MARSHALL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul (1-2, 1-1 NSIC) evened out its league record with a 27-17 road win at Southwest Minnesota State (0-3, 0-3 NSIC) on a warm, windy Saturday afternoon at the Schwan Regional Event Center.
 
The Golden Bears will return home next Saturday, hosting #8 Minnesota State for homecoming at Sea Foam Stadium with a noon kickoff.
 
Concordia had a pair reach 100 yards in the game, with senior wide receiver Drew Enke hauling in six catches for 114 yards and a 50-yard second-quarter touchdown for a 14-10 lead.
 
Senior running back Jaylin Richardson had just 13 rushing yards in the first half and CSP had 12 carries for 27 yards as a team before the break. But Richardson hit the 100-yard mark for the second straight week and eighth time in his career, grinding his way for 108 yards on 22 carries, including a third-quarter 2-yard score that gave CSP a 20-10 lead.
 
Junior running back Daniel Hornacek also had a big second half and added a 13-yard dash with 4:27 to play in the game for a 27-10 lead. He finished with 53 yards on 10 carries as CSP rushed for 164 yards on the day with 24-137 coming in a dominant second half.
 
Concordia only needed three first downs in the first half and still held a 14-10 lead at the break. CSP opened its scoring with linebacker Ben Rehl out-running SMSU quarterback Kendon Krogman after a high snap went into the end zone with Rehl recovering for a touchdown just three and a half minutes into the contest.
 
It was Concordia's first defensive touchdown since Preston Piltoff's 92-yard interception return against SMSU in 2019 and the program's first fumble recovery for a touchdown since Jake Vann recovered in the end zone against Upper Iowa in 2010. The defensive score set the tone for CSP's first road win since defeating Wayne State on September 28, 2019.
 
Cornerback McKinley Egland-Young also picked a strong opportunity to record an interception, picking off SMSU at the CSP 4-yard line to stop a scoring threat, and his secondary teammate Cyrus McClure added a pair of pass breakups.
 
The Golden Bear defense was led by Richard Wauer's 13 total tackles on a busy day for the junior linebacker, while defensive lineman Lucas Becker added six tackles. Capri Wilson picked up his first CSP sack while Ryan Martin and Riley Heller (among others) teamed up for a sack, as well.
 
The defense would continue its strong performance throughout the contest, holding SMSU to 0-6 on third down in the first half and 2-12 for the game. CSP also held the Mustangs to just three points in four trips to the red zone while the Golden Bears cashed in both of their trips for touchdowns on offense.
 
Sophomore quarterback Reed Styer was efficient throughout, completing 8-15 for 124 yards and his first career touchdown pass. He only needed to attempt five passes in the second half, completing three for 44 yards. He found Enke on the second play of the opening drives for CSP of the third and fourth quarters, both for 11 yards and first downs, and connected again with Enke for 28 yards on a 2^nd-and-9 in the fourth quarter to set up a Hornacek 13-yard touchdown on the next play.
 
While the defense was stingy, and the offense was efficient, the special teams came through in a variety of ways. Despite a steady 20mph wind, senior punter Parker Dahlman produced a steady 40.8 average, a long of 52 yards and a pair of punts inside the 20. His kicking counterpart, Jeff Isotalo-McGuire, delivered three of his five kickoffs for touchbacks and converted all three of his PATs, and Isaiah Wray had a blocked field goal at the end of the first half.
 
Concordia would pick up 13 of its 16 total first downs in the second half as the game finished nearly even statistically, with SMSU securing 17 first downs and 292 yards of total offense, just four more yards than CSP's 288.
 
But CSP was more efficient on third downs (4-10) than SMSU (2-12), held a 7-0 edge in points off turnovers and 14-3 in red zone points despite getting to the red zone twice compared to SMSU's four trips.
 
Krogman completed 19-28 for 186 yards, a touchdown, an interception and was sacked twice while adding 14-52 on the ground including a 21-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Jacob Honstetter added 14-42 rushing as CSP totaled 106 rushing yards on 35 attempts.

Concordia now leads the all-time series 14-12 with SMSU and is 7-6 in 13 trips to Marshall, Minnesota where they've won two of their last three and three of their last five.