ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, Concordia-St. Paul (1-8, 1-7 NSIC, 0-4 South) will make its final road trip of the season, heading to Marshall to face Southwest Minnesota State (1-8, 1-7 NSIC, 0-4 South) for a 1 p.m. kickoff at the Schwan Regional Event Center. 

The game is senior day and military appreciation day at SMSU. Details about the military appreciation day event and ticket deals can be found on the SMSU athletics website. 

Concordia is aiming to secure its second road win of the season while SMSU is aiming to snap a 10-game home losing streak.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
Winter is coming to Marshall, with an expected high temperature of 33 degrees and N wind at 10-20 mph. While earlier in the week, snow chances were closer to 50 percent, the 24-hour forecast now shows a 24 percent chance of a few flurries or light snow showers possible. 

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.

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 Hudl (formerly 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

COACHES SHOW RETURNS TO TWIN CITIES RADIO
The Coaches Show with Shannon Currier is back on the Twin Cities airwaves for a sixth 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. 

This week's guests on the show: redshirt freshman linebackers Jonas Barros and Bo Kenney.

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 YouTube podcasts. 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!

2025 TEAM CAPTAINS
CSP head coach Shannon Currier features rotating team captains each week for the seventh year in a row in 2025. Captains are selected by the coaching staff based on performance on the field and as a leader in practice, meetings and day-to-day activities.

This week's game captains are senior center Caydon Christensen (6x) and junior wide receiver Carter Zezulka (7x) on offense, and sophomore defensive end Isaiah Wray (6x) and redshirt freshman linebacker Mike King (2x) on defense.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 14, SMSU 12
In a closely played and long-ranging series, the Golden Bears currently have the upper hand on the Mustangs, winning four of the last six contests to break a 10-10 tie following SMSU's string of four wins in five years between 2012-16. 

SMSU won the first three including games played in 1979 and 1980 when CSP was an NAIA member and known as the Comets and CSP's first year of NCAA Division II membership in the NSIC in 1999. Then CSP rallied for six-straight wins, the first four with head coach Shannon Currier. 

SMSU and CSP traded 3-game streaks, setting up SMSU's 4-of-5 followed by CSP's current 4-of-6.

CSP is 6-6 in 12 trips to Marshall, last winning on the road in 2018 and most recently falling 14-6 in 2022. Last year, CSP picked up a 27-17 win at Sea Foam Stadium. 

Coach Currier is 8-3 against SMSU and 2-2 at SMSU.

LAST MEETING, 2024: CSP 27, SMSU 17
The Golden Bears had a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver in last season's win at SMSU on a warm, windy September afternoon in Marshall.

Senior running back Jaylin Richardson was held to just 13 rushing yards in the first half as CSP had 12-27 as a team in the first half. But in the second half, he got rolling as he finished his day with 22-108 including a third-quarter 2-yard rushing TD that gave CSP a 20-10 lead.

Senior wide receiver Drew Enke hauled in 6-114 and a 50-yard second-quarter receiving TD that put CSP ahead 14-10.

Daniel Hornacek also had a big second half, including a 13-yard TD with 4:27 to play in the fourth quarter to give CSP a 27-10 lead. He finished 10-53 rushing as CSP had 164 team rushing yards including 24-137 in the second half. 

The Golden Bears built their small 14-10 first-half lead despite only registering three first downs as linebacker Ben Rehl beat SMSU QB Kendon Krogman after a high snap sailed into the end zone, with Rehl recovering for the defensive TD early in the first quarter. 

McKinley Egland-Young also secured an INT for CSP at the CSP 4-yard line to stop an SMSU scoring threat.

Concordia's defense, which had an opportunistic and impactful first half, was led on the day by Richard Wauer's 13 tackles. As a unit, CSP held SMSU to 0-6 on third downs in the first half and 2-12 in the game, and held SMSU to just three points in four trips to the red zone, while CSP cashed in both of its red zone opportunities for touchdowns offensively. 

Reed Styer had an efficient performance, completing 8-15 for 124 yards and his first career TD pass. In the second half, he completed 3-5 for 44 yards - all three to Enke, with a 28-yarder in the fourth quarter setting up Hornacek's decisive TD run.

With a steady 20mph win all day, punter Parker Dahlman held a 40.8 average while kicker Jeff Isotalo-McGuire had three of his five kickoffs for touchbacks and was 3-3 on PATs and Isaiah Wray had a blocked FG to end the first half. 

Concordia had 16 total first downs in the game with 13 coming in the second half. CSP out-executed SMSU in third downs (4-10 to 2-12), held a 7-0 margin in points off turnovers and 14-3 in red zone scoring.

Krogman completed 19-28 for 186 and a TD for SMSU, adding one INT and was sacked twice while adding 14-52 rushing including a 21-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter. Jacob Honstetter was 124-42 rushing.

ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Southwest Minnesota State entered 2025 on an 11-game losing streak, going 0-11 overall and 0-10 in NSIC play in 2024. They were picked 13th overall in the 14-team NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll and seventh in the 7-team NSIC South Division Preseason Coaches Poll.

In week two, SMSU snapped its 12-game losing streak with a 12-7 win at Jamestown, bringing a 10-game road losing streak to a close. 

The Mustangs do carry a 10-game home losing streak into this Saturday's game against Concordia in their final home game of the 2025 season. 

Parker Knutson, a sophomore defensive back, tied the SMSU single-season and career interceptions record last Saturday in a 48-7 loss to Minnesota State. He leads Division II with eight interceptions in 2025 and has 13 for his career, and ranks fourth in the country with 1.56 passes defended per game. 

Sticking with the defensive side, Josiah Hedensten ranks fifth in SMSU history with 336 career tackles and this season ranks 25th in the country with 9.3 tackles per game including 18 tackles last week against MSU.

Joining Hedensten with double-digit tackles last week was redshirt freshman Kaden Lunsford with a career-high 14 tackles., while Gideon Ervasti ranks eighth in the league with 7.1 tackles per game. 

Hedensten, along with offensive tackle Tyler Nebelung, will be making their 43rd straight starts on Saturday, with both players having started every game of their four-year careers. 

The Mustangs came into the season with a new starting quarterback for the seventh-straight season, with the last SMSU player to start back-to-back seasons on opening day being Blake Gimbel in 2017 and 2018. 

Senior Macloud Crowton has taken control of the QB position, completing 52.2% (165-316) for 2,091 yards and 10 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He has five-straight 200-plus yard passing performances including going 27-53 for 453 yards and three TDs against Augustana (10/25).

Colin Maher has been the main beneficiary of Crowton's hot streak, leading SMSU with 40 catches for 668 yards and six TDs, while Tryg Auten has 28-408 and three TDs. SMSU has seven players with 100-plus receiving yards on the year. 

The ground game features a two-headed attack with Jacob Honstetter leading the team with 205 yards, a 4.4 average and two touchdowns while Tariq Parker has 204 yards, a 3.2 average and one TD. Parker also has 12-103 receiving with Honstetter adding 12-57 as a receiver out of the backfield. 

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