FAYETTE, Iowa – Concordia-St. Paul (0-1) dropped its season opener on Saturday night 33-7 at Upper Iowa (1-1) in the Golden Bears' lone non-conference contest played at Harms-Eischeid Stadium.
 
Concordia will host Winona State (0-1) next Saturday with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff in the home opener at Sea Foam Stadium.
 
Big plays went the wrong way as CSP was playing its first game of the year while UIU played at Division I Butler University to dust off their rust in a 40-7 loss.
 
The Golden Bears had a first-half field goal blocked that would have made it a 6-3 deficit in the second quarter, and the Peacocks added a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns in the second half.   
 
Trailing 12-0 at the break, CSP secured a big play of its own, though, as linebacker Brayden Hilgemann intercepted a third-down pass at the UIU 15-yard line, setting up a two-play scoring as Conner Cordts' 12-yard keeper allowed running back Jaylin Richardson to score from three yards out. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire's PAT made it 12-7, as CSP's PAT unit converted while UIU missed a two-point attempt and had a PAT blocked in the first half on the first two touchdowns of the game.
 
The Peacocks responded with a devastating drive, though, marching 86 yards on 14 plays, consuming 8:12 of clock time and getting into the end zone to extend the lead back to 12 points, 19-7 with 3:58 to play in the third quarter.
 
Two plays later, UIU picked off a pass at the CSP 22-yard line for its first of two defensive scores, blowing the game open and reversing the momentum after the Hilgemann INT and Richardson TD for a 26-7 margin late in the third quarter.
 
Despite the final margin, CSP was close in first down margin (20-15) and topped 100-rushing yards (30-113) while the defense held UIU to 316 yards of total offense and just 161 passing yards.
 
Richardson opened his senior year with 14 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown, and added three catches for seven yards out of the backfield. Jaylon Washington backed him up with six carries for 20 yards.
 
Peter Udoibok led the receivers with four catches for 38 yards with a long of 17, while Troy Ellison had a pair of catches for 36 yards including a 29-yard catch in the fourth quarter. Ellison also had a pair of kickoff returns for 51 yards, totaling 87 all-purpose yards and had a long return of 36.
 
Also contributing in the pass game were Carter Ryan with a pair of catches for 27 yards and Drew Enke with 2-22 with Enke producing both of his receptions with a high degree of difficulty, elevating for a 16-yard catch on the sideline and snaring a 1-handed catch while on the ground over the middle.
 
CSP starting quarterback Conner Cordts finished 11-20 for 91 yards while adding 23 rushing yards while sophomore Reed Styer completed 4-8 for 50 yards in relief in the second half.
 
Concordia's defense was led by safety Cyrus McClure's nine tackles, adding a half tackle for loss. Linebackers Brayden Hilgemann and Richard Wauer each had six tackles with Hilgemann contributing a half tackle for loss with an INT and Wauer adding 1.5 TFLs. CSP had one sack on the day, coming from defensive tackle McKinley Neville. Concordia's defense produced six tackles for loss on the day.
 
Parker Dahlman had a strong punting debut in his senior year, averaging 40.0 yards on five punts with a pair of fair catches and a pair inside the 20.
 
Darryl Overstreet engineered Upper Iowa's offense by completing 16-26 for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns with an interception.
 
But it was the Peacocks running game that kept the chains moving for 20 first downs led by RJ Wells with 15-108 while Jayden Mitchell had 11 carries for 44 yards.
 
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak against the Peacocks, dropping their first game to UIU since 2017. Concordia is now 12-5 in 17 contests against Upper Iowa dating back to 2006.