ST. PAUL, Minn. – On a warm, sunny and breezy Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium, Concordia-St. Paul (1-9 NSIC, 0-5 North) honored its 19 seniors in a 24-3 loss to MSU Moorhead (5-5 NSIC, 3-3 North).
 
The Golden Bears turn the page on the home schedule and will look to pick up the first road win of the year next Saturday with an 11 a.m. kickoff at Minot State (1-8 NSIC, 0-4 North).
 
The Golden Bear defense once again had its hands full against a pass-first NSIC North Division opponent, hosting the fifth-ranked passing offense in the league (274.8 per game), having already played each of the top three passing programs in the league in the last four weeks.
 
Concordia rose to the occasion early, holding the Dragons to just 42 yards on 18 plays in the first quarter including just 36 passing yards despite 6-of-8 passing. CSP's defense also held MSUM to 1-of-5 on third downs and stopped the Dragons on fourth down on the CSP 17 yard line when Kahlil Robinson broke up a 4^th-and-2 pass near the sideline.
 
The result of the strong defensive quarter was a scoreless tie, the fifth time this year that CSP has either led or been tied at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Dragons finally broke through with a short rushing touchdown early in the second quarter, converting a 4^th-and-1 and a 3^rd-and-2 to keep the driving moving.
 
Three plays later, MSUM picked up its second interception at the CSP 40-yard line and scored on a 26-yard pass on the next play to claim a sudden 14-0 lead just over three and a half minutes into the quarter.
 
From there, the Golden Bear defense delivered a three-and-out and then stopped the Dragons on each of their next two possessions to keep the game within reach at 14-0 at the break.
 
The defense issued just 131 yards of total offense in the first half including a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss from sophomore defensive tackle Keegan Larson. While Larson had a pair of first half sacks, it was junior Mark O'Reilly who would add two more sacks in the second half while junior Luke Dunsmoor had a pair of tackles for loss in the game.
 
In the third quarter, the offense started to roll as sophomore linebacker Chandler Dahlquist bruised his way forward for a pair of 5-yard runs to open the drive with freshman quarterback Bryce Sievers scrambling 7-yards for a first down, CSP's second first down of the game.
 
It was the first two of three 5-yard runs by Dahlquist on the drive and the first of two third down conversions by Sievers, who would connect with Mason Van Zeeland for 16 yards on 3^rd-and-4 from the CSP 43 to push the ball into MSUM territory.
 
Dahlquist, who converted to running back prior to week 9 at Minot State, carried 13 times for 21 yards in a strong effort while Sievers led the team's ground game with 24 rushing yards on eight carries which included the three sacks for eight lost yards.
 
Sievers also added a 16-yard pass to freshman Jaheim Arnold two plays later, moving into field goal range where freshman Sam Henson delivered from 41 yards with plenty of distance to spare. It was Henson's third field goal from 40-plus yards on the year, converting 8-of-11 overall.
 
In the third quarter, the Golden Bears out-gained the Dragons with 78 yards of total offense compared to MSUM's 70 as each team produced a field goal in the quarter, keeping the game within reach at 17-3 at the end of three quarters.
 
In the fourth quarter, each team had just two possessions, but the Dragons converted in their trip to the red zone, a 16-yard touchdown pass to complete a 12-play, 80-yard drive most importantly spanning 4:48 of clock time to extend the lead to 24-3 with just 8:18 to play.
 
Concordia answered with a strong drive, with Sievers connecting with Van Zeeland twice for gains of 15 and 16 yards to move into MSUM territory to the 35 yard line with junior wide receiver Isaiah Koran rushing for 13 yards into the red zone at the 11-yard line.
 
Sievers completed 11-of-26 for 116 yards on the day, with five of his completions to Van Zeeland for 61 yards and three to Arnold for 39 yards. He targeted seven different receivers.
 
A completion to redshirt freshman wide receiver Jack Munsterteiger moved the ball to the 3-yard line, the Golden Bears were stopped on 4^th-and-1 from the MSUM 2-yard line, turning it over on downs to the Dragons with just under four minutes left, with MSUM running out the clock on the ensuing drive.
 
The Golden Bears tackling leaders were veterans Andrew Egnarski (11), Dalton Smerchek (9) and Rhett Sheehan (9) with Larson and O'Reilly each adding six and Dunsmoor five.
 
The Dragons were led by quarterback Tommy Falk and wide receiver Grady Bresnahan. Falk completed 12 of his 33 passes to Bresnahan, accounting for 119 of his 274 yards and both Dragon passing scores. Falk completed 33-of-41 and was sacked four times.
 
Luke Imdieke led the Dragon ground game with 11-39 and a touchdown.