ST. PAUL, Minn. - On one of the hottest October homecomings in Sea Foam Stadium history, Concordia-St. Paul (1-5, 1-4 NSIC, 0-1 South) fell 47-19 to #15 Minnesota State (5-1, 4-1 NSIC, 2-0 South) on Saturday afternoon in front of a strong crowd of 2,967 CSP and MSU supporters. 

Concordia drops its NSIC South Division opener while MSU secures a win on CSP's homecoming for the sixth time since 2011. The Golden Bears' 19 points scored is the most allowed in a game by MSU on the season. Concordia returns to the road next Saturday with a trip to #8 Augustana (6-0, 5-0 NSIC, 2-0 South) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

The Golden Bears led after the first quarter and trailed by one score at half (16-8) and at the end of the third (23-16) and were within a touchdown with less than 10 minutes to play, trailing 26-19 before MSU scored three touchdowns in the last 8:18 to seal the contest late.

The Golden Bears produced a strong start in front of an anxious homecoming crowd, winning over the home side of the Sea Foam Stadium bleachers with big plays early in the contest. With a strong south win and CSP winning the toss and electing to play with the wind at its back in the first and fourth quarters, the Golden Bears used the wind and the crowd to create early momentum. 

The game opened with a defensive stop, forcing MSU to punt when Howard Craft produced a second down sack to force MSU into a 3rd-and-13 from midfield. Although CSP would be stopped on its opening drive, as well, junior punter Caden Carsen delivered his long of the day, a 50-yard shot with a 7-yard return to win the field position back for CSP as MSU went 3-and-out on its second drive, punting for the second time, this time from its own 30. 

On the first play of the second drive, CSP freshman quarterback MJ Mitchell, making the start to become the 11th CSP freshman to start a game under center in the NCAA Division II-era of CSP football (1999-present), ripped off a 37-yard completion to senior Troy Ellison, who surpassed 2,000 career all-purpose yards on the play, pushing the ball into MSU territory.

After a roughing the passer penalty against MSU, Mitchell ripped off a 28-yard run, showing big-play ability with his arm and legs on the drive, getting the ball to the 3-yard line, setting up his 3-yard touchdown run on the next play. While the PAT was blocked, CSP offensive tackle Gavin Layton recovered and found the end zone for a 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead midway through the first quarter.  

Mitchell finished off his first start by completing 15-36 for 213 yards with a pair of interceptions. He also rushed 15 times for 57 yards and a score, and without the three sacks would have had a 93-yard day on the ground. He is the fourth different quarterback to start a game this season for the Golden Bears, and the second true freshman, while CSP has had six different quarterbacks see significant action in games. 

The Mavericks responded with a long touchdown drive into the wind, taking away CSP's wind at its back for nearly six minutes of the quarter, consuming 12 plays and 75 yards for the short 1-yard plunge by Sam Backer. With the 2-point conversion on the last drive, MSU opted to attempt to tie the game with CSP cornerback Jordan Johnson intercepting the 2-point pass attempt to preserve an 8-6 lead late in the quarter.

Johnson had a pair of pass breakups on the day and nearly had an interception in the end zone in the second half. 

Concordia held the 8-6 lead at the quarter break, and had advanced the ball into MSU territory when the teams switched sides. The drive would stall out as CSP came up empty on 4th-and-1 from the MSU 30-yard line.

The Golden Bears continued to play with the lead, as the defense came through with a stop on the ensuing possession, leaving the Mavericks empty on points on three of their first four offensive possessions when Connor Fournier came up short on a 53-yard field goal try.

Two plays later, MSU picked up its first of two interceptions in the game, returning it 27 yards to the CSP 21-yard line, setting up a 5-play, 21-yard touchdown drive to claim its first lead 13-8 with 4:32 to play in the half.

Concordia's defense came up with another stop, and held MSU to a field goal on its final drive of the half with Fournier converting from 50 with 14 seconds to play before the break as MSU led 16-8 at halftime. 

The defenses continue to pile up stops in the third quarter with MSU stopping CSP twice and CSP picking up a 3-and-out. But CSP's punt on its second drive of the half was pushed short into the wind, with MSU returner being interfered with as he came into traffic to secure a fair catch. The resulting penalty allowed MSU to start with the ball at the CSP 36-yard line, setting up another short field for an 11-play, 36-yard scoring drive that included a 3rd-and-8, 4th-and-2 and a touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line for a 23-8 lead.

Mitchell wasted no time getting CSP back into the mix, unleashing a deep ball down the right sideline to EJ Previlma in stride for a 59-yard connection inside the MSU 10-yard line. On 2nd-and-goal, Mitchell found left guard CJ Picazo on a screen pass, as the big seventh-year senior rumbled his way into the end zone for what appeared to be a memorable touchdown, until the illegal touching penalty negated the play. 

CSP went back into its bag of tricks as Mitchell passed back to Mr. Everything Ellison, who found an open freshman tight end Anthony Hickman for a touchdown on the next play. Mitchell found Hickman for the 2-point try, as well, trimming the MSU lead to 23-16 with just over a minute to play in the third quarter. 

Although MSU would convert another field goal early in the fourth quarter to push the lead back to a two-score margin, 26-16 with 14:15 to play, Concordia would steal the momentum back, seemingly, when Carsen launched a 45-yard punt between MSU's two returnmen, with one calling for a fair catch and the other fumbling the punt reception with Ricky Dixon recovering for Concordia at the MSU 15-yard line. 

The turnover set up a 32-yard Kenny Steffen field goal as CSP was within a touchdown with 11:21 to play in the contest. 

Heading straight into the 20-plus mile per hour south wind, Minnesota State turned to its ground game to bury the Golden Bears, with eight straight rushing plays on an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to make it a two-score game, 33-19 with 8:18 to play.

Concordia would come up short on downs on its next drive in MSU territory at the 43 and MSU rushed on six of its next seven plays, sprinkling in a 3rd-and-8 pass for 27 yards into CSP's red zone before a rushing touchdown put the game out of reach, 40-19 with 2:05 remaining. 

Concordia got back into MSU territory on its next drive, with Mitchell connecting with Carter Zezulka on a 3rd-and-15 with a 19-yard pickup to the MSU 48-yard line. MSU secured its second INT of the day on the next play, with Caden Johnson returning it 63 yards for the game's final touchdown. 

In the fourth quarter, MSU pulled away with 15-98 rushing while CSP had 88 passing yards but was 7-22 including a missed fourth down and a pick-six.

Although MSU finished with 47 points, the Mavericks did so with the help of some short fields, scoring 24 of its points (more than half) on drives of 36 yards or less (5-21, 4-3, 11-36, and pick-six) and Concordia's defense forced MSU to come up empty five times (three punts, one on downs, one missed field goal), but the Mavericks scored on their final four possessions (TD, FG, TD, TD) and had the pick-six at the end of the day for a fifth score. 

Mike King led CSP's defense with 11 total tackles and added a tackle for loss while Isaiah Wray picked up 10 tackles. Howard Craft and Tez Jones each had a sack, with Jones forcing a fumble on his strip sack. CSP's secondary had five pass breakups led by Johnson's two. 

CSP's defense held MSU quarterback Maximus Sims to 10-21 passing for 97 yards and Mitchell Thompson to 3-5 for 54 yards, a combined 151 passing yards on 26 attempts (13-26). But MSU's ground game rolled up 243 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 5.0 per carry. Sam Backer led the way with 21-114 and three touchdowns and added a 14-yard catch. TreShawn Watson led MSU's receivers by catching eight passes on 11 targets for 116 yards.

Mitchell's top target on the day was Zezulka, who had six catches for 51 yards on 11 targets. Hickman had 3-26 and a touchdown, Previlma had 2-78 with long catches of 59 and 19 and Ellison had 2-41 while adding a 14-yard TD pass. 

Daniel Hornacek finished the day with 7-32 rushing and added 2-14 receiving. Concordia rushed for 104 yards and a 3.9 average against MSU's defense, and the passing game as a whole completed 18-40 for 236 yards and a touchdown with Ellison and Luke Gombert each contributing along with Mitchell.