MOORHEAD, Minn. – On a sunny November afternoon with temperatures approaching 50 degrees in northwestern Minnesota, Concordia-St. Paul (0-10 NSIC, 0-5 North) came up one point short in a 21-20 loss at MSU Moorhead (4-6 NSIC, 3-3 North) at Nemzek Stadium.
 
Concordia will close out the 2022 season at home for senior day next Saturday with a noon kickoff against Minot State (1-9 NSIC, 1-4 North) at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
The 1-point margin was Concordia's first one-point loss since the 2019 season, falling by the same score at Augustana, while also pulling out a 24-23 overtime win over Bemidji State at home during the same season.
 
Concordia's defense was able to get after the Dragons in the backfield, compiling a season-high eight team sacks despite entering play with just five sacks on the season in the previous nine games.
 
Redshirt freshman Javon Jones had his breakout performance with 3.5 sacks while sophomore Koffi Gbekle added a pair of sacks.
 
The Golden Bears compiled 11.0 tackles for loss, as well, with senior Luke Dunsmoor registering 2.0 TFLs, a sack and six total tackles. Overall, the defensive front picked up 9.0 TFLs and 8.0 sacks to keep the Dragons off-balance offensively.
 
With the defensive line performing well, junior linebacker Andrew Egnarski was able to tally 11 more tackles, out-pacing his season average of 10.9 per game which was the seventh-ranked tackle rate in the country entering play. He now has 87 total tackles in eight games on the season and added a fumble recovery.
 
Offensively, the Golden Bears out-rushed the Dragons 140 to 102 and allowed only one sack and three tackles for loss playing behind the veteran-laden offensive line. Gayflor Flomo led the CSP run game with 17 carries for 78 yards and wasn't tackled for a loss in the contest.
 
Sophomore quarterback Conner Cordts topped 300 yards of total offense, completing 24-42 for 260 yards and a touchdown, adding 13-50 on the ground with a rushing touchdown.
 
While he targeted eight different options in the pass game, he looked to Troy Ellison for a game-high 11 targets and seven completions as the redshirt freshman dashed past the Dragons for 104 yards for CSP's first 100-yard receiving game of the year. Ellison's day was highlighted by a 75-yard touchdown with 3:50 to play in the third quarter to cut a 21-7 Dragons lead to 21-14.
 
The 104 yards for Ellison is CSP's first 100-yard receiving game since Jake Tanner in the 2019 finale with 8-103 against Winona State. Ellison compiled a career-high 158 all-purpose yards in the game, adding 11 on the ground and 43 on kickoff returns.
 
The Cordts-to-Ellison connection was Ellison's third TD grab of the season and the team's second drive on the year that was one play for 75 yards and a touchdown, tying for the longest play of the season with Cordts-to-Joey Farley in week three against Sioux Falls.
 
While Ellison's long touchdown from Cordts allowed the Golden Bears to switch the momentum late in the game, it was freshman running back Daniel Hornacek who started the scoring for CSP with his first career rushing touchdown early in the third quarter from one yard out, tying the game at seven.
 
Less than five minutes after the Cordts-Ellison score, the Golden Bears struck again, using the pass rush to pick up a pair of sacks on 2^nd-and-10 and 3^rd-and-11 to force a quick MSUM three-and-out with the Dragons punting out of their own end zone, setting up CSP with field position at the 30-yard line.
 
Seven plays later, Cordts scampered in for the touchdown, and despite the missed PAT, the Golden Bears had life in the fourth quarter, trailing by a point with over 14 minutes to play.
 
Concordia's defense continued to perform in the fourth, allowing just a pair of first downs on MSUM's three fourth-quarter possessions, forcing three Dragon punts.
 
The Golden Bears stalled out at the 50 and punted from their own 33-yard line on their next two drives before taking over at their own 20-yard line with 2:48 to play, still down a point.
 
On the final drive, Cordts completed 5-of-6 for 52 yards including a 23-yard hookup with Nathan Gimza to push CSP near midfield and a 15-yard connection on 4^th-and-4 from the MSUM 46 to Jack Munsterteiger, moving to the Dragon 31-yard line.
 
Cordts also added 18 rushing yards on three keepers on the possession, which added up to an 11-play, 71-yard drive for a 26-yard game-winning field goal attempt that was off the mark with four seconds to play.
 
While the Golden Bears had a chance to win in the end, their final snap was not the only factor in the loss, as CSP's offense wasn't able to push any points across in the first half against a Dragon defense that had been yielding 32.0 points and 416.9 yards per game to the opposition entering play.
 
While Concordia's offense was slow out of the gates, the defense responded in a big way, as CSP out-gained MSUM with 20 plays for 69 yards in the first quarter to MSUM's 14 plays for 40 yards including a 10:04 to 4:56 first quarter time of possession edge.
 
In the final tally, Concordia out-gained the Dragons 400-394 in total offense and converted 2-of-3 trips to the red zone for touchdowns compared to MSUM's 2-of-4. Concordia held MSUM to 6-of-19 on third downs, while CSP managed to convert just 3-of-15 on third down, but overcame that with 2-of-3 on fourth down. The Dragons were 2-of-4 on fourth down including a 4^th-and-goal touchdown from 2-yards out for their first touchdown late in the second quarter.
 
Concordia's special teams were led by punter Parker Dahlman, who had a busy day with eight punts for a 37.8 average, a long of 60 yards with two inside the 20-yard line.

Jack Strand led the Dragon offense by completing 23-of-41 for 292 yards and three touchdowns despite taking eight sacks. He connected with Gage Florence six times for 61 yards, both well under his season averages which put him among the nation's top wide receivers. Luke Imdieke rolled up 98 rushing yards on 15 carries while Hayden Boll had 13-45 on the ground for the Dragons.