ST. PAUL, Minn. – The tone was set from the opening drive, as Concordia-St. Paul fumbled on its first offensive play, setting up a short field for Southwest Minnesota State. It was the first of four turnovers, three fumbles and an interception, as Concordia (1-3 NSIC) fell 34-24 to SMSU (1-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
Concordia returns to the road next Saturday for a 2 p.m. kickoff at #20 Minnesota State for the Mavericks' homecoming game at Blakeslee Stadium.
 
The Mustangs were opportunistic with a 14-0 edge in points off turnovers, and they pulled their biggest play following their only offensive turnover in the fourth quarter.
 
On a 4^th-and-1 from their own 29-yard line, SMSU elected to go for it and fumbled with Concordia defensive back Jovon Sewell recovering to give CSP the ball at the SMSU 26-yard line with 11:33 to play and trailing 20-17.

Two plays later, the Mustangs returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown and a 10-point lead. Concordia fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, their fourth turnover and second in as many touches.
 
After Concordia turned the ball over on the first play and the Mustangs scored on their opening drive, the Golden Bears settled in and dominated the rest of the half.
 
With SMSU pinning Concordia on its own 2-yard line midway through the first quarter, the Golden Bears embarked on their longest drive of the season, a 15-play, 91-yard drive ended with a 24-yard field goal by freshman kicker Sam Henson.
 
The drive was sparked by a 42-yard connection from Conner Cordts to Mason Van Zeeland on the second play of the drive, with Cordts taking advantage of a free play when SMSU jumped offside.
 
After the defense held SMSU to a field goal, the Golden Bears turned the ball over on the ensuing kickoff but the defense held strong and forced a missed Mustang field goal to keep the game 10-3.
 
With the ball back, Cordts went back to work, showing strong poise in his fourth career start, hitting Jake Shepley deep down the right sideline on a play action for a 49-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10-10 with under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
 
Cordts was superb early, completing nine of his first 12 passes for 144 yards and the Shepley touchdown.
 
He wasn't done, following it up later in the quarter by engineering a 13-play, 83-yard drive spanning 5:48, capped with an 18-yard touchdown pass to freshman Jaheim Arnold, who fought his way into the end zone after hauling in the pass from Cordts inside the 5-yard line. The touchdown gave Concordia a 17-10 lead with 25 seconds to play in the half.
 
In the first half, Cordts completed 15-of-20 for 193 yards and two touchdowns, finding seven different targets. He was 4-of-4 passing on third downs, converting three first downs and setting up a 4^th-and-1 for a short conversion on the other.
 
Concordia ended the half with a 272 to 94 advantage in total offense with a dominant pass game advantage on both sides of the ball. Concordia's secondary held two SMSU quarterbacks to combined 1-of-7 passing for -4 yards in the half.
 
In the second half, the Mustangs came out firing with three straight pass attempts including a 53-yard touchdown on a 4-play scoring drive to tie the game at 17 early in the third quarter.
 
SMSU tacked on a field goal to take the 20-17 lead later in the third quarter, with SMSU using the pick-six with 10:43 in the fourth and a 56-yard touchdown run by Jesse Sherwood to pull away with 5:33 left in the game for a 34-17 lead.
 
The interception for Cordts was the first of his career, going 111 passes to start his career without being intercepted.
 
He added another touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter with another strong drive by the CSP offense, going 86 yards on 12 plays in 4:05 with Cordts finding Shepley for a second touchdown from 11 yards.
 
Cordts finished the day completing 22-of-33 for 260 yards and three touchdowns and added 41 rushing yards on nine attempts. He was 6-of-7 on third downs with four first down conversions, a touchdown and setting up a 4^th-and-short situation.
 
Shepley had three catches for 66 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He was one of seven CSP receivers to catch at least two passes in the game, with eight getting targeted. Isaiah Koran led the team with nine catches for 78 yards while Van Zeeland (2-53) and Arnold (2-45, TD) each had impact receptions.
 
The running game for Concordia was solid, churning out a season-high 159 yards on the ground on 35 attempts. The run game was balanced and led by freshman Jaylin Richardson with 10 carries for 44 yards while Lajuan Preston added seven carries for 43 yards and Brian Lankford-Johnson had six carries for 20 yards.
 
Defensively, SMSU had a strong rushing day with 241 yards on 47 attempts led by Sherwood's 19 carries for 178 yards and 56 yard touchdown run.
 
Aside from a 53-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, SMSU didn't have an aerial attack. Andrew Haidet completed 5-of-6 for 70 yards in the game and added only two rushing yards and a fumble. Steven Nava played nearly as much as Haidet in the first half, but didn't complete a pass in six attempts.
 
Concordia's defense was led by Rhett Sheehan, Andrew Egnarski and Dalton Smerchek with seven tackles each.

The top-ranked punter in the league, Parker Dahlman had another strong day with a 42.8 punting average on four punts with a long of 47 and one inside the 20, and Henson converted his only field goal attempt from 24 yards and made all three PATs and added a kickoff touchback.