BISMARCK, N.D. - This Saturday, Concordia-St. Paul (1-7 NSIC, 0-3 North) heads to North Dakota's capital city to face the University of Mary (2-6 NSIC, 1-2 North) at the MDU Resources Community Bowl for a 2 p.m. kickoff.

The game will be UMary's Never Surrender Cancer Awareness game, with a game time temperature of 46 degrees and a high of 48, with a strong 20 mile per hour NNW wind with stronger gusts possible and partial sunshine.

The Golden Bears look to snap a six game losing streak while UMary is looking to snap a 3-game skid while also looking for its first home win of 2021 with an 0-3 record at the Community Bowl, and their last win coming in week 11 of 2019 against Minnesota Crookston.

Concordia's second-ranked pass defense (205.9) in the Northern Sun will once again be put to the test as the Marauders feature the second-ranked passing offense in the country (338.2). Concordia has only surrendered one 300-plus yard passing game (354 to Bemidji State) and four games of 200-plus passing yards including each of the last three. UMary counters by featuring a pass attack that has topped 300 yards in six out of eight games with a high of 454 yards against Northern State.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ

This Saturday's game will be simulcast with the audio call from KFYR 550 AM radio voice Jesse Rostvedt with former UMary athletic director and Hall of Fame football coach Roger Thomas providing commentary. The game will also be streamed live at www.kfyr.com and available on the iHeartRadio app.
 
DOWNLOAD THE CSP BEARS APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.

FULL PREVIEW
Get the full story ahead of this Saturday's game in this week's game notes [pdf].

COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO IN 2021
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back for a third 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 freshman safety Cyrus McClure and junior running back Brian Lankford-Johnson.

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, Apple Podcasts, 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. Search 'CSP Bears' into your favorite podcast provider!

2021 TEAM CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier features rotating team captains each week for the third year in a row in 2021. 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: junior safety Rhett Sheehan (4x) and junior defensive end Richard Ficociello (2x) from the defense while sophomore center Sam Marshalek (7x) and junior guard Matthew Montgomery (2x) represent the offense.

SERIES HISTORY: CONCORDIA 4, UMARY 4
Concordia and UMary enter the ninth meeting between the programs tied at four wins apiece with the away team dominating the all-time series which tilted in the visitor's direction each of the first five matchups before UMary finally defended its home turf with a 20-13 win in 2014 in Bismarck.

In head coach Shannon Currier's return to the program in 2016, Concordia picked up its first home win over UMary with a 17-0 shutout to open the season.

Currier is 2-0 against UMary, heading to Bismarck in 2018 for a 17-7 win, making six of the eight all-time meetings decided in the guest's favor.

Concordia is 3-1 in four all-time trips to North Dakota's capital city, where the winning team has never scored more than 22 points in a contest at a stadium that typically features strong wind. In fact, in the all-time series, the 30-point threshold has only been crossed twice, with UMary scoring 37 points in 2007 at Griffin Stadium in a 37-20 Marauder win, and they scored 32 points in a 32-26 win at Sea Foam Stadium in 2012.

Concordia's high score against UMary was the 26 points scored in defeat in 2012, and the winning team in the series has a 23.6 scoring average across the eight games.

LAST MEETING, 2018: CONCORDIA 17, UMARY 7
The Golden Bears spoiled the Marauders homecoming on a windy Saturday, breaking a scoreless tie at the halftime break with a 10-0 margin in the third quarter.

The Golden Bears' win on the road snapped a 13-game road losing streak and was CSP's first win at UMary since 2008, improving to 3-1 all-time on the road against the Marauders.

The Golden Bears rushed a school record 63 times in the win, breaking a 1992 record set against William Penn with 60 carries, the only two times 60 rushes has been topped in program history. CSP gained 206 yards on the ground while the defense held the Marauders to 61 rushing yards on 32 attempts.

The defense was the key in 2018's road win, as safety Dez Bassett broke the scoreless tie with a 77-yard INT returned for touchdown in the third quarter, while defensive end Chris Garrett had 3.0 sacks, giving him 8.0 on the year in six games.

In the fourth quarter with 2:11 to play and CSP clinging to a 10-7 lead and driving, quarterback Dom McKinzy took a keeper on a 4th-and-2 for a 26-yard TD run for a 17-7 lead. The dual-threat senior navigated the tricky conditions with 20 carries for 70 yards while completing 12-of-22 for 129 yards.

Concordia's only field goal of the game, a 24-yarder from Jonas Schenderlein, capped an impressive 14-play, 92-yard drive that drained 6:44 off the clock as CSP drove into the wind from its own 1-yard line in the third quarter.

UMary's lone touchdown came following a strip-sack returned 52 yards to the CSP 3-yard line, scoring on the ground on the next play, making it 10-7 with 10:43 to go.

Concordia's defense held from there, though, limiting the Marauders to just one yard on seven plays across two possessions the rest of the way, going 0-3 from the air with Garrett producing one of his three sacks on 3rd-and-10 with Bassett breaking up the 4th-down pass on the following play with 1:33 to go deep in Marauder territory.

In between, CSP used 4:16 of precious clock time, marching 85 yards on 10 plays to set up McKinzy's 4th-down TD rush.

Concordia had 12:39 to 2:21 in time of possession in the fourth quarter alone, and held the Marauders to eight plays for four yards. For the game, CSP had a 38:18 to 21:42 edge in clock time and 337 to 150 yards of total offense.

LAST WEEK: NORTHERN sTATE 38, CONCORDIA 17
The Golden Bears carried leads through the end of the first quarter (7-3) and halftime (17-10) but couldn't overcome Northern State's three third quarter touchdowns, falling 38-17 at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul.

Concordia held one of the top passers in the country, Hunter Trautman, to just 8-17 passing for 69 yards with a TD and an INT in the first half, despite entering play averaging over 300 yards per game with a 24-2 TD-INT ratio.

This was despite playing without senior cornerbacks Preston Piltoff, Kyle Moses and Lorenzo Kendricks as freshmen McKinley Egland-Young and Kahlil Robinson locked down the corners with safeties Rhett Sheehan, Davaris Cheeks and Cyrus McClure playing solid coverage as well, with the front seven adding solid pressure.

Sheehan added his third interception of the year, picking Trautman off in the end zone to end a scoring threat after a second quarter 57-yard fake punt pass put the Wolves in the red zone.

Later in the quarter, CSP turned it over on downs in NSU territory, with Trautman completing a pass across the 50 yard line on the next play, but McClure's strip was recovered by Cheeks.

After CSP went ahead 17-10 late in the half, the Wolves broke a 74-yard kickoff return with under 30 seconds left, but Shawn Aarhus blocked the Wolves' field goal as time expired for a third pivotal play by the defense in the quarter.

In the third quarter, Trautman figured it out, completing five passes for 110 yards with two TD passes, while the Wolves added an INT-for-TD to pull ahead 31-17. NSU scored once more midway through the fourth to ice the game.

CSP quarterback Abe Schwartz registered career-highs of 22 completions on 37 attempts for 200 yards and added highs of 13 carries for 32 yards on the ground. He had one TD pass and was intercepted once in his second career start.

He found Joey Farley nine times in the short passing game for 39 yards, with Farley scoring from six yards out in the second quarter for a 14-3 lead. Isaiah Koran also had five catches in the game for 45 yards, while Schwartz hit on big passes to Evan Peterson (28 yards) and Jahiem Arnold (31 yards).

The run game produced its second 150-plus yard performance of the year, rushing 42 times for 156 yards led by Brian Lankford-Johnson's season-highs of 17 carries for 55 yards and a TD, while Brandon Marenco added 10-51 rushing.

Defensively, McClure led the team with nine tackles while fellow-defensive backs were all among the team leaders: Robinson (5), Sheehan (5) and Egland-Young (4). Dalton Smerchek chipped in five tackles and had a fumble recovery while Andrew Egnarski had four tackles including a sack.

The Wolves' Trautman finished below his season pace with 225 yards on 18-31 passing with three TDs and one INT, rushing for 31 yards on seven attempts. He found Dewaylon Ingram for two of his TD strikes, going for 6-87 on the day, but CSP shut down one of the league's top receivers as Dakota Larson had 2-33.

NOTES ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
UMary enters play with a 2-6 overall record and 1-2 NSIC North mark and a 3-game losing streak to UMD (31-27), at Sioux Falls (34-14) and at home to MSU Moorhead (35-31). The Marauders have scored 27-plus points six times on the year but have also surrendered at least 23 points in every game, with opponents topping 30 in all but one game.

UMary's two wins were a 45-23 win in week 3 at SMSU and a 49-42 week 5 win at Northern State, with the Marauders looking to not only snap a 3-game overall losing streak, but a 3-game home losing streak with their last home win a 44-15 win over UM Crookston in week 11 of 2019 (11/16/19).

Once again, the Golden Bear secondary, ranked 2nd in the NSIC (205.9 pass yds/game) will face a top-flight NSIC passing offense as the Marauders lead the league & 2nd in DII with 338.2 passing yards per game, a 13.8 gap on second place BSU and 28.7 yard edge on 3rd place NSU - 2 of CSP's last 3 opponents.

UMary QB Logan Nelson has a 27-5 TD-INT ratio and 2,563 yards (320.4) and is 2nd in the NSIC in pass efficiency (157.9) and 1 TD shy of the league lead. The Marauders have passed for 300+ yards in 6-of-8 games with a high of 454 at Northern State, with Nelson throwing 6 TDs against the Wolves.

Danny Kittner leads all college football players (FBS, FCS, II, III) in catches (88) and is 2nd in receiving yards (1,153), TD catches (13) and all-purpose yards (1,584) while leading all DII receivers with his 88-1,153-13 line. He had a high of 13-235 with 3 TDs against Winona State, and had 3 TDs against UMD (13-133).

He's flanked by one of the other top WRs in the nation, Luke Little, who is tied for the DII lead with 13 TDs, ranks 7th in DII in yards (899) and 6th with 64 catches.

The Marauders don't ignore the run, with David Small ranking 5th NSIC with 639 rushing yards and averaging 5.1 per carry with 5 TDs.

Tylen Small leads the Marauder defense with 58, ranking 9th in the NSIC. Jack Berry is the only UMary player with multiple sacks (2.0) as the team has just 6.0 on the year, with Barry leading the team with 6.5 TFLs. The Marauders also have only caused 7 turnovers with Isaiah Pittman recording 2 INT and 5 PBU with 45 tackles to lead the group.