ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday at noon, Concordia-St. Paul (1-2 NSIC) hosts Southwest Minnesota State (0-3 NSIC) for Military Appreciation Day at Sea Foam Stadium.

CSP Football would like to honor all our nation's past, present, and future heroes. Together we recognize those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Let us not forget those who have gone before, defending liberty, rendering aid to the helpless, and courageously fighting on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves. We salute you.

HONORARY CAPTAINS FOR MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY
The Concordia football team is proud to welcome members of the military as honorary game captains today:
Captain Commander David Dahl
CSP veteran Ben Wadsworth
CSP veteran Juan Mendoza
Lieutenant Joe Eggimann
Chief Petty Officer Jeron Ford
Petty Officer Second Class Jason Halpern
Petty Officer Second Class Trevor Swanson

The National Guard,  Marines Corps, and U.S. Navy will have information booths on the concourse area of Sea Foam Stadium. Also in attendance today to present our nation's colors is North St. Paul's American Legion 39.

Saturday's forecast features a high of 67 degrees with intervals of clouds and sunshine and a west wind at 13 miles per hour with minimal chance of precipitation.

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.

The first two home games 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].

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 13, SMSU10
After dropping the first three meetings to SMSU in 1979, 1980 and CSP's first year of DII football in 1999, Concordia took control of the series when head coach Shannon Currier became head coach in 2000 as Currier's Golden Bears won all four meetings in his first tenure between 2000 and 2003, starting a six game winning streak in the series.

SMSU has not led in the series since, although it's been knotted at 6-6 and 10-10 before CSP's recent three game win streak tipped it back in the Golden Bears' favor.

Concordia is 7-1 against the Mustangs under Coach Currier, only tripping up in 2016 in Currier's first year back with the program.

The Golden Bears and Mustangs have split eight games played in St. Paul while CSP is 2-1 against SMSU at Sea Foam Stadium including two wins in a row on campus in 2017 and 2019.

LAST MEETING, 2019: CONCORDIA 24, SMSU 14
Concordia's nationally-prominent defensive players sparked the Golden Bear win in the last meeting, as All-American and future NFL Draft Pick Chris Garrett had three sacks while setting the NCAA Division II career record with 15 forced fumbles.

In the secondary, cornerback Preston Piltoff had a pair of interceptions, running one back 92 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He also had three pass breakups and eight tackles.

On the play before Piltoff's pick-six, SMSU seemingly scored a touchdown, which with the PAT would have made it 17-14. But a taunting penalty on SMSU prior to the TD allowed the Golden Bears to force the turnover, with Piltoff's TD giving CSP a 24-7 lead with 9:16 to play in the game.

Piltoff and Garrett forced three total turnovers in the victory, which secured Concordia's first 4-win home season at Sea Foam Stadium, finishing the year 4-2 on campus.

The win came in Concorida's 500th game as a program and secured the 19th winning season in program history, dating back to 1969 as the Golden Bears improved to 6-4.

Concordia rushed for 221 yards held SMSU to 71 yards on 35 carries. The dominant ground effort offset SMSU's passing advantage as the Mustangs passed for 397 yards to CSP's 65.

Shaq Johnson led the ground game with 132 yards on 24 carries with a rushing touchdown. He added 4-23 through the air.

Quarterback Maxon Hutton, coming off an injury the previous week, played the role of game manager to perfection, completing 10-of-14 for 65 yards and adding 14-27 rushing with a TD.

SMSU QB Boyer Bouman completed 33-53 for 397 yards and a TD but was intercepted twice and sacked seven times. Daniel Davis had 15 catches for 221 yards.

Although SMSU had the yardage advantage, CSP held an average starting field position at the 42 yard line, compared to SMSU's at the 21.

LAST WEEK: SIOUX FALLS 50, CONCORDIA 14
On a windy Saturday in South Dakota, the coin toss played a key factor in how the start of the game between Concordia and Sioux Falls unfolded. The host Cougars won the toss and elected to play the wind, setting up a pair of short punts and a blocked punt in the first quarter.

The Cougars used the short fields to claim a 17-0 first quarter lead. Following the quarter flip, freshman punter Parker Dahlman blasted a 69 yard punt to pin the Cougars at the 6-yard line with CSP's defense holding the Cougars and forcing a 10-yard punt by USF's punter.

Using the short field to its benefit, freshman quarterback Conner Cordts connected with Isaiah Koran for a 30-yard pass inside the 5-yard line, setting up a short Jaylin Richardson TD run.

But the Cougar rushing attack added another score, and the Golden Bears weren't able to handle the ensuing kickoff, with USF recovering and scoring again, to put the game nearly out of reach, 31-7 in the second quarter and negating CSP's wind advantage.

Cordts finished the day 9-20 for 161 yards and a 65-yard TD pass to Nathan Gimza and Jaylin Richardson led the ground game with 25 yards on eight carries and a score.

Gimza finished with two catches for 81 yards and the TD while Koran had six catches for 63 yards.

USF running back Thuro Reisdorfer led the way with 14 carries for 160 yards and three touchdowns while Landon Freeman added 19 carries for 105 yards and a score with USF scoring five times on the ground.

USF QB Adam Mullen completed 18-26 for 157 yards and a TD with Dominic Pegley the top threat with five catches for 62 yards and a TD.

Dahlman finished with a big final line, averaging 50.2 on six punts with a long of 77, three inside the 20 and four punts of at least 50 yards. CSP kicker Sam Henson also blasted three touchbacks on four kickoffs for CSP's special teams.

The defense was led by Preston Piltoff and Foster Conzet's nine tackles apiece while Gabe Nkumu added seven with a tackle for loss. Richard Ficociello led the defensive line with four solo tackles, two for loss and a sack.