ST. PAUL, Minn. - Masks, social distancing and a fall of COVID-19 testing protocols made safety a priority as the fall practice season was culminated with a Navy-Gold scrimmage for Concordia-St. Paul football. But the safety protocols also translated to the results of Saturday's Halloween scrimmage, as each side recorded a safety with the Gold squad securing a 12-5 victory over the Navy on a crisp, fall afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.

Big plays were made on each side of the ball and while the ground games were overpowering for both teams, it was a highlight reel 43-yard connection between freshman Bryce Sievers and redshirt freshman Evan Peterson at the end of the first half that helped the Gold take its first lead. The play, which came with just seconds remaining, set up a 31-yard field goal by freshman Sam Henson to give the Gold a 3-2 lead.

Navy had broken a scoreless tie moments earlier in the quarter when Richard Wauer and Carter Hislop teamed up for a sack of Gold quarterback Johnny Saavedra with just over three and a half minutes to play in the half. The Navy also got to the quarterback in the first half with Dominic LaCombe produced a first quarter sack. The Gold side also had some big defensive moments early, with Chandler Dahlquist and Cyrus McClure making a fourth down stop in the second quarter.

While the Sievers-Peterson connection was the big highlight for Gold in the first half, the Navy team had some nice runs by Shaq Johnson including a 12-yard burst early in the contest.

In the second half, Gold continued its momentum as Lajuan Preston broke free for a 26 yard run despite getting shut down to the right side, bursting back across the field to the opposite sideline for the big run. The play set up a short 1-yard score by Preston with 6:50 to play in the third quarter for a 10-2 lead following the Henson PAT.

Navy stormed back as sophomore quarterback Abe Schwartz deceived the defense with a solid read-option, breaking down the left sideline for a 65-yard run, setting up a 21-yard field goal to make it a 10-5 margin.

In the fourth quarter, Navy freshman quarterback Conner Cordts connected for 25 yards to junior receiver Jake Shepley. In addition to a couple of nice catches, Shepley also revived his punting duties including an 87 yard blast in the first half.

But the Gold defense continued to make big plays late in the game with defensive linemen Keegan Larson and Connor Weiss teaming up for a sack before redshirt freshman Ryan Martin secured a safety by sacking Cordts for the 12-5 final.