MINOT, N.D. – For the first time this season, the Concordia-St. Paul (2-5, 1-5 NSIC) football team was held under 100 rushing yards, something that the Golden Bears were able to achieve at Winona State, at Minnesota State, and at home against Augustana. But in week seven at Minot State (1-6, 1-6 NSIC), the Golden Bears rushed for 44 yards, averaging 1.7 per carry in a 17-10 loss at Herb Parker Stadium.
 
The first of two road games against the Beavers, CSP will head to #15 Bemidji State (5-1, 5-1 NSIC) next Saturday at Chet Anderson Stadium.
 
For the sixth time in seven weeks, Concordia held a lead, this time going ahead in the third quarter when junior punter Parker Dahlman blasted a 61-yard punt that pinned Minot State at its own 12-yard line with a 7-3 lead and 6:39 remaining in the third quarter.
 
On the next play, a Minot State fumble in the backfield was recovered by CSP defensive tackle McKinley Neville at the 6-yard line. And one play later, junior running back Jaylin Richardson muscled his way through the middle into the end zone for a 10-7 lead with 5:10 to play in the third.
 
Dahlman had a standout day, punting six times for a 44.5 average including a pair inside the 20, a pair of fair catches forced and the key long punt of 61 that led to Concordia's lone touchdown.
 
Richardson had to grind for his yardage, finishing with 34 rushing yards on 14 attempts and adding a pair of catches for 30 yards to end up with a respectable 64 total yards.
 
Capitalizing on the Minot State miscue seemed to be a key turning point in the game, as the Beavers opened play by forcing a fumble on the opening kickoff, cashing it in for a touchdown. Concordia responded with a strong opening drive, marching 73 yards in 10 plays while draining 5:11 off the clock. CSP's offense entered play averaging 9.3 plays, 52.6 yards and 4:52 of clock time on its six prior opening drives including points on its last four (three touchdowns, one field goal). Today's drive made it five in a row, with senior kicker Payton Eue converted a 30-yard field goal as he made it 7-of-8 to start his Golden Bear career.
 
But where Minot State was able to capitalize, CSP came up empty. Just a few plays into the second quarter and trailing 7-3, CSP's Keyshawn Pettis blocked a punt that gave Concordia the ball on the Minot 20-yard line, poised to march in and claim the lead. But the Golden Bears went 3-and-out on a drive that included a penalty and a sack, backing Eue up to a 40-yard attempt which would be his second miss of the year.
 
But Concordia's defense was exceptional in the first half, forcing a 3-and-out with Minot State punter Justin Cash hammering a 75-yard punt that bounced, rolled, and was finally downed at the CSP 2-yard line. Undeterred at this point in the contest, the CSP offense responded on its next possession with another CSP-esque drive, clogging the clock for nearly eight minutes (7:49), while moving 66 yards on 16 plays.
 
After moving to the Minot State 23-yard line on a 9-yard Conner Cordts keeper, a sack sandwiched between a pair of incomplete passes forced Eue to attempt a 50-yarder, coming up short and keeping the score at 7-3 with 2:26 to play in the half.
 
Although Eue went 1-3 in the game on his field goal tries, as a Golden Bear he remains a strong 7-10 on the season and his only misses are from 40-plus yards with a pair from 50-plus.
 
Despite trailing 7-3 at the half, Concordia appeared to have the upper hand, holding a 125-65 advantage in total offense as the defense held the Beavers to three first downs in the half. Further, Concordia's ball control limited Minot State to just 23 plays in the first half. In the second quarter, Minot State had just nine plays for 11 yards, going 0-3 on third down on three 3-and-outs, but they held CSP out of the end zone and turned a fumble into the early touchdown to hold the lead.
 
In the third quarter, the offensive output and ball control flipped to Minot State, who had 11:27 of possession in the quarter, compiling 118 rushing yards, 154 yards of total offense, and eight first downs while Concordia went without a first down, going 0-2 on third down, and picked up just 17 yards of total offense.
 
But like Minot State did to Concordia in the first half, Concordia held Minot State from the end zone in the third quarter as the Beavers missed a pair of field goals from 31 and 40 yards, before converting to tie the game at 10-10 from 44 yards out in the final minute of the quarter, while Concordia scored on the 6-yard Richardson run to finally capitalize on a Minot State mistake.
 
It was only fitting in a defensive struggle that the game would come down to the final drive, with Minot State executing a 10-play, 61-yard drive spanning 5:23 that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run that came after CSP committed a roughing the kicker penalty on the previous play, allowing the Beavers to push a 13-10 lead to 17-10 with 2:51 remaining.
 
Although Minot State was tagged with a personal foul after the touchdown, forcing the Beavers to kick from their own 20, a holding play on the ensuing return pushed CSP from starting at their own 34 back to their 24, negating the field position advantage.
 
Down seven, Concordia went to work, picking up a pair of third down conversions, a 3^rd-and-1 from their own 33 and a 3^rd-and-7 from their own 39 as Cordts connected with Troy Ellison for 12 yards into Minot State territory, getting out of bounds with 1:02 left.
 
From there, CSP missed on a pair of deep attempts to Peter Udoibok on first down, and Rene Zaldivar on third down with Cordts intercepted on 4^th-and-9 under duress, with Minot State stripping the ball, Cordts recovering and gathering only to have his throw picked off to seal the contest.
 
In the fourth quarter, Minot State didn't attempt a pass, rushing 17 times for 90 yards, compiling 208 rushing yards on 38 attempts in the second half.
 
Ellison, who had a 10-catch, 85-yard performance in the season-opening 43-20 win over Upper Iowa, added a 9-catch effort today but was bottled up to just 37 yards with 45 of those coming after the catch.
 
Although as a team the Golden Bear ground game struggled to gain traction, the offense welcomed back Jaire Moore to the backfield, who ran at a 4.2 average on six carries, picking up 25 yards.