ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, Concordia-St. Paul football embarks on its first Northern Sun road trip of the 2025 season, heading to Herb Parker Stadium to face Minot State in Minot, North Dakota. 

Each team enters play with 0-2 overall and 0-1 NSIC records, and each team has lost both of its games by double-digits. This weekend's game will also be Minot State's homecoming game, featuring a pregame parade at 10:30 a.m. starting downtown and ending on MSU's campus, with a tailgate beginning in Lot L northeast of the Minot Dome at 11:30 a.m.

WEATHER OUTLOOK
This weekend looks like a stormy outlook in Minot with a 79 percent chance of thunderstorms on Saturday with a 10-20 mph wind out of the east and a high of 69. There is little relief for the chance of thunderstorms, as Friday night has a 47 percent chance, Saturday night has a 55 percent chance and Sunday has an 80 percent chance of storms through the evening. 

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 radio interview guests are redshirt freshman linebacker Mike King and freshman quarterback Lincoln Graf.

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 junior wide receiver Carter Zezulka on offense, junior punter Caden Carsen on special teams with defensive captains as junior safeties Ricky Dixon and Hudson Jean.

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 7, MINOT 4
The Golden Bears will face Minot State for the 12th time this Saturday, with all-time series starting in 2008, the year before Minot State joined the NSIC and NCAA Division II level.

While Minot State has led the recent series with three wins in the last four meetings and holds a 4-2 home record against CSP at Herb Parker Stadium, Concordia still controls the series with a 7-4 all-time record.

The last four games have been decided by one-score or less, and this will be the fourth time in the last five meetings that the teams will be playing in Minot.

CSP hasn't lost to Minot State by more than one score, with an average margin of defeat of 6.3 points (20.5 to 26.8) but carries a 21.6 average margin of victory (33.7 to 12.1) in the seven wins including a pair of shutouts (2013, 2017). 

CSP's closest margin of victory is 2022's 8-point win (19-11) at Sea Foam Stadium and widest margin of defeat is also eight (20-28) in 2021 at Minot State.

Head coach Shannon Currier holds a 2-3 record against Minot State and is 0-3 in three prior trips to Herb Parker Stadium. 

LAST MEETING, 2023: MINOT ST 17, CONCORDIA 10
It took until the seventh game of the season for an opponent to hold the Golden Bears under 100 rushing yards, but Minot State was able to limit CSP to 44 yards on 26 attempts (1.7), with the host Beavers holding off CSP in a 17-10 home win.

CSP fell to 2-5 (1-5 NSIC) despite leading in six of the seven games to that point in the season. Minot picked up its first win of the year (1-6, 1-6 NSIC), which would be its last, too.

CSP took the lead in the third quarter, utilizing all three phases together to reach the end zone. 
It started with a 61-yard punt by Parker Dahlman, pinning Minot at its own 12-yard line with Minot leading 7-3 with 6:39 to play in the third quarter.

On the next play, the Beavers fumbled in the backfield with CSP defensive tackle McKinley Neville recovering at the 6-yard line. One play later, Jaylin Richardson muscled his way into the end zone and with the PAT, CSP claimed a 10-7 lead with 5:10 left in the third.

Dahlman had six punts for a 44.5 average with two inside the 20, two fair catches and the key punt that set-up the turnover and touchdown. 

Richardson finished with 14-34 rushing and 2-30 receiving. 

In the first half, Minot State capitalized on a CSP turnover on the opening kickoff, scoring on a short field with a 37-yard drive. CSP, meanwhile, had a blocked punt by Keyshawn Pettis, giving CSP the ball at the Minot 20, but came up empty in the second quarter. 

Concordia's defense held Minot to 0-3 on third down with three 3-and-outs in the second quarter with the Beavers producing just 11 yards on nine plays in the quarter. 

While CSP went 1-3 on field goal attempts in the first half, Minot State would go 1-3 on FGA in the third quarter, tying the game late in the third. 

The Beavers got back into the end zone with 2:51 to play. CSP's last drive featured a pair of third down conversions and moving into Minot State territory with 1:02 to play, but CSP was intercepted on 4th-and-9 near midfield. 

Minot State rushed 17 times for 90 yards in the fourth quarter and didn't attempt a pass, compiling 38-208 rushing in the second half alone. Minot State finished with 57 rushing attempts for 258 yards compared to CSP's 26-44.

The Golden Bears countered with a +84-yard advantage in the passing game, holding Minot State to 2-7 for 51 yards. 

Troy Ellison had 9-37 receiving with 45 yards after the catch, his second 9-plus reception performance of the season. 

Safeties Cyrus McClure and Machai Campbell led the defense with eight tackles each, with McClure picking up 0.5 TFL while Campbell was 1.0 TFL and a forced fumble. Koffi Gbekle added seven tackles, 0.5 TFL.  

Myles West led Minot State with 27-125 rushing and a TD, while Erik Palmquist added 12-75 and quarterback Dondre Fair had 10-63 and a rushing touchdown while completing 2-7 for 51 yards through the air with a 36 and 15 yard completion.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS: 
Coming off of a 5-6 overall (4-6 NSIC) season in 2024 and producing a 4-win turnaround from 2023's 1-10 finish, Minot State was picked to finish 10th in the 14-team NSIC overall standings and fifth in the 7-team NSIC North Division. 

So far, Minot State is off to an 0-2 start, falling 27-7 in a week zero non-conference road loss at Emporia (Kan.) State before opening NSIC play with a 34-16 road loss at #11 Minnesota State in Mankato, Minn. 

Despite the 30.5 to 11.5 scoring deficit in two games, the Beavers are committed to a run-heavy offensive attack, averaging 276.5 rushing yards per game on 60 carries per game, averaging 4.6 per carry. They out-rush the opposition 276.5 to 155.5, although opponents average 5.1 per carry.

The Beavers haven't passed much, completing 3-12 for 53 yards combined across two games, throwing nearly as many interceptions (2) as completions (3). Opponents have been able to pass for 250-plus per game and compile 407 yards per game of total offense against Minot while the Beavers are averaging 303.0 yards per game of total offense. 

Carson Chrisman is the signal-caller and decision-maker under center for Minot State, attempting all 12 pass attempts for the team but also rushing 25 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Devan Daniels is the team's leading rusher (33-217), averaging 6.6 per carry with a touchdown and Evan Lovett has rushed 34 times for 164 yards and a 4.8 average. 

Minot State's special teams features the NSIC's punting leader, Logan Matthews, averaging 49.0 per punt with five of 50-plus yards, three inside the 20 and a long of 71 yards. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL PREVIEW: THIS WEEK'S CSP GAME NOTES
----------------------------------------------------------------------