MANKATO, Minn. - Despite an ideal start to a road matchup against a top-five team in the country, Concordia-St. Paul (1-3, 0-3 NSIC) couldn't keep up with #5 Minnesota State (4-0, 4-0 NSIC), falling 42-10 at Blakeslee Stadium on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Concordia returns home to Sea Foam Stadium for the next two weeks, where they've won two of their last three at home, hosting UMary (0-4, 0-4 NSIC) next Saturday with a noon kickoff. In two weeks, CSP will host its homecoming game against Sioux Falls.

The game plan was strong for the visiting Golden Bears, who aimed to slow the pace of play against one of the top teams in the country on their home field. Concordia consumed the first quarter, using its physical front to push the Mavericks downfield. Concordia went 58 yards in 18 plays, taking 10:39 off the clock while picking up three third downs and a fourth down, setting up a 39-yard field goal by Payton Eue for the lead late in the first quarter.

The Golden Bears, who last week used the same strategy with 13 straight run plays to march for a 75-yard touchdown drive against Augustana, would run the ball 12 times on its opening drive today, picking up 34 yards as junior running back Jaylin Richardson got the ball seven times for 22 yards to set the tone.

Junior quarterback Conner Cordts also completed 4-of-5 passes on the drive including a 10-yard completion to Rene Zaldivar to pick up a 3rd-and-4 from the MSU 34.

Richardson finished the day with 15 carries for 54 yards while adding three catches for 25 yards. Sophomore Daniel Hornacek changed the pace with seven carries for 27 yards while quarterbacks Cordts and Jackson Compton each had 23 rushing yards.

On the game, Concordia rushed 35 times for 120 yards against the Mavericks, helping the Golden Bears pick up 20 first downs, edging MSU by one. CSP was also 8-of-17 on third down and 3-of-4 on fourth down.

While CSP continued to see success through the ground game, CSP's passing game put up more yards (155) than MSU (120) in the contest.

The early 3-0 lead and slow pace by the Golden Bears would quickly evaporate, though, as Minnesota State answered with an 8-play, 75-yard scoring drive for a touchdown just before the first quarter came to a close.

Concordia's game plan held the Mavericks to just one possession and eight offensive plays in the first quarter.

But MSU would capitalize on short fields twice in the second quarter, as their next two scoring drives combined for just four more yards than their opening drive, picking up touchdowns on drives of 35 and 44 yards following a 55-yard punt return and a defensive stop inside the CSP 10-yard line.

Trailing 21-3 with 1:22 to play before halfitme, the Golden Bears kept fighting back. Although they weren't in a position to run 10-plus minutes off the clock, Concordia shifted gears to the two-minute offense.

Cordts completed 6-of-12 for 66 yards including a pair of third down attempts, hitting tight end Grant Miles for seven yards to convert a 3rd-and-5 from their own 30, before connecting with Richardson for a 13-yard gain to pick up a 3rd-and-10 from the MSU 41, moving the ball to the Maverick 28. He also big pickups to Troy Ellison for 19 yards and Drew Enke for 13 yards, with the Enke reception pushing CSP into the red zone.

On 2nd-and-10 from the MSU 15 yard line and timing ticking down, Cordts' keeper picked up nine yards, getting out of bounds with five seconds to go. An incomplete pass broken up in the end zone, set up a 4th-and-1 from the six, with Cordts finding Ellison for a 6-yard score in the corner of the end zone, making it a 21-10 game at the break.

The Golden Bears out-gained the Mavericks in the second quarter 96-79, and at the half the margin was MSU 154 to 150 with CSP picking up 12 first downs to MSU's eight.

The Maverick offense continued to push the game's momentum in the second half, though as MSU scored on their opening drive of the third quarter in a four minute drive, stopped the Golden Bears on 4th-and-1 from the MSU 40, and scored again on a 3:15 scoring drive to make it a 35-10 game late in the third quarter.

Maverick running back Shen Butler Lawson rushed 12 times for 90 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter on his way to a 25-carry, 199-yard performance with two touchdowns.

In the fourth quarter, quarterback Hayden Ekern put his stamp on the game, pinning CSP deep in its own territory with a 26-yard punt, forcing CSP to punt from out of its own end zone, giving the Mavericks the ball on the CSP 33 yard line.

On the next play, Ekern used his arm for a 33-yard touchdown pass to TreShawn Watson to put the game away.

Ekern completed 8-of-13 for 120 yards and two scores, adding a pair of runs for six yards and a rushing touchdown.

Cordts completed his day around that time of the game, finishing out 12-for-28 for 108 yards and a touchdown, adding 6-23 on the ground. He wasn't sacked, and his only turnover (INT) was not capitalized on for points by MSU.

Ellison was Cordts' top target with six catches for 53 yards and a TD catch as eight different players caught passes and 11 were targeted.

Backup Jackson Compton made his debut, completing 5-of-9 for 47 yards while adding 4-23 on the ground.

Defensively, Machai Campbell topped CSP with six tackles while Ben Rehl added five. Defensive end Blake Siebert added a tackle for loss.

Concordia's defense held an MSU offense piling up 541 yards per game to just 381 yards while the Golden Bears picked up one more first down than MSU (20-19) and held a strong time of possession advantage (32:46 to 27:14).