ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, Concordia-St. Paul (0-8 NSIC, 0-3 North) will host the University of Mary (1-7 NSIC, 1-2 North) in an NSIC North Division contest at Sea Foam Stadium with a noon kickoff.

The game is the program's annual CSP Staff & Faculty Aprpeciation Day, with each member of the team selecting a faculty or staff member on campus to recognize for their role in helping them have a positive experience at Concordia. The staff and faculty members able to attend will be honored at halftime, and were personally invited to attend the game by the respective football player.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Saturday at noon is forecast for a temperature of 59 degrees at kickoff with sunny conditions and a south wind blowing left to right when viewing the game from the main grandstand, with temperatures warming to 65 by 3 p.m. and winds slightly shifting to SSW by game's end.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and 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.
 
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.

LISTEN TO THE COACHES SHOW
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a fourth season, 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.

The show generally airs live on Friday nights and this week's student-athlete features are wide receivers Drew Enke and Joey Farley.

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!

WEEK 9 GAME CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier features rotating team captains each week for the fourth year in a row in 2022. 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 are: sophomore wide receiver Jack Munsterteiger (3x), sophomore guard Elliott Wolfe, senior safety Rhett Sheehan (6x) and senior safety Alex Andrade.

#5 NCAA STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Golden Bears have had a daunting season, with a combined opponent record of 37-19 through eight weeks and CSP has yet meet a club with a losing record.

It adds up to CSP holding the 5th-toughest strength of schedule in Division II football with a past opposition winning percentage of .661 (excluding CSP games). The next closest NSIC team is UMary with the ninth-ranked strength of schedule (35-21, .625).

While unable to put a positive mark in the win column, the Golden Bears have remained competitive into the second half against Augustana (6-2), Southwest Minnesota State (4-4), Minnesota State (6-2), Bemidji State (6-2) and Northern State (5-3)

SERIES HISTORY: UMARY 5, CONCORDIA 4
The Golden Bears and Marauders will meet for the 10th time dating back to the 2006 season when the programs squared off for the first time in Bismarck in the only non-conference meeting between the teams, with UMary joining the NSIC in 2007.

Last year in Bismarck, UMary broke a 4-4 tie in the series with a 42-17 win in week nine, and the Golden Bears are 1-3 all-time in four prior contests played at home against the Marauders.

CSP has won two of the last three contests with the Marauders as head coach Shannon Currier holds a 2-1 record against UMary in his career at Concordia, and coached CSP to a shutout win (17-0) in his only home game against UMary in 2016, his first back with the program since the 2003 season.

This will be UMary's fourth visit to Sea Foam Stadium, previously playing at CSP's new stadium in 2009, 2012 and 2016.

LAST MEETING, 2021: UMARY 42, CONCORDIA 17
Although the host Marauders scored first and led 7-0 at the quarter break, Concordia came back with a strong second quarter as freshman Daimarion Nelson scored his first career rushing touchdown at the goal line, and Sam Henson followed with a 48-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead with 7:29 to play in the second.

The Marauders scored two more touchdowns before halftime including one with 16 seconds to play, and added two more third quarter touchdowns for a 35-10 lead.

In the fourth, freshman quarterback Bryce Sievers, making his first career start and becoming the eighth freshman to start at QB in Concordia's Division II-era (1999-present), completed a 7-yard touchdown to Mason Van Zeeland.

Sievers finished the game 22-51 for 173 yards and a TD.

Wide receiver Joey Farley had 10 receptions on 19 targets for 53 yards while Van Zeeland had 4-78 receiving including a 31-yard catch on a fake punt from Parker Dahlman.

In addition to his fake punt completion, Dahlman had a big day punting, averaging 45.8 yards on four punts with a long of 61 and one inside the 20.

On defense, Richard Ficociello had a sack in a third-straight game, adding 2.0 TFLs and a forced fumble. Rhett Sheehan led the team with seven tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.

The Marauders' Logan Nelson completed 22-31 for 332 yards and four TDs and a rushing TD, connecting with Danny Kittner for 11-179 and a TD and Luke Little 5-93 and two TDs.

LAST WEEK: NORTHERN STATE 49, CONCORDIA 20
The Golden Bears had opportunities to run with the Wolves last Saturday in Aberdeen, but costly turnovers and big plays proved too much to overcome.

The Concordia defense came up with a 3-and-out on the game's opening drive, with senior returner Joey Farley returning the first punt 17 yards to the 50 yard line. A 34-yard pass from Conner Cordts to Drew Enke on CSP's first play from scrimmage put the Golden Bears in the red zone, poised to grab the game's first lead.

But a fumble two plays later forced CSP to come up empty in the red zone.

The Wolves would score twice in the first quarter on passes of 42 and 50 yards before CSP scored first in the second quarter after a long Cordts pass to Nathan Gimza allowed Cordts to surge in on the next play from the goal line.

The Wolves scored two more long touchdowns in response, passes of 73 and 20 yards, the 20 yard TD being their shortest TD of the seven they'd score in the contest.

Late in the first half, the Golden Bears executed in the 2-minute offense as Cordts connected with Troy Ellison for an 8-yard touchdown with 14 seconds to play.

Despite a pair of first half turnovers and the Wolves securing an onside kick after their first TD, setting up their second score, the late first half TD gave CSP added life.

CSP opened with the ball in the third quarter trailing 28-13, but were unable to continue the momentum, with NSU responding with a long drive deep into CSP territory.

Sixth-year senior Rhett Sheehan kept Concordia alive with an interception near the goal line, returning it 13 yards to give CSP's offense some breathing room deep in its own territory.

The Golden Bears responded with a long drive of their own, only to have the Wolves intercept a pass on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line to prevent CSP from coming within a one score margin in the third quarter.

The Wolves then buried the Golden Bears with an 80-yard TD pass with 1:41 to play in the third quarter, extending the lead with a 37-yard TD strike early in the fourth.

Cordts found sophomore Jaheim Arnold from 32-yards out with 7:49 to play in the fourth quarter, but despite three second half turnovers from Sheehan (2 INTs & 1 FR), the Wolves continued to score from distance, adding a 57-yard TD run with under five minutes to play.

Northern State's six touchdown passes totaled 302 yards with three of them coming on 3rd-and-6 or longer, with the seventh TD being a 57-yard running play.
Concordia racked up 511 yards of total offense, their highest total since week three of 2016 in a 52-49 shootout loss at home to Minnesota Duluth.

The big offensive day came at the expense of one of the nation's top defenses as the Wolves averaged 259.6 yards per game entering the day, 12th in the nation. The CSP offensive line allowed no sacks and 3.0 TFLs to a defense averaging 4.14 sacks (4th DII) and 9.7 TFLs (5th DII).

Cordts had his second career 300-yard passing day with a career-high 310 yards (22-47) with two passing TDs while adding 8-34 rushing with a rushing TD.

He found Enke four times for a season-high 83 yards and Gimza four times for 75 yards.

Sophomore running back Jaylin Richardson topped 100 combined yards for the fourth time this season on 9-66 rushing and 3-53 receiving with a long run of 27 and long catch of 25 yards.

While Sheehan had three turnovers, junior linebacker Andrew Egnarski led the defense with 10 tackles and had the forced fumble on Sheehan's recovery.

Farley finished with 3-37 on punt returns and 5-25 receiving while the kick return game was also productive with Gayflor Flomo averaging over 30 yards on three kickoff returns with a long of 55 and Jaire Moore adding a 27-yard return as CSP had 154 combined return yards in the game.

Sophomore punter Parker Dahlman added a 42.4 yard punt average on four punts with two inside the 20 and a long of 54 yards.

NOTES ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
The Marauders have faced a schedule nearly as tough as Concordia's, currently rated as the ninth-hardest in the nation with opponent winning percentage of .625 (35-21) excluding results against UMary while CSP has had the fifth-ranked strength of schedule at .661 (37-19).

UMary scored its lone of the season in week five, a 27-26 overtime victory at home over Northern State in their first week of NSIC North Division play. The Marauders have also had a  number of competitive losses against Wayne State (28-33), at Winona State (17-25), Southwest Minnesota State (28-31), at Minnesota State (28-31) and against MSU Moorhead (38-40), racking up five losses by a one-score margin.

They are led by Danny Kittner, a wide receiver and returner who is seventh in the nation with 166.1 all-purpose yards per game, second in the NSIC. Kittner has racked up 515 combined return yards, 14th in the country while his 833 receiving yards is ninth in the nation, drawing 8.9 receptions per game which is second in Division II football.

Kittner, the reigning NSIC Special Teams Player of the Week, had a school record 381 all-purpose yards last week while setting the NSIC career records for receptions (272) and receiving yards (3,498).

While Kittner leads the team with 71-833 receiving and five TDs, Collin Gapen has found the end zone a team-high six times on 26-279 receiving.

Logan Nelson is the veteran quarterback, ranking fourth in the NSIC with 204.3 yards per game, completing 60.0 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions while backup Jesse Forknell has also completed 34-57 (59.6%) for 442 yards, four TDs and one INT.

On the ground, Dave Small is the league's sixth leading rusher with 558 yards on 4.4 per carry with seven touchdowns, adding 13-105 receiving and another touchdown, leading the team in scoring.

Devyn Charles leads UMary's defense with the fifth-most tackles in the NSIC (65) while ranking seventh with 8.5 TFLs and adding 3.0 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles. Ty'Rhae Gibson has a team-high three INTs with six pass breakups.