ST. PAUL, Minn. – On a hot and sunny Thursday evening at Sea Foam Stadium, the Concordia-St. Paul football team (0-1) saw #25 Augustana (1-0) pull away late to hand the Golden Bears a 28-14 loss in the season opener at Sea Foam Stadium.
It was a scoreless first quarter with Concordia's secondary playing a big role as sophomore safety
Cyrus McClure had a pair of interceptions, the first coming off of a tipped pass by
McKinley Egland-Young on Augustana's opening drive. The secondary played a big role all evening, as CSP held Augustana to 62 passing yards on 7-14 completions in Casey Bauman's first start with the club.
After seeing the Vikings take a 14-0 lead with 2:36 to go in the first half on a Jack Fisher 11 yard touchdown grab, the Golden Bears marched down the field for an eight-play, 68-yard drive highlighted by a
Jaheim Arnold 34 yard grab from
Conner Cordts and capped it off with a two yard
Gayflor Flomo touchdown run to give the home team the momentum heading into the locker room.
Concordia carried that momentum into the second half as they went 79 yards on seven plays on the opening drive as
Drew Enke pulled down wrestled the ball away from an Augie defender for a 36 yard touchdown to even the score at 14-14.
The Golden Bears quickly got the ball back with a chance to take the lead as they forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, but the Viking defense bore down from there as they held CSP off the board the rest of the way.
Touchdowns from Jared Epperson and Matt Francis midway through the third quarter and early in the fourth, respectively, gave Augustana the decisive edge as the guests secured a 28-14 victory on the opening night of the season.
Jaylin Richardson tallied 89 total yards as he paced the squad in both receiving and rushing, picking up 59 yards on five catches through the air and 30 yards on 11 carries on the ground.
Brayden Hilgemann tied for the team lead with eight tackles (one for a loss) while he also registered a sack on the night. He was joined by
Rhett Sheehan with eight tackles, including two for loss while
Caden Baarts also had an eight tackle performance.
Conner Cordts completed 13-21 for 167 and a touchdown through the air before
Bryce Sievers added five completions on 10 attempts for 31 yards in relief in the fourth quarter. The sophomore signal callers combined to dispurse the ball to seven different receivers, targeting eight.
Overall, Augustana finished with 320 yards of total offense to Concordia's 271, as Concordia did its damage primarily through the air (203 yards) while Augustana used the ground game (258 yards).
Jarod Epperson led the Vikings with 18 carries for 109 yards and a score while Bauman added 12-68 rushing with a touchdown. NSIC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Eli Weber matched McClure's two interceptions and added a pass breakup to lead the Viking defense.
The Golden Bears will look to get into the win column on the road next weekend as they travel to Southwest Minnesota State (0-1). Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sept. 10 in Marshall, Minnesota.
