BISMARCK, N.D. – On a sunny, windy afternoon in North Dakota's capital city, Concordia-St. Paul (1-8 NSIC, 0-4 North) fell on the road 42-17 to the University of Mary (3-6 NSIC, 2-2 North) at the MDU Resources Community Bowl.
 
Concordia returns home for senior day next Saturday, November 6 against MSU Moorhead (4-5 NSIC, 2-3 North) for a noon kickoff at Sea Foam Stadium in the final home game of 2021.
 
Although the Marauders struck first with a touchdown for the only points of the first quarter, Concordia stormed back with 10-straight to claim the lead as freshman Daimarion Nelson plunged in from a yard out and freshman Sam Henson followed with a 48-yard field goal with 7:29 to play in the second quarter.
 
It was the first career touchdown by Nelson, making his first career start, finishing with career-highs of 13 carries for 45 yards and a long run of 23.
 
Henson's 48-yard field goal matched his career-long, set in week one at Winona State. He would also miss a 51-yarder at the end of the first half, with his only misses on the year coming from 40-plus yards (40, 51, 52).
 
The Marauders were able to convert a pair of touchdowns before the half, including a score with 16 seconds to go to steal the momentum back for a 21-10 halftime lead.
 
UMary added two more touchdowns in the third before Concordia returned to paydirt as freshman quarterback Bryce Sievers completed his first career touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Mason Van Zeeland for a 7-yard score early in the fourth quarter.
 
Sievers made his first career, becoming the eighth freshman to start a game at quarterback in Concordia's Division-II era (1999-present). He registered career-highs of 22 completions in 51 attempts for 173 yards, a touchdown and an interception while targeting nine different receivers. He added nine yards on the ground and was only sacked once for a minimal loss of one.
 
He looked towards Joey Farley 19 times with the junior receiver hauling in 10 catches for 53 yards while Van Zeeland once again ate up yardage in chunks with four catches for 78 yards and a long of 31 yards on a fake punt pass from Parker Dahlman in the fourth quarter.
 
Dahlman became the fifth player to complete a pass for Concordia this season, and with Hunter Thompson taking reps under center with his only QB statistic when he was sacked, the Golden Bears have now had six different players register QB statistics on the year.
 
For his punting, Dahlman had another strong day, averaging 45.8 yards on four punts with a long of 61 and one inside the 20.
 
Defensively, junior defensive end Richard Ficociello continued his strong season by recording a sack in a third straight game, adding 2.0 tackles for loss for the second time in three weeks and a forced fumble. He now has 5.0 sacks and 8.5 TFLs on the year.
 
Junior safety Rhett Sheehan also had a forced fumble while leading the team with seven tackles and adding a pass breakup.
 
The defense was tested by one of the country's top passing offenses as Logan Nelson completed 22-31 for 332 yards and four touchdowns, adding a rushing touchdown. He connected with Danny Kittner 11 times for 179 yards and a touchdown while Luke Little had five catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
 
In the final tally, the Golden Bears had 275 yards of offense with 18 first downs including 3-of-4 on fourth down conversions.