ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (1-4, 1-3 NSIC) dropped its final game against the NSIC North Division, falling 33-22 at home to the University of Jamestown (1-3, 1-3 NSIC) on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.

The Golden Bears remain at home next Saturday against #14 Minnesota State (4-1, 3-1 NSIC, 1-0 South) for CSP's first NSIC South Division contest on homecoming at Sea Foam Stadium with a noon kickoff.

Despite the 33-22 final scoring margin, the Golden Bears had their chances on Saturday, but a -3 turnover margin (1-4) led to a 14-0 points off turnovers advantage for Jamestown. Further, after CSP secured a defensive stop on Jamestown's first possession of the game, a 15-yard penalty for illegal participation negated the punt and allowed Jamestown's opening drive to continue, which would result in the game's first touchdown.

While the first half started with the penalty that extended Jamestown's opening drive and led to the game's first score, the second half opened with Jamestown executing a 19-play, 65-yard drive that drained 10:32 of clock. The drive, which resulted in a touchdown and extended Jamestown's lead to 26-10, included a 3rd-and-15, a 4th-and-2, a 3rd-and-1, a 4th-and-1 and was scored on a 3rd-and-goal from the CSP 3-yard line. On the day, Jamestown executed 9-of-17 on third and 3-of-3 on fourth down while CSP was 4-of-12 on third and 3-of-3 on fourth. 

With the ball back and trailing 26-10 and most of the third quarter clock dried up, the Jimmies secured a pick-6, with Hershell Jefferson return an interception 37-yards for a touchdown and a 33-10 lead with 4:10 to play in the third quarter.

The Golden Bears would claw back, with Troy Ellison scoring a pair of touchdowns, one on the ground from three yards out and another through the air on a 30-yard strike from freshman MJ Mitchell, but the clock would ultimately be Concordia's nemesis in the second half. 

The two scoring drives were well-executed, an 11-play, 75-yard march that spanned 5:49 and was converted for points with 13:21 to play in the fourth quarter, and a 7-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:07 off the clock and culminated in Ellison's second touchdown with 4:05 to play.

Ellison had his two touchdowns on just two touches on the afternoon with the 33 all-purpose yards leaving him 11 shy of 2,000 for his career while the touchdowns were his 12th and 13th of his career, nine receiving and four rushing.

Concordia's yardage leader in the contest was wide receiver Carter Zezulka with five catches and 70 yards while Timothy Davis had 4-41. Davis also had Concordia's first touchdown, a 7-yard reception from Jackson Compton with 4:31 to play in the first half that cut Jamestown's lead to 20-10 - the halftime margin. 

Compton finished the day 14-23 for 154 yards and a touchdown while adding 5-19 on the ground but was intercepted four times. He relieved Lincoln Graf, who was injured early in the contest. Graf completed 3-9 for 31 yards, didn't take a sack or commit a turnover but was playing through visible pain before heading to the locker room with the training staff and did not return.

The Golden Bears also turned to Luke Gombert and MJ Mitchell for their CSP quarterback debuts. Gombert was 0-1 passing and had a 4-yard run out of bounds, leaving the contest when his helmet came off on the play with 6:55 to play in the game.

Facing a 4th-and-2, Mitchell made his debut, the second true freshman quarterback to see time on the field at quarterback for CSP this year behind Graf. On his first play, Mitchell found freshman tight end Anthony Hickman deep down the left sideline in a 1-on-1 jump ball situation with Hickman securing the 27-yard catch and first down.

Mitchell would pick up a 5-yard run, draw a pass interference on Jamestown to get to the 30-yard line where he found Ellison deep over the middle for his first career touchdown pass.

That would be CSP's final possession, as Mitchell finished his first reps at quarterback by completing 2-2 for 57 yards and a touchdown while rushing twice for five yards. 

As a group, Concordia's four quarterbacks on the day combined to complete 19-35 for 242 yards, two touchdowns and 8-28 on the ground. 

Concordia's ground game was led by senior Daniel Hornacek who averaged 6.3 yards per carry, rushing nine times for 57 yards while adding 3-12 receiving and totaling 69 all-purpose yards. 

The Golden Bear defense was kept busy by Jamestown quarterback Cole Hentges, who was at his most effective on the ground with 22 carries for 117 yards and three touchdowns, but also completed 14-24 for 197 yards and a touchdown, an 89-yard third-down strike to Erastus Antsino who had 2-95 receiving on the day.

Mike King led Concordia's defensive effort with nine tackles, while Isaiah Wray had eight tackles including 1.5 tackles for loss. Aydin Buchanan added seven tackles and a pass breakup in the red zone and Ben Rehl had six tackles (five solo) before leaving the game with an injury in the first half. Concordia's interception was picked off by Dominic Stencel after being batted at the line of scrimmage by defensive tackle Marvin Stringfellow. The two players each had three tackles for CSP.

On special teams, Caden Carsen had a 39.3 punt average with a long of 44 and one inside the 20 among his three punts, and redshirt freshman kicker Kenny Steffen converted his first career field goal from 25 yards in the first quarter that cut the score to 6-3 with just over four minutes to play in the opening quarter. Steffen also made his lone PAT. The special teams also received a big play via the return game on Tony Edwards' first quarter 35-yard kickoff return.