ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (1-3, 1-2 NSIC) dropped its homecoming game 33-20 to #7 Minnesota State (5-0, 4-0 NSIC) on a hot, sunny and breezy fall afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.

Concordia looks to get back on track next week with a trip to Bismarck, North Dakota to face the University of Mary (1-4, 0-4 NSIC) for a 2 p.m. kickoff.

Early in the game, Concordia looked to its physical offensive front to control the pace, embarking on a six-minute drive that resulted in a 29-yard field goal by Jeff Isotalo-McGuire, his first of two field goals in the game.

The drive consumed 11 plays and 64 yards and Concordia didn't have a third down until finally stalling at the MSU 11-yard line to set up the short field goal. In the season's first three games, Concordia hit the ground game for its early work on long, plotting drives. But today it was quarterback Reed Styer executing in the pass game, connecting with Drew Enke twice for completions of 11 and 19 yards, and adding a toss to Daniel Hornacek out of the backfield for 13 yards as he went 3-4 for 43 yards on the opening drive.

Enke finished as CSP's leading receiver with five catches for 66 yards while Hornacek had 2-23 receiving and added 3-15 rushing. Styer completed 5-7 for 52 yards and added two rushes for 18 yards, with his final play of the game a first down run resulting in a personal foul as MSU tackled him at the end of his slide in the open field.

Styer's first down run in the second quarter pushed CSP into scoring position at the MSU 34 yard line, and although backup Jackson Compton executed a 4th-and-5 completion to EJ Stoffel for a first down, CSP would ultimately get pushed back to the MSU 33-yard line where Isotalo-McGuire would convert his collegiate career long, a 51-yarder to make bring CSP back within a score, 14-6. The field goal is Concordia's 17th made field goal from 50-plus yards, all occurring since 2010. The last time a CSP kicker had converted from 50-plus was Jonas Schenderlein in 2018, a feat he accomplished four times that season.

It was another long drive for CSP, taking 5:40 off the clock to move 43 yards on 13 plays and was a strong counter to a pair of MSU touchdown drives in the first and second quarters.

With the Mavericks leading and with the ball later in the quarter just past midfield, CSP cornerback Dilan Williamson appeared to strip the ball from Tony Anger with McKinley Neville recovering with just over a minute to play in the half. But the Mavericks prevailed on a successful challenge to retain possession in a key turning point, finishing off the drive in the end zone for a 20-6 halftime lead.

Aside from the overturned turnover by Concordia, the big difference in the first half was third down execution. MSU was 4-7 while CSP was 1-6, and MSU was also 2-2 on fourth downs, securing two of the three third down misses to keep drives going.

In the second half, MSU came out aggressive on offense, finding the end zone on an 11-play scoring drive to push the lead to 26-6. For the second time in the game, though, CSP would block the PAT, with Lucas Becker blocking the first and McKinley Neville the second.

The Mavericks then executed a modified onside kick, placing the ball between the CSP 30 and 40-yard line, getting a friendly hop and recovering at the CSP 41, setting up a six-play scoring drive primarily on the ground for a 33-6 lead midway through the third quarter.

With Compton now under center, the Golden Bears rallied around their third signal-caller of the young season as Styer along with opening day starter Conner Cordts were inactive. Part of the quarterback battle in fall camp, Compton was ready for the moment, engineering an 11-play, 74-yard touchdown drive spanning 5:37 resulting in Compton's first career touchdown pass to Carter Ryan, his first career touchdown catch to pick up a 4th-and-6 for a 12-yard score. While Jaylin Richardson, Hornacek and freshman Parkees Harris did the heavy lifting behind the offensive line on the ground, Compton converted a 3rd-and-3 with a 12-yard completion Julius Reynolds and a roughing the passer penalty pushed CSP into the red zone at the MSU 16.

Concordia's defense came through the rest of the day to keep MSU at 33 points, forcing a punt early in the fourth quarter with CSP trailing 33-13.

Compton went back to work, completing 4-6 for 52 yards and a 21-yard touchdown pass to Richardson, bringing CSP back within two scores, 33-20 with 10:06 to play.

The defense got back to work, stopping MSU on 3rd-and-4 from its own 34, before picking up one yard on 4th-and-1. On the next play, safety Anthony Ukofia stepped in front of a pass for an interception at the MSU 44, returning it 30 yards to the red zone and a short field at the 14-yard line.

But on 4th-and-5, Compton's pass to Richardson for four yards came up a yard short, and CSP's challenge on the spot of the ball was denied, leaving the Golden Bears empty in the red zone down by two scores with just over six minutes left.

Compton completed 15-27 for 139 yards and two touchdowns in relief of Styer, adding 5-32 rushing with a long of 26.

As a team, CSP rushed for 127 yards on 29 attempts, averaging 4.4 per carry with Richardson leading the team with 44 yards on 16 carries. He added 4-30 and a touchdown receiving, combining for a team-high 74 yards.

Hayden Ekern led MSU's offense by completing 14-17 for 169 yards and a touchdown and adding 8-52 rushing with a touchdown. The Mavericks rushed for 207 yards on 51 rushing attempts, with no one topping Ekern's 52 yards individually. Gabe Hagen had 6-76 and a touchdown to lead MSU's receivers.

Brayden Hilgemann led Concordia's defense with nine tackles while Ukofia had seven tackles to go with his interception. Islee Cassidy secured a sack and had one of four CSP tackles for loss.

The Golden Bears were able to register 22 first downs against the Mavericks' defense while compiling 318 yards of total offense as Styer and Compton combined to complete 20-34 pass attempts as a duo and the Golden Bears played turnover-free football and were only sacked once.

MSU picked up 8-14 on third down and 3-3 on fourth down while CSP countered with 3-13 on third down and 4-6 on fourth down. MSU hit the end zone on all five trips to the red zone while Concordia had a touchdown and a field goal on its three trips.