Walters to pick up a 3rd and 16 from the CSP 44 yard line, and Johnson gashed the defense for 14 yards on 3rd and 10 a few plays later to the USF 25 yard line for a pair of big third down pickups. Facing a 4th and two from the USF 17 yard line it was Schenderlein's field goal that gave Concordia a four point lead before the Cougars executed the game winning drive.

Concordia won the turnover margin, causing three on a pair of interceptions and adding the fumble recovery on the fourth quarter punt (missed snap). CSP committed one turnover, the first quarter interception, until the closing seconds as the Bears attempted to extend the game on a lateral on the kickoff return that was recovered by USF with no time remaining.

The turnover win led to a 14-0 scoring advantage off turnovers as Concordia capitalized on USF miscues. Concordia also controlled the clock in a tough road environment with 33:06 to 26:54 in time of possession.

Joining Haskins with an interception was redshirt freshman safety Parker Powers as the two redshirt freshmen picked up interceptions in their debuts.

Sioux Falls finished with a slight edge in total offense (404-353) and first downs (22-17) but Concordia held the host Cougars to under 200 passing yards (196).

CSP's defense also held USF to 36 percent (5-14) on third down.

On special teams, sophomore Jake Shepley made his debut at the position and averaged 47.3 yards on six kicks with a long of 66 that rolled inside the five.

Schenderlein was 3-for-3 on PATs and made his only field goal attempt. He also delivered three touchbacks on five kickoffs along with one force fair catch. By rule, a fair catch inside the 25 yard line allows the receiving team to start its drive at the 25.

The Golden Bear defense took away everything on the Cougar offense except Gabriel Watson who rushed for 200 yards on 27 carries and scored the first three USF touchdowns. Sigg, who scored the game winner, had four catches for 57 yards.

Concordia's defense has now held opponents under 30 points in six consecutive games and the three point loss to the Cougars was the closest margin in the all-time series as USF has now won 12 in a row with Concordia's only win in the 13 games coming in 1971. The previous closest games were decided by eight, a 24-16 win for Concordia in 1971 and a 31-23 win for USF in 2012 when the series was revived after nearly 30 years.