ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul football (6-5 NSIC, 4-3 South) dropped its 2019 season finale 20-10 on Saturday afternoon to Winona State (8-3 NSIC, 4-3 South) at Sea Foam Stadium.

The Warriors cling to playoff hopes, ranked ninth in the most recent Super Region 4 rankings while CSP concludes its first winning campaign since 2011, matches its best-ever finish in the NSIC South Division (3rd, 4-3) and produced a Sea Foam Stadium-best 4-win home season (2009-present) with a 4-2 home record on the year.

Senior Jake Tanner had a career-day with eight receptions for 103 yards while adding a four yard run for 107 all-purpose yards. Freshman running back Darios Crawley-Reid carried 14 times for 72 yards and a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. He finished his rookie season with a team-best 538 rushing yards at 6.6 per carry and nine total touchdowns (eight rushing), and added 2-18 receiving in the game.

But it was the defense that stole the show on senior day led by junior Dalton Smerchek's 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack and his fourth fumble recovery of the season. Senior Jackson Dobbs added 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, finishing his final season with 14.0 TFLs and 7.5 sacks for a career total of 34.0 TFLs and 20.0 sacks.

Sophomore linebacker Jake Portz had a team-high eight tackles, finishing the year with 105 to tie the program's NCAA Division II-era record (1999-present) with Jordan Halverson's 2012 season.

Concordia had 7.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks on the defensive side and added four quarterback hurries and three pass breakups with two coming from sophomore safety Dez Bassett.

The game started rocky for Concordia, going 3-and-out on the first possession with a pair of penalties and a short punt setting up good field position for the Warriors. Two plays later, WSU found the end zone after a 24-yard pass and 1-yard TD run.

Another 3-and-out on the second series allowed the Warriors to start from midfield to set up a 6-play, 50-yard scoring drive for a 14-0 lead six minutes into the game.

The Warriors added two second quarter field goals despite working into a stiff November wind out of the south. It was a 14-play, 62-yard drive to set up a 35-yard field goal with 1:21 to play in the second quarter that hurt the most. The Warriors sucked over seven minutes off the clock to keep Concordia's offense on the sideline when the wind was at its back and also put the Warriors ahead by three possessions, 17-0.

They added another field goal with three seconds to play before halftime that was set-up by a pair of 15-yard penalties and a half the distance penalty.

The penalties were a factor for a Concordia team that entered play among the nation's best, ranking eighth in the country in fewest penalty yards per game (41.8) and 20th in fewest penalties per game (5.3).

Today, Concordia was flagged 12 times for 93 yards compared to 7-48 for Winona State.

Aside from the first two WSU touchdown drives in the first quarter, CSP's defense went on to hold Winona State for six points the rest of the game, with half of those attributed to late second quarter penalties.

Concordia held Winona State to 267 yards of total offense and 15 first downs on the day and held them to under 100 rushing yards (34-97).

But the Golden Bears produced the same total, 267 in total offense, with a similar fate on the ground (32-95) and had one more turnover with two interceptions compared to one WSU fumble.

Senior Maxon Hutton completed 18-of-33 for 174 yards and found seven different targets including five of them at least twice. While he had to miss a series, redshirt freshman backup quarterback and special teams standout Abe Schwartz filled in admirably in the third quarter, executing a 4th-and-7 with a 12-yard run before Hutton returned and finished the game. The drive that Schwartz appeared in was a 15-play, 66-yard march but resulted in a missed 4th-down try from the WSU 24 yard line after consuming 7:02 of clock.

Senior kicker/punter Danny Laudet, who was not honored as part of senior day as he intends to return for a final season of eligibility next fall, also added a 40-yard field goal into the wind in the first quarter as he finished the year 17-of-23 to finish one field goal shy of matching Tom Obarski and Jonas Schenderlein's career records. He was 5-of-8 on 40-49 yard field goal attempts after today's make.

The Warriors were paced by efficient play from quarterback John Rumpza, who was 15-of-22 for 172 yards and a touchdown. He found Tyler Anderson six times for 81 yards and Jake Balliu had 4-50 receiving. Three different Warrior rushers had between 25-and-35 yards on the ground, but Jaylen Schleicher was the catalyst with a 32-yard fake punt conversion while adding 2-for-30 receiving with a 23-yard TD catch in the first quarter.