ST. PAUL, Minn. - This weekend, Concordia football (4-2 NSIC) heads north, and west on the longest road trip it faces in Northern Sun football with a Saturday late afternoon matchup at Minot State (2-4 NSIC) at Herb Parker Stadium with a 3 p.m. kick in Minot, North Dakota.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Saturday's game should feature better weather than in recent weeks on gameday, with a high of 57, partly cloudy sky and a slight (10%) chance of precipitation with wind of W 15 mph.

FOLLOW ONLINE
For fans not making the long drive to Minot, follow the games online as part of the NSIC's league-wide streaming agreement with Presto Sports (formerly Stretch Internet). All CSP football games can be viewed in Concordia's online video portal.

Fans can also watch on their smart TV through various means including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon FireTV and Android TV. Simply search "NSIC" to find the Stretch Internet/Presto Sports application which carries the full slate of Northern Sun broadcasts (all sports!), with options to sort by school or sport.

The video will be produced by Minot State.

The game will also be aired locally in the Minot area on the radio on 1390 AM KRRZ, also available through the iHeart Radio app.

DOWNLOAD THE CSP BEARS GAMEDAY FAN APP
Follow the Golden Bear football team along with the rest of your favorite CSP Bears squads by downloading the CSP Bears gameday fan app, hosted by From Now On. The app provides users with a unique and customizable experience, allowing each user to select the sports they want to follow and how they are connected to CSP (fans, students, faculty/staff, alumni, etc). The app will also be a new way to stay updated on the action as well as to be the first to find out about promotions and special events!

COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO IN 2019
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back for a second year, once again hosted by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score. The show airs following the Minnesota high school football game of the week, typically on Friday evenings in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour on KYCR 1440 AM radio, available in the Twin Cities metro area. This week's guests include brothers junior Chris Garrett and freshman Darios Crawley-Reid.

For fans who miss the show or are outside of the radio station's Twin Cities reach, the entire show is accessible via the CSP Bears Podcast, available in Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play Music. It will typically be uploaded late Friday night (after the initial air time) or Saturday morning prior to the game. LISTEN ONLINE (available late Friday/early Saturday)

CSP MAKES FROGTOWN RADIO DEBUT IN ST PAUL
Concordia continues to make a positive impression in the St. Paul community with local radio station WFNU (94.1 FM) starting a regular segment to air on Saturday mornings at 9:30 a.m. The first air time is set for September 21, but the station has started recording interviews for a podcast titled "Concordia-St. Paul Scoreboard" which is available on Spotify and Anchor. Follow WFNU Frogtown Radio's CSP connections at @ScoreboardCSP and @651SportsUpdate.  LISTEN

2019 TEAM CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier will have rotating team captains each week for the second year in a row in 2019. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and as a leader in practice, meetings and day-to-day activities.

This week's game captains: senior offensive lineman Rich Kelly (7x) and senior quarterback Maxon Hutton (7x) on offense and juniors Chris Garrett (5x) and Dalton Smerchek (2x) on defense. This captain combination was also deployed for a week two road win at Upper Iowa.

SERIES HISTORY: CONCORDIA 6, MINOT STATE 1
Concordia holds a commanding 6-1 lead entering the eighth contest between the schools in a series that began in 2008, before Minot State had moved into the NCAA Division II ranks or Northern Sun membership column.

Of the Golden Bears' six wins, each has been by at least a two-score margin with the closest CSP win being a 12-point victory (43-31) on the road at Minot State in 2011.

Concordia is 2-1 in three trips to Minot State, winning the previous two 43-31 in 2011 and the most recent road trip in 2015, 28-13. Concordia dropped its first road game to Minot State 24-21 in 2009.

CSP has shutout the Beavers twice in the eight meetings, including the last affair which is the only game that head coach Shannon Currier has coached against Minot State in either of his two CSP tenures (2000-03 & 2016-present). The second shutout of Minot was at Sea Foam Stadium in 2015, a 24-0 CSP win.

Currier will be making his first-ever trip to the longest conference road trip CSP faces.

LAST MEETING, 2017: CONCORDIA 24, MINOT STATE 0
The Golden Bear defense held Minot State to 2-of-13 on third down, 0-of-1 on fourth down and scoreless in three trips to the red zone to record the season opening shutout at Sea Foam Stadium.

It was also defensive coordinator Craig Stern's return to the program. Stern, a fellow Cosmos, Minnesota native along with head coach Shannon Currier, coached the defense during Currier's first stint with the program (2000-03) before the two parted ways when Currier relocated to Truman State in Missouri. Currier rejoined Concordia's sidelines in 2016, with Stern following in 2017.

The pair never skipped a beat with the dominant win. After Minot registered 106 yards on its first three possessions, Stern's defense held the Beavers to just 42 yards on their next 14 plays spanning four possessions. The stretch went from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the third.

By then, Concordia had mounted a 17-0 lead behind an 11-yard passing TD between sophomores Maxon Hutton and Marcus Gustaveson and an 8-yard TD run by Darnell Rolle with Jonas Schenderlein adding a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Freshman Shaq Johnson capped the scoring with a 5-yard TD run in the fourth.

Concordia held the Beavers to 30-for-64 rushing and limited sixth year starting QB Zac Cunha to 15-of-35 passing for 175 yards including four sacks with senior Breon Hoosier registering a pair from the safety position.

In his career debut, Chris Garrett showed a sign of what was to come, with a strip sack and recovery. Now a junior, Garrett has 31.5 career sacks and 12 forced fumbles in just 23 games.

Offensively, Gustaveson led the way with his third career 100 yard receiving performance (6-116, TD) while Rolle had his first career 100 yard rushing game (17-107) after being held to 11-for-23 in the first half.

Hutton was 12-of-22 for 168 yards and a TD, adding 6-for-31 on the ground. Johnson, also making his debut, had 5-27 rushing including his first career touchdown.

LAST WEEK: CONCORDIA 24, MSU MOORHEAD 17
On a cold, windy day complete with a rain/snow mix throughout, the results of the game were predictable based on the weather conditions, although not necessarily dictated by them.

Each team had a pair of costly punt-exchange miscues with CSP tackling the MSUM punter a pair of times after a botched snap while the Dragons countered with a pair of blocked punts.

There were nine total fumbles in the game, with each team losing one, and each team had an interception for an even turnover margin, thus negating any turnover or special teams advantages.

But one thing wasn't equal, and it mattered a lot. Concordia's defensive front completely dominated play, tying an NCAA Division II single game sack record with14, and finishing three tackles for loss shy of the DII record, setting a new CSP record with 22.

In the final tally, Concordia held the Dragons to -97 rushing yards, a new school record for the Golden Bears.

Junior defensive end Chris Garrett was the catalyst, with a career-high 11 tackles, setting a school record with 6.5 tackles for loss, coming up one shy of the school mark with five sacks and adding three forced fumbles.

Garrett's sacks, TFLs and FFs were single-game NCAA Division II single game highs through six weeks. He would earn D2Football.com National and NSIC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Garrett wasn't alone in the onslaught of Dragon quarterback Matthew Plasterer as six different Golden Bears had sacks including four with at least a pair. Redshirt freshman Mark O'Reilly had a breakout performance with three sacks, four tackles for loss and five tackles.

While the defensive line produced 13 of the 14 sacks, junior linebacker Dalton Smerchek added the other while contributing a big individual performance. He had 2.5 TFLs, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery and was second on the defense with six tackles.

Concordia started the game quickly and seemed to take control when freshman Darios Crawley-Reid scored on a 28-yard catch and run swing pass to the flat from senior Maxon Hutton midway through the first quarter. CSP scored again after tackling the Dragon punter at the one yard line, setting up what will likely be CSP's shortest drive of the year in plays (1), yards (1) and time (0:06), with Shaq Johnson trotting into the end zone with 6:39 to play in the first quarter.

From there, things slowed down to a halt for both teams, with the Dragons hitting  a field goal with under a minute to play until the half while Danny Laudet countered with a 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

After building a 17-3 lead with 14-plus minutes to go, CSP saw its lead threatened as the Dragons scored their first TD with 7:24 to play, and then stopped CSP.

But the Golden Bear defense responded with three straight sacks after MSUM picked up a first down on the ensuing drive, backing them up to a 4th-and-42 from their own 7 yard line.

The result set CSP with excellent field position, allowing Crawley-Reid to score his second TD, a 17-yard run for a 24-10 lead with 2:20 to play.

Crawley-Reid was CSP's offensive leader with 86 combined yards on 12 touches (8-44 rush & 4-42 rec, 2 total TDs).

Johnson added 12-41 and a TD on the ground while Hutton connected with five different targets for 11-20 passing and 92 yards.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Coming off of a 1-10 season a year ago, Minot State was picked 15th overall and 7th in the NSIC North Division. They've already exceeded those expectations, defeating UMary and Minnesota Crookson in weeks three and four to start out division play 2-2, doubling their previous season wins total in the process.

But the Beavers struggled with the NSIC South Division in the previous two weeks, falling to a 2-4 SMSU squad 21-17 in Minot before taking a 49-3 loss at Winona State last week.

So far, the passing game on both sides of the ball has vexed the Beavers, ranking 15th in the NSIC with 149 passing yards per game and ranking 14th in surrendering 222.5 per game to opponents.

Ben Bolinske is eighth in the league with 909 passin yards, adding five TDs on 57.4 completions and brings 235 rushing yards to the table, as well to rank fifth in the NSIC in total offense (190.7).

His top target is Lavante Bushnell with 28-385 and two TDs, ranking fifth in catches & seventh in yards.

And while Minot runs the ball well with 149.3 yards per game on the ground, seventh best in the league, they are being outrushed in allowing 236.7 to opponents, 14th in the league.

Ali Mohamed, a freshman, leads the ground game with 435 yards and a 5.3 average.

In all, Minot is 14th in the league in total offense (298.3) and 15th in total defense (459.2), over a 160 yard per game disadvantage.

On special teams, the Minot punting game has been stout, leading the league with 40.1 net yards per punt to offset some of the yardage disparities.

JoseLuis Moreno handles the kicking and punting, averaging 41.9 yards per punt (2nd NSIC) while ranking tied for fifth with six field goals made (6-8).

The Beavers also rank tied for last in the league with five red zone touchdowns, and have been there just 15 total times with five TDs and five FGs while opponents have scored 14 red zone TDs in 22 trips.