ST. PAUL, Minn. - One streak continues, another's left in the dust. On Thursday night, Concordia-St. Paul (1-0 NSIC, 1-0 South) posted a statement victory, defeating Sioux Falls (0-1 NSIC, 0-1 South) 41-17 at Sea Foam Stadium. CSP heads to Fayette, Iowa to face Upper Iowa (

The win continues eighth year head coach Shannon Currier's trend of success in home openers, winning all eight in his CSP career which has stretched from 2000 to 2003 and 2016 to present day, spanning two different stadiums with the first four accumulated at Griffin Stadium down the road prior to Sea Foam Stadium's construction on campus in 2009.

It also snaps a 12-game losing streak against Sioux Falls that dates back to 1971, back when it was the Concordia College Comets and Sioux Falls College Braves and each were NAIA members.

The victory avenges last year's heartbreaking defeat at Sioux Falls when the Cougars scored in the closing seconds for a 27-24 win over CSP.

Much like last year's matchup, this year started off similarly with Sioux Falls marching down the field on the game's opening drive for a 6-play, 75-yard possession capped by a rushing touchdown just 1:21 into play.

After Concordia responded with a drive into USF's red zone sparked by a 39-yard scamper by senior quarterback Maxon Hutton, the Golden Bears were able to race ahead of last year's pace by converting a 30-yard field goal by senior Danny Laudet to get on the scoreboard on its opening drive. CSP didn't score until the second quarter last year.

Hutton had a strong all-around performance, rushing for 67 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown and completing 13-of-22 for 159 yards and two more scores. Most importantly, the Golden Bears played turnover-free offensive football on 58 plays.

The early game differences between 2018 and 2019 between the teams were subtle, but they compounded in a hurry and Concordia would capitalize on the opportunities that the team's strong play helped to create.

As the Cougars marched down the field on their second possession, junior linebacker Dalton Smerchek made his first of two major goal line plays in the game, stripping USF quarterback Caden Walters at the one yard line as he was heading into the end zone. Concordia cornerback Preston Piltoff recovered, and the team added a second Laudet field goal from the red zone on the ensuing drive.

Smerchek was a monster, and came through in big spots all night. He finished with a game-high nine tackles and tied the team-lead with 1.5 tackles for loss. In addition to his forced fumble at the goal line, he also recovered a fumble on the punt team, had a pass breakup and one of his two quarterback hurries came on fourth down early in the fourth quarter in CSP territory.

Laudet also had a big day, and his strong performance on special teams was a major advantage as Concordia's special teams blocking and coverage units caused multiple problems. Adding placekicking responsibilities to his game this year has paid dividends early for Laudet. He made both of his field goal attempts and all five PATs for an 11-point game, delivered three touchbacks on kickoffs and held a strong 37.4 average, three fair catches and one punt inside the 20 on his five punts. His efforts helped CSP hold a 20-yard average field possession advantage, putting USF at its own 23 while CSP had an average start at the 43.

After Laudet's second field goal, the punt block team made its first of multiple disruptive plays, nearly blocking the kick and forcing a six yard punt to set the Golden Bears up at the USF 23 yard line. Two plays later, Hutton found senior wide receiver Marcus Gustaveson for a 20 yard touchdown and a 13-7 lead early in the second quarter.

The defense responded with its first three-and-out of the night, setting the tone to keep Sioux Falls off the scoreboard in the second quarter.

Concordia added a pair of scores just before half, starting with a 33-yard strike down the sideline to a diving MJ Williams to complete a 5-play, 90-yard drive in just under three minutes.

The defense responded with another stout stop late in the half, with freshman Devin Flakes blocking the USF punt with junior Lorenzo Kendricks recovering in the end zone for a 27-7 halftime lead.

Things flipped in the third quarter as Sioux Falls found life. A program with 25-straight winning seasons doesn't just fold after one half in the season opener, after all. USF's defense produced three-and-outs on CSP's first two drives of the second half, and scored a touchdown in just four plays on its first drive of the half.

As Sioux Falls mounted another scoring threat on its second drive of the third quarter, Smerchek came through again at the goal line, this time producing a crushing hit on running back Thuru Reisdorfer on 2nd-and-goal from the one yard line for a loss of one. On the next play, senior Jackson Dobbs forced Walters out of the pocket and he misfired to Ty Smith in the corner of the end zone.

Although the Cougars converted the short field goal, CSP still held a double-digit lead and most importantly prevented Sioux Falls from chipping it down to a touchdown margin.

Smerchek would come up with another big play to end Sioux Falls' next drive as well, rushing Walters' pass to Reisdorfer on 4th-and-9 from the CSP 35 yard line early in the fourth quarter to preserve the 27-17 lead.

He wasn't done. Concordia's ensuing drive was stalled, but still managed to siphon 3:37 off the clock. On Laudet's high 35-yard punt to the USF 30, Smerchek pounced on the returners muffed catch to give Concordia the ball at the USF 32 yard line.

Eight plays and 4:28 later, Hutton dashed through the middle for a nine yard touchdown and a three score (17-point) lead with six minutes to go.

The exclamation point came from the defensive line down the stretch as CSP posted three sacks and three hurries on Sioux Falls' final two possessions of the night, including a fourth down stop at the USF 12 yard line that set-up a seven yard touchdown by junior running back Lajuan Preston. Preston finished with a 6.2 rushing averaging with 80 yards on 13 carries and a long of 36.

Concordia produced six total sacks and racked up nine tackles for loss as a team with junior Chris Garrett leading the charge with 1.5 sacks, a hurry, a pass breakup and five total tackles.

While the Golden Bears were out-gained 385-to-315 in total offense yardage, the 20-yard advantage in average starting field position continually put CSP in scoring position quickly. Both teams struggled on third downs, with CSP converted 5-of-13 to USF's 4-of-13, but Concordia converted its only fourth down while USF was 0-for-3. Concordia was also 5-for-5 in the red zone with three touchdowns and a pair of field goals while holding USF to 3-of-4 for a 27-17 scoring margin. CSP also forced two turnovers leading to 10 points while playing turnover free offensively.

Offensively, Concordia's top three wide receivers, seniors Gustaveson, Williams and transfer Jabril Clewis combined for nine catches and 129 yards and all three had a reception of at least 20 yards.

Last year, Sioux Falls had a 200-yard rusher with three touchdowns. This year, CSP's front seven helped slow the Cougars to 168 team rushing yards and a 4.7 average with one ground score. Of the 168 yards, 103 of them came on two plays as CSP's consistent presence held them to 34-for-65 the rest of the evening. Reisdorfer led the way with 92 yards on 13 carries and a long of 44 while Walters had 39 yards on 11 attempts and a touchdown. He had a long of 59, but the six sacks against him cost him 47 lost rushing yards.

Concordia also held Walters and the USF passing game to under 50 percent completion percentage (16-of-33) and just 217 yards despite the 33 pass attempts.