ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday evening, Concordia-St. Paul (0-1, 0-0 NSIC) will host Winona State (0-1, 0-0 NSIC) for its 2024 home opener at Sea Foam Stadium with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. Saturday's game also marks the first Northern Sun contest for both programs, who each picked up a non-conference loss in week one.

Concordia's home opener is St. Paul Day, presented by official game sponsor Summit Orthopedics, the official physicians of CSP athletics.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Kickoff is set for a temperature in the low-to-mid 80s with mostly sunny/clear skies throughout the evening and temperatures cooling to the mid 70s by 9:30 p.m. and a light wind under 10 miles per hour, with zero forecast chance of precipitation.

WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC football games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, and supported by BlueFrame Technology.
 
Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
All home games will feature the play-by-play broadcasting provided by Dan Flanagan, the voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. The St. Paul, Minnesota native studied broadcasting at Fordham University (N.Y.) where he was the voice of the Rams' football and basketball teams in the NCAA Division I Patriot League.
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
LISTEN TO THE COACHES SHOW
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a fifth season, once again hosted by Wally Langfellow of Minnesota Score. The show airs following the Minnesota high school football game of the week, typically on Friday evenings in the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. hour on KYCR 1440 AM radio, available in the Twin Cities metro area.
 
The show typically features two segments with Coach Currier along with a segment with Langfellow joined by a pair of student-athletes. This week's podcast guests are senior running back Jaylin Richardson and senior linebacker Brayden Hilgemann.
 
For fans who miss the show or are outside of the radio station's Twin Cities reach, the entire show is accessible via the CSP Bears Podcast, available in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play Music. It will typically be uploaded late Friday night (after the initial air time) or Saturday morning prior to the game. Search 'CSP Bears' into your favorite podcast provider!
 
CAPTAINS / HONORARY CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier and the Golden Bear coaching staff have continued the program's tradition of selecting rotating weekly game captains for the sixth season in a row, starting in 2018. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and off, as a leader in practice and in day-to-day activities of being a student-athlete.
 
This week's game captains are offensive captains Caydon Christensen and Carter Ryan with defensive captains Brayden Hilgemann and Richard Wauer.

This week's honorary captains will be selected representatives from CSP's first five years of football, which began in 1969, with former Comet greats representing teams from 50-plus years ago in attendance!

They'll be joined for the coin toss at midfield by this week's honorary captains, CSP senior development and church relations officer Rev. Dr. Ryan Peterson, along with DJ Davis representing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).

WAUER SELECTED TO WEAR #26 IN MEMORY OF BILLY BROWN, JR
Junior linebacker Richard Wauer was selected to represent the football program's cherished jersey number 26 to honor the memory of Billy Brown, Jr., a linebacker who graduated from CSP in May of 2018. Billy passed away in 2018 shortly after graduating while working out near his home in the Twin Cities that summer. Head coach Shannon Currier has opted to honor Brown by selecting a player who fits Billy's work ethic and commitment to the program to wear the number each season.

Wauer, formerly #9, is athletically a junior and originally from Muskego, Wisconsin. He will be in his fifth year as a Golden Bear, with his debut season canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020, and was redshirted in 2021. He's been a two-year starting linebacker in 2022 and 2023 and a CSC Academic All-District Team student-athlete. An eight-time team captain in 2023, Wauer played in 10 games with three starts while working through injuries. He had his breakout season in 2022, starting nine times and playing all 11 games with 54 tackles to finish third on the team In 21 career games, he's made 88 tackles, 4.5 for loss and added a fumble recovery.

He has earned his degree in biochemistry adn now is pursuing an MBA in healthcare management, and intends to pursue further education in medical school after his football playing career with a goal of becoming a surgeon or anesthesiologist.

"As we mature as people and recognize what's most important in our life, in the end it's about the relationships you have and the impact that you've made," reflected Coach Currier. "After Billy's passing, I learned of his tremendous impact on other people through conversations with players and coaches and sometimes we don't always know that in the moment, but players made it apparent that Billy invested in their lives."

He continued, "After his passing, we recognize a special person in our program to honor Billy and keep his legacy alive. We select a player who has impact here to continue the tradition of what Billy started. I'm optimistic, but I feel like Richard Wauer is one of the best leaders I've ever been around. His commitment to his teammates, the team, overall growth, and his academics are all really remarkable. Reflecting back, when we recruited him in talking with Richard and his mom at a booth at GameWorks in Mall of America, I knew he was a special leader right away and that's a big reason we offered him. He brings a leadership component to our program."

"We are blessed to have Richard come back for another year after considering med school. He's picked up right where he left off with his leadership and overall impact. So many have benefited from Richard's actions and speaking. When people recognize their true purpose, there is a higher level of motivation, and when it's bigger than themselves it's powerful. We want our players to experience those same callings, to gain that desire to impact others in a positive way, and it all comes full circle to what Billy did in his time here at CSP."

Past players selected to wear Brown's #26:
2018: Brandon Russell (23 to 26)
2019: Jackson Dobbs (98 to 26)
2020: season cancelation
2021: Dalton Smerchek (32 to 26)
2022: Davaris Cheeks (14 to 26)
2023: Davaris Cheeks
2024: Richard Wauer (9 to 26)

SERIES HISTORY: WINONA STATE 20, CONCORDIA 4
The Golden Bears and Warriors will meet for the 25th time, with 24 of the meetings occuring in CSP's Division II-era (1999-present) when CSP joined WSU in the Northern Sun (NSIC). Concordia scored its first win in the series under then-fourth year head coach Shannon Currier in 2003, a 23-20 overtime triumph for CSP at home at Griffin Stadium which led to CSP and WSU sharing the 2003 NSIC Championship, earning Concordia its first of three trips to the Mineral Water Bowl, the NSIC's former bowl affiliation.

CSP topped WSU again in 2005, this time at the Metrodome, again sharing the conference title with the Warriors and leading to Concordia's second Mineral Water Bowl appearance. The Warriors would win the next seven contests when Concordia picked up back-to-back wins over Winona State in 2013 at the Metrodome and in 2014 for CSP's first road win at Winona State.

In the recent series, Winona State has picked off seven-straight wins over Concordia including a pair of closely contested matchups in 2018 (24-20) and 2019 (20-10).

The Golden Bears are 1-8 all-time at home against WSU, 0-5 at Sea Foam Stadium (2009-present) and Coach Currier (2000-03, 2016-present) holds a 1-9 record against Winona State.

LAST MEETING, 2023: WINONA STATE 33, CONCORDIA 8
Last year, CSP traveled to Winona State for a 33-8 loss on the road. Concordia held WSU to 331 yards of total offense on its home turf and the Golden Bears topped 100 rushing yards on the road (29-112) led by three different ball carriers topping 30 rushing yards each with Daniel Hornacek leading the pack with 4-39 (9.8), adding two catches for 20 yards.

Conner Cordts had 98 passing yards and 34 rushing yards and had a touchdown strike to Dion Green in the game. Troy Ellison led the team with 101 all-purpose yards.

Kendis Ledbetter led the defense with seven tackles, 1.5 TFLs while Cyrus McClure and Richard Wauer each had six tackles. Koffi Gbekle and Jawon Carr each contributed a sack, and Brayden Hilgemann had an interception.

LAST WEEK: UPPER IOWA 33, CONCORDIA 7
A closely played defensive battle in the first half got away from the Golden Bears late in the third quarter. Upper Iowa built a 12-0 halftime lead, but Concordia was competitive, misfiring on a scoring chance with a blocked field goal while a penalty negated a chance to pick up a 4th-and-1 in UIU territory to stall a pair of productive second quarter drives when the game was still 6-0.

In the third quarter, a Brayden Hilgemann interception at the UIU 15-yard line allowed Conner Cordts to rush for 12 yards on a keeper, setting up a 3-yard touchdown by Jaylin Richardson to bring CSP within striking distance at 12-7.

Upper Iowa responded with an eight-and-a-half minute touchdown drive, and two plays later would score on an interception returned for a touchdown to blow the game open 26-7 late in the third quarter.

Richardson rushed for 67 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown and now has 1,830 career rushing yards and 15 total touchdowns in 28 games. He ranks 10th on CSP's career rushing leaderboard.

HOME OPENER SUCCESS
Concordia head coach Shannon Currier holds a 10-1 record in his CSP career in home openers including 6-1 at Sea Foam Stadium in his second stint. Across the 10 home opener wins between Sea Foam and Griffin Stadium, Currier's Bears have average a 30.1 to 11.7 margin of victory, a total of 314 to 101.

HOME OPENERS UNDER COACH C
Year    Opponent    Score    Stadium
2000    South Dakota Tech    W, 35-16    Griffin
2001    Mayville State    W, 42-0    Griffin
2002    UW-River Falls    W, 26-21    Griffin
2003    Bemidji State    W, 28-14    Griffin
2016    UMary    W, 17-0    Sea Foam
2017    Minot State    W, 24-0    Sea Foam
2018    Upper Iowa    W, 34-7    Sea Foam
2019    Sioux Falls    W, 41-17    Sea Foam
2021    Upper Iowa    W, 24-6    Sea Foam
2022    #25 Augustana    L, 14-28    Sea Foam
2023    Upper Iowa    W, 43-20    Sea Foam
Totals    10-1    30.1-11.7    6-1 SF / 4-0 Griff

FROM THE "GRIFF MYTH" TO "HOME SWEET FOAM"
Prior to head coach Shannon Currier returning to lead the Golden Bears, CSP had posted an 11-24 record at Sea Foam Stadium  (2009 to 2015) and had never posted more than two home wins in a row with just two winning seasons at home since football returned to campus in 2009.

In Currier's first season back, CSP won its 2016 home opener.

In 2017, CSP won its home opener again also nabbed a win in the home finale, a 37-20 win over SMSU that started a three-game home winning streak, including the first two games of 2018, for the first 3-game streak in Sea Foam Stadium's history. It was also the first 3-game home winning streak since the 2005 NSIC Championship season, played down the street at St. Paul Central High School's Griffin Stadium.

In Currier's first term leading the Bears (2000-03), he posted an 18-2 home record at Griffin Stadium, starting the "Griff Myth," a 19-game home winning streak that began in 2002 and spanned four full seasons of perfect home football (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).

Currier now holds a 33-26 career record in home games at Concordia, a solid 10-1 mark in home openers, a 5-6 mark in home finales and led the team to a winning record at Sea Foam Stadium in 2018 for the third time since 2009.

The Golden Bears are now 15-24 at Sea Foam Stadium under Currier since 2016 including winning seasons in 2018 (3-2) and 2019 (4-2), the only back-to-back home winning seasons in Sea Foam Stadium's history.

Currier's teams have consistently out-performed non-Currier teams at home in CSP's NCAA DII-era (1999-present), see below:

Currier Home Record, ('00-'03 & '16-pres):    33-26    .559
DII-era Home Record, non-Currier years ('99, '04-'15):     28-35    .444
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Currier Sea Foam Stadium Record ('16-pres):     15-24    .385
Sea Foam, non-Currier years ('09-15):     11-24    .314