ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (1-8 NSIC, 0-4 North) returns home to Sea Foam Stadium for the home finale this Saturday for a noon kickoff on Senior Day against MSU Moorhead (4-5 NSIC, 2-3 North).

Once again, the Golden Bears will put their secondary to the test against a strong NSIC North Division passing attack. The Golden Bears rank fourth in the league against the pass, allowing 221.1 yards per game while the visiting Dragons counter with the league's fifth-ranked pass attack with 274.8 yards per game. CSP has played the first, second and third-ranked passing offenses in the last four games.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Saturday's forecast leans more towards September than November, with a forecast high of 64 degrees under mostly sunny skies with a slight 8 mph SW wind. Kickoff temperature is predicted at 56 degrees and sunny, warming to the low 60's by game-end.

BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.

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
 
All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.

Home broadcasts are produced by Stream Powered Productions, with the 15-foot by 8-foot MAX XL LED screen provided by Ultimate X Displays.
 
DOWNLOAD THE 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 graduating junior offensive guard Matthew Montgomery and sophomore center Sam Marshalek.

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!

The first episode of season 4 of the CSP Bears podcast also debuted this week, with co-host Alex LaPorte joined by CSP President Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich. The CSP Bears Podcast is also part of the Coaches Show feed.

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 (5x) and junior defensive end Mark O'Reilly (2x) from the defense while junior guard Matthew Montgomery (3x) and senior tackle Robert Kraklow represent the offense.

SERIES HISTORY: CONCORDIA 10, MSU MOORHEAD 3
Concordia dominated for a number of years in the all-time series, winning the first five meetings between 2001 and 2005, and taking nine of the first 10 contests through 2013.

While the Dragons have won two of the last three, CSP stopped the Dragons in the last meeting in 2019 at Sea Foam Stadium with a 24-17 victory.

MSUM is making its third trip to Sea Foam Stadium, built in 2009 but the Dragons didn't see Concordia's new home until 2015, a 30-28 win for MSUM, with the most recent visit coming in 2019.

Overall at home, Concordia holds a 5-1 record between Griffin Stadium and Sea Foam Stadium, and the Golden Bears are 4-1 against MSUM under coach Shannon Currier including 1-1 since Currier rejoined the program for the 2016 season.

The last four meetings between the teams have been decided by one score or less, with the teams splitting them 2-2 and eight of the 13 games in the series have been decided by one score or less.

LAST MEETING, 2019: CONCORDIA 24, MSUM 17
Concordia tied a Division II single-game sack record with 14 in a 24-17 homecoming victory at Sea Foam Stadium, paced by Chris Garrett's five sacks. Garrett also set the school record with 6.5 tackles for loss as the Golden Bears set a program record with 22 team tackles for loss, holding the Dragons to -97 rushing yards to set a team record for fewest rushing yards allowed.

Garrett's day also included three forced fumbles on his way to the NCAA Division II career record 15 FF from 2017-19.

Joining Garrett on a busy day for CSP in the MSUM backfield were Mark O'Reilly with 3.0 sacks and 4.0 TFLs, while Jackson Dobbs and Shawn Aarhus each had 2.0 sacks.

The heavy pass rush helped the secondary, as Hunter Thompson added an interception, one of two turnovers forced by CSP.

Garrett's younger brother, Darios Crawley-Reid, scored a pair of touchdowns, CSP's first for a 7-0 lead on a 28-yard reception in the first quarter and CSP's last, a 17-yard run up the middle with 2:20 to play in the fourth quarter for a 24-10 lead with 2:20 to play. He finished 8-44 rushing and 4-42 receiving.

Shaq Johnson also had a productive day on offense with 12-71 rushing and a short rushing TD.

Leading 17-10 in the fourth quarter, the CSP defense buried the Dragons with three straight sacks with O'Reilly on first and third down and Aarhus with another on second down, forcing a 4th-and-42 at MSUM's own 7-yard line.

The big day for the defense held MSUM to just 121 yards of total offense to a team that averaged 352 yards per game entering play, and the Golden Bears out-rushed MSUM by 203 yards.

LAST WEEK: UMARY 42, CONCORDIA 17
Sam Henson's career-long matching 48-yard field goal with 7:29 to play in the second quarter gave Concordia a 10-7 lead, just four minutes after freshman running back Daimarion Nelson scored his first career rushing TD as the Golden Bears looked for their first division win as members of the NSIC North last Saturday at the University of Mary.

But the Marauders responded with four consecutive TDs, two in the second quarter and two in the third quarter to pull ahead 35-10.

Freshman quarterback Bryce Sievers joined Nelson with a career first, his first TD pass, connecting with Mason Van Zeeland from 7-yards out with 11:23 to play in the fourth quarter, but UMary struck back quickly to put the game away just under a minute and a half later.

Nelson, making his first career start, had a big first half, rushing 13 times for 45 yards with a long run of 23.

Sievers also had a career day, becoming the eighth freshman to start at quarterback since CSP moved to Division II in 1999, and the first time that two freshmen started at QB in the same season as he joins Conner Cordts who started the first six games of the year.

Sievers posted career-highs across the board: 22-for-51 for 173 yards and his first TD pass. Concordia added a 31-yard pass on a fake punt from Parker Dahlman to Van Zeeland, as well.

Van Zeeland led the team with 78 yards on four catches while Sievers looked Joey Farley's way frequently, as the junior had 10 catches on 19 targets for 53 yards with a long of 15.

Overall, Sievers targeted nine receivers, completing passes to seven different players with six of those drawing at least two receptions.

For the game, though, it was the Marauder air attack that won the day as Logan Nelson completed 22-31 for 332 yards and four TDs and added a fifth TD on the ground.

He connected with Danny Kittner 11 times for 179 yards and a TD, and Luke Little added 5-93 with two TDs.

A busy day in the secondary for safety Rhett Sheehan led to seven tackles (five solo), a forced fumble and a pass breakup.

Up front, Richard Ficociello continued to pressure opposing QBs, picking up a sack in a third-straight game, adding a forced fumble, 2.0 TFLs and three solo tackles.

Dahlman had a sound day punting despite windy conditions, averaging 45.8 on four punts with a long of 61 and one inside the 20.

Henson was 1-2 on field goal tries, connecting from 48 for the second time this year and narrowly missing from 51 yards. His only misses on the year have been from 40-plus yards. He added two touchbacks on his three kickoffs.

NOTES ABOUT THE DRAGONS
MSU Moorhead enters Saturday with a 2-2 road record and are 1-game under .500 in the NSIC overall (4-5) and in the NSIC North (2-3). A win for MSUM on Saturday concludes their road season at +1 over .500, and allows them to shoot for a winning season in the finale at home against Wayne State next Saturday.

They are coming off of a 33-27 loss at home to Northern State, and five of their games this year have been decided by one score or less with a 2-3 record in close games.

MSU Moorhead passes often, and intercepts passes often. The Dragons pass for 274.8 yards per game, fifth most in a pass-heavy NSIC, but also surrender 257.6 per game through the air on defense, ranking ninth in the league. The Dragons offset the passing yardage allowed by tying for the national lead with 15 interceptions and have the 22nd-ranked turnover margin in the nation with 22 takeaways and 16 turnovers committed.

Offensively, it's all through the air as MSU Moorhead ranks last in the league with 61.2 rushing yards per game, 27.4 less than 13th place Concordia (88.6).

Quarterback Tommy Falk is the fifth-leading passer in the league with 2,376 yards and a 16-8 TD-INT ratio, completing 59.2 percent of his passes.

His top target is the league's 10th-leading receiver, Grady Bresnahan, with 768 yards on the third-most catches (57) in the NSIC with six TDs. Trent Marquart is also a top-15 receiver in the league on 40 catches going for 435 yards and a pair of scores.

Defensively, Josiah Behm is the league's second-leading tackler with 74 while three different Dragons, Jare Kallenbach, Cody Sorenson and Behm each have three interceptions while Sorenson's 11 passes defended ranks second in the Northern Sun (8 PBU, 3 INT). Darius Woods-Steichen leads the Dragons with four sacks up front.

THANK YOU SENIORS!
The Golden Bears will honor 20 seniors prior to kickoff on Saturday, including 19 players plus student assistant coach Alain Yang. The list includes traditional seniors, as well as seniors with eligibility remaining due to COVID-19's missed 2020 season, and other graduates who have completed their degrees early and decided to move on from their football careers:
#1 Preston Piltoff, CB, Delray Beach, Fla.
#3 Jake Richardson, DE, Kansas City, Mo.
#4 Gabe Nkumu, LB, Iowa City, Iowa
#7 Kevin Ventura-Cortes, TE, Anaheim, Calif.
#12 Opi Aghenu, LB, St. Paul, Minn.
#14 Jake Shepley, WR, Burnsville, Minn.
#15 Reese Haywood, WR, Bellingham, Wash.
#16 Jovon Sewell, CB, Pittsburg, Calif.
#21 Lorenzo Kendricks, CB, Cincinnati, Ohio
#26 Dalton Smerchek, LB, Casco, Wis.
#34 Ethan Falaniko, RB, Honolulu, Hawaii
#38 Foster Conzet, LB, Plymouth, Minn.
#54 Sirach Stewart, LB, Miami, Fla.
#57 Samuel Barnack, LB, Lonsdale, Minn.
#67 Matthew Montgomery, OG, Dassel, Minn.
#69 Adam Cook, OT, New Hope, Minn.
#72 Robert Kraklow, OT, Mukwonago, Wis.
#73 Shawn Aarhus, DT, Benson, Minn.
#86 Luke Shepherd, TE, Grayslake, Ill.
Coach Alain Yang, White Bear Lake, Minn.