DULUTH, Minn. - For the third time this year in as many road trips, the Concordia-St. Paul football team (2-3 NSIC, 2-2 South) squared off with a nationally-ranked opponent, this time falling 32-3 on Saturday afternoon at #8 Minnesota Duluth (5-0 NSIC, 4-0 North) in front of 3,169 spectators at Malosky Stadium.

For the third time this year, Concordia will also look to rebound from the ranked-road-loss with a home game where the Golden Bears protect a three game home winning streak at Sea Foam Stadium next Saturday, October 6 with a noon start against Northern State (1-4 NSIC, 1-3 North) on homecoming (Come Together).

Sophomore running back Lajuan Preston had his first career 100-yard performance, averaging 8.5 per carry in running for 111 yards on 13 attempts. He also had an eight yard catch. Preston has rushed for 247 yards at a 7.5 per carry clip on the season (33-247).

Junior wide receiver Marcus Gustaveson was targeted often, but finished with two catches for 30 yards. The two receptions pushed him to 100 for his career, becoming the 11th player in school history to reach the milestone.

Entering play, Concordia had been outscoring opponents 28-0 on turnovers with a +5 in the takeaway/giveaway column (9-to-4). Facing a 16-3 deficit and the Bulldogs driving deep into CSP territory with a 3rd-and-10 at the CSP 29 yard line, redshirt freshman cornerback Marcus Haskins intercepted UMD quarterback John Larson at the 15, returning it 21 yards to set the Golden Bears up with under a minute to play at their own 36 yard line.

Haskins has now started the season with an interception in each of Concordia's five games and added another pass breakup to give him 11 on the year (16 total passes defended). He added five tackles (four solo) and is fourth on the team with 24 tackles and leads the team with 20 solo stops on the season.

The first turnover of the game, it appeared Concordia's trend of winning the give/take battle was going to pay off again as CSP had enough time to put points on the board before the break and poised to start the second half with the ball.

Things turned for the worse from there, in a hurry, losing a fumble on 3rd-and-2 from the CSP 44 yard line just three plays later, and a 15-yard personal foul allowed UMD to start its final drive of the half at the CSP 26 yard line with 20 seconds on the clock.

Concordia's defense held UMD to a pair of incomplete passes before UMD kicker Dan Branger made a 43 yard field goal on third down with two seconds to play in the half.

Coming out of the break, an illegal block forced Concordia to start at its own 16 yard line instead of the 31. A third down conversion kept the drive moving as senior quarterback Dom McKinzy connected with junior wide receiver MJ Williams for a gain of 12. Two plays later, an errant snap backed Concordia up 18 yards to its own 13 yard line and on 3rd-and-26, McKinzy was intercepted with UMD returning the INT to the CSP 9-yard line.

One play later, UMD scored and extended its lead to 25-3 under three minutes into the third quarter.

It was an immediate reversal of momentum following the Haskins interception, as Concordia was looking to chip away at UMD's 16-3 lead late in the half. In just 10 plays, the damage was done as the deficit swelled to 22 points.

The Golden Bears rushed for 132 yards against the Bulldogs, averaging 4.4 per attempt but managed just 108 yards in the pass game on 13-of-29 with two interceptions. McKinzy was 10-of-23 for 85 yards and Hutton was 3-of-6 for 23 yards, adding 17 on the ground. They were each sacked once.

Williams led the receivers with five catches for 61 yards as seven different players had a reception.

Concordia also lost the turnover battle for the first time this season, committing a season-high three. The one takeaway was also the first time the defense failed to pick-up at least two turnovers in a game.

On special teams, senior Jonas Schenderlein made his only field goal try from 34 yards out with 12:02 to play in the second quarter, cutting the UMD lead to 8-3. The field goal was set up by the defense holding UMD on a 4th-and-3 from their own 43 yard line, with a McKinzy-to-Gustaveson 20-yard pass on the first play of the drive putting the team in scoring position. It was the second fourth down stop by the defense, also holding UMD on a 4th-and-1 from the CSP 37 yard line on the Bulldogs' opening drive.

UMD passed for 250 yards and rushed for 167, with the 417 yards of total offense well below their season average of 493.2 yards per game and Concordia's 240 yards of total offense was more than UMD's 204.2 allowed per game by the Bulldog defense. But both totals were on the wrong side of Concordia's season averages (355.5 to 397.2) entering play.

Larson completed 20-of-32 for 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception and he ran for 69 yards on 15 attempts with a touchdown and was sacked once.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Andy Aune was second on the team with six tackles, adding a sack and tackle for loss. Redshirt freshman safety Dez Bassett led the club with seven tackles and had a pass breakup. Redshirt freshman defensive end Shawn Aarhus added 1.5 tackles for loss on his two tackles.

UMD's defense produced six tackles for loss to CSP's three, had a pair of forced fumbles (one recovery) and interceptions, eight pass breakups, five hurries and a pair of sacks.