ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul (3-6, 2-6 NSIC) topped 200 rushing yards and held the 32^nd-ranked Northern State (4-5, 4-5 NSIC) passing offense to 138 yards while securing six sacks in a 20-14 win on a cold, cloudy Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
The win clinches at least a .500 season at home for Concordia, who improves to 3-2 at Sea Foam Stadium on the year. The Golden Bears hit the road next Saturday against #25 Minnesota Duluth (7-2, 6-2 NSIC) in their final road game of the year, and return home for senior day in two weeks to face Wayne State (6-3, 5-3 NSIC) for a noon kickoff.
 
The win snaps a 6-game skid against the Wolves as Concordia picked up its first win against Northern State since 2011. The Golden Bears are now 8-10 all-time against NSU and 6-4 at home against the Wolves. Concordia improves to 18-0 when limiting opponents to under 20 points, and 22-21 when scoring at least points at Sea Foam Stadium (2009-present).
 
While it wasn't a particularly windy day at Sea Foam Stadium, the 5-to-10 variable wind blowing from left to right from the main grandstand had a bite, and with Concordia winning the coin toss and elected to play the wind, their game plan played right into the conditions.
 
With NSU receiving, Concordia exploited its strategy immediately, as senior graduate transfer kicker Payton Eue, a transfer from Northern State where he holds numerous kicking records, executed for a touchback.
 
The defense promptly responded, picking up one of its six sacks and getting a pass breakup for a 3-and-out and forcing a punt.
 
The offense then went to work, remaining consistent with its strategy on opening drives by hitting the ground game. Entering play, CSP averaged 6.3 run plays on opening drives while compiling an average of 8.6 plays for 49.8 yards, 4:33 of clock and 3.4 points per opening drive.
 
Junior running back Jaylin Richardson answered the call, gashing the Wolves for 18 and 13 yards on the first two plays. Concordia marched 68 yards on eight plays, seven of those coming on the ground. The lone exception was a 4-yard pass on 4^th-and-2 from the NSU 29-yard line as Conner Cordts found Drew Enke for a first down on the far sideline. On the next play, Richardson took his fifth run of the drive 16 more yards into the red zone, setting up a 9-yard touchdown run by Daniel Hornacek, taking 4:38 off the clock and giving CSP a 7-0 lead.
 
Richardson had three runs of 13-plus yards on the opening drive, getting five carries for 51 yards on his way to 24 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown, his fifth 100-yard rushing day of the year.
 
He led a ground game that compiled 214 yards on 46 rushing attempts against the Wolves, and the fourth down conversion was also part of Concordia setting the tone from the opening drive, as CSP was 4-4 on the day on fourth down.
 
When the game flipped to the second quarter, the Wolves used the slight wind to aid in gaining some momentum, scoring on drives of 5:33 (12-71) early in the quarter to tie the game and 4:53 (10-70) to take a 14-7 lead with just under five minutes to play in the half.
 
Northern's go-ahead scoring drive was set-up by the game's first turnover, an interception following a snap over the head of Cordts. NSU would lead the turnover margin 1-0 for the first three quarters.
 
Concordia responded with a strong drive of its own, including a pair of third down conversions, setting up a double-pass from wide receiver Troy Ellison to tight end EJ Stoffel for 39 yards into the red zone. Two plays later, Richardson found the end zone on a 2-yard plunge to tie the game at 14 with 23 seconds left in the half.
 
In the second half, Eue buried the Wolves, converting a pair of field goals that each capped off long drives, his first on the opening drive of the third quarter from 29 yards out on an 11-play, 64-yard drive covering 5:17 and the second with 14:50 to play in the fourth quarter following a 15-play, 56-yard drive that drained 7:34 off the clock.
 
Following the Eue field goal, Concordia's opportunistic defense came alive, with safety Anthony Ukofia the beneficiary of his teammate's active hands, recovering a fumble forced by Zantavious Graham with 12:57 to play, and intercepting a pass that was tipped by safety Cyrus McClure with 8:14 to play on back-to-back drives. It's the second time this season that Ukofia intercepted a pass off of a McClure breakup, both instances occurring in CSP victories.
 
The Wolves continued to stay alive, though, taking possession on their own 7-yard line with 2:37 to play. Northern State was able to drive deep into Concordia's red zone, getting to the 11-yard line with less than 15 seconds to play. Following a spike to kill the clock, Concordia's secondary held up, forcing three straight incomplete passes to seal the victory as time expired.
 
The Concordia defense held Northern State scoreless in the second half, and limited an offense that averaged over 400 yards per game to just 250 yards, and the 32^nd-ranked passing offense in the country had just 138 yards on 20 team passing attempts, while CSP's defensive front racked up six sacks by seven different players led by Ryan Martin's 1.5 sacks.
 
Concordia's corners did their job containing two of the top receivers in the country, holding Dewaylon Ingram to 5-89 and Dakota Larson to 2-22, while the run defense held Northern State to 112 rushing yards at 3.5 per carry.

Eue (2-3 FG, 2-2 PAT, 8 pts) wasn't the only former Wolves player to have a strong day against his former team as NSU transfer defensive tackle Koffi Gbekle, now in his second year at CSP, had six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry. Ben Rehl led the defense with eight tackles while defensive tackle Brad Walker added seven stops. Three of the four players on the defense who had at least six tackles were defensive linemen, with Kendis Ledbetter adding six stops including a half sack.
 
The Golden Bear offensive line turned in another strong performance, allowing just one sack and although NSU had five tackles for loss, they accounted for just nine lost yards. They created a push up front that led to a 4.7 team rushing average and included a key fourth quarter 4^th-and-1 "tush-push" for Cordts, allowing nearly three additional minutes to be taken off the clock late in the fourth quarter.
 
Cordts finished the day completing 11-19 for 111 yards and a long of 36, adding 11-30 on the ground. Ellison led the receivers with 4-36 including 20 yards after the catch and Peter Udoibok had a team-high 46 receiving yards including a big 36-yard haul early in the third quarter to set up the go-ahead field goal by Eue.
 
Together, the offense accumulated 364 total yards and had a 37:36 time of possession as the defense only had to be on the field for 22:24. Nowhere was that more evident than the third quarter, as CSP had the ball for 12:41 to NSU's 2:19 with NSU going 3-and-out on their only possession of the quarter.
 
On Northern State's first three possessions of the second half, they picked up only 48 yards on 10 plays, and with the offense controlling the ball, the Wolves only had one additional possession, with their fourth time with the ball coming up empty on downs as the game ended.