SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Seeking their third-straight road win, Concordia-St. Paul (2-4, 2-3 NSIC) looked the part early, but ultimately came up short in a 35-21 loss to Sioux Falls (5-2, 4-2 NSIC) on a pleasant Saturday afternoon at Bob Young Field.

A week after playing in windy conditions that featured steady 35-plus with gusts well into the 50mph range in North Dakota, today's game in South Dakota was played with temperatures in the mid 60s and a mild wind between 5-10mph.

Next week, Concordia returns home for a two-straight contests in St. Paul, starting with MSU Moorhead (2-4, 2-3 NSIC) followed by Northern State (3-4, 3-3 NSIC), both with noon kickoffs at Sea Foam Stadium.

Today, Concordia would receive first and immediately began to impose its will on both sides of the ball. Although the offense came up empty on its opening drive, CSP controlled the ball for 16 plays and churned nearly nine and a half minutes off the clock against a USF team that put up 40 points in a 40-36 road win last Saturday at #7 Minnesota State. Concordia converted a pair of third downs and a fourth down to keep the driving moving before ultimately missing a 47-yard field goal try.

The defense would start from the same playbook, making quick work of the explosive Cougar offense with a 3-and-out.

Although CSP's offense would be forced to punt, the Golden Bears picked up another third down conversion and marched back into USF territory. Concordia would posses the ball for 13:16 of the first 15 minutes of play, limiting the Cougars to six yards on four plays in the first quarter.

The momentum carried into the second quarter, as CSP forced another 3-and-out for the Cougars on their second offensive possession, setting the CSP offense up with the ball at its own 34 yard line.

This time, Concordia's offense would execute, picking up two more third down conversions en route to an 11-play, 66-yard drive spanning 7:12 with the longest play of the drive a 13-yard run by Jaylin Richardson, who would eventually jump over the goal line from 1-yard out for the first of two touchdowns.

Richardson led the offense with 86 rushing yards on 22 carries to go with his two-touchdown day.

After the touchdown, Concordia led 7-0 with 6:11 to play in the second quarter, holding a 20:28 to 3:21 margin in time of possession, 9-0 in first downs, 133-14 advantage in total offense, 87-8 in rushing yards and CSP was four of its first seven third down attempts to USF's 0-2, with CSP also picking up one fourth down.

Sioux Falls wouldn't secure a first down until just over five minutes to play in the half, but that provided the spark the host Cougars needed. After the 17-yard pickup on 2nd-and-4 put USF near midfield, two plays later, Cougar quarterback Camden Dean scored from 49 yards on a keeper to tie the game.

Dean had a big day for Sioux Falls, completing 17-22 for 225 yards and a touchdown while adding 6-74 and a pair of rushing touchdowns. He did throw one interception, though, and it would be key, as USF would march down the field into the red zone late in the first half. On 1st-and-10 from the CSP 13-yard line, Dean's pass into the end zone would be tipped by safety Machai Campbell into the diving arms of linebacker Ben Rehl to stop the threat with just 21 seconds to go before the break.

At the half, Concordia still held a sturdy 23:06 to 6:54 margin in time of possession behind 17-75 rushing from Richardson while the team had 107 on the ground on 25 carries.

With the Cougars starting with the ball in the third quarter, Dean went back to work, completing a pair of passes for 17 and 25 yards with Dylan Rudningen scoring from 11 yards out to give Sioux Falls its first lead just 1:41 into the third quarter.

Sophomore quarterback Jackson Compton, making his second-straight start under center, turned to the air in the third quarter, finding senior Drew Enke for a 37-yard connection deep down the right sideline to push CSP into Cougar territory, but the Golden Bears would come up empty on downs on its opening drive of the second half.

Sioux Falls scored again in response for a 21-7 lead over halfway through the third quarter and had moved the ball with regularity for four-straight drives, with the Campbell tip to Rehl for the interception being the lone line of defense during the USF rally.

Compton kept his poise, however, completing 3-3 for 47 yards along with a pass interference drawn by Enke for 15 more yards to set-up a 12-yard touchdown run by Richardson to bring CSP back within a score, 21-14 late in the third.

Compton had his breakout performance, completing 22-34 for 267 yards and a touchdown while adding five carries for 30 yards. He wasn't sacked and didn't commit any turnovers.

Sioux Falls continued to move the ball on its next drive, moving 68 yards in 10 plays but missed a key field goal attempt that would have made it a 2-score game from 24-yards out.

With new life, CSP started with the ball on its own 20, with Compton quickly getting to work by finding tight end EJ Stoffel for a 19-yard pickup followed by a 22-yard strike to Enke. A 24-yard run by Richardson to the USF 16 was negated by a holding penalty, pushing CSP back near midfield, though. Compton would then find Julius Reynolds for 16 and pickup the first down with a 7-yard run before the drive stalled and CSP would misfire from 44-yards out.

A Cougar touchdown was followed by CSP seemingly picking up the first down on a 10-yard throw by Compton, but the receiver was hit and fumbled at the first down spot, with Sioux Falls recovering and returning to the CSP 25, setting up another touchdown to put the game out of reach, 35-14 with 2:08 left in the contest.

Concordia kept working, with Compton engineering another touchdown drive by finding Jaylon Washington for a 32-yard touchdown out of the backfield but USF recovered the onside kick.

Washington had a breakout performance as a receiver with eight catches for 92 yards and a score while leading the team with 130 all-purpose yards. Enke had five catches for 77 yards, surpassing 1,000 career receiving yards in the game, and Peter Udoibok had three grabs for 36 yards including a 25-yarder.

Compton completed his 22 passes to nine different options while targeting 10 Golden Bears.

After rushing for 100-plus yards in the first half, CSP managed seven carries for 19 yards as a team in the second half, finishing with 126 yards on the day while USF was able to get its ground game going with 34-216 and four rushing touchdowns.

The game ended up even with each team securing 22 first downs, while USF claimed 441 yards of total offense to CSP's 393. Concordia would win the final time of possession 34:57 to 25:03 but the Cougars were efficient on third down after CSP dominated the early part of the game, finishing 5-9 while picking up its only fourth down attempt. CSP would finish 6-13 on third down and 1-2 on fourth. The Golden Bears converted both of their trips to the red zone into touchdowns while Sioux Falls scored three red zone touchdowns, but CSP held USF scoreless on two other red zone trips.

Richard Wauer led Concordia's defense with seven tackles while Anthony Ukofia had six. Rehl had five tackles including one tackle for loss to go with his interception and Elijah Wray had five tackles on the defensive front.