ST. PAUL, Minn. - The bye week will come at the perfect time for Concordia-St. Paul (3-4, 2-4 NSIC, 0-2 South), who fell 55-0 at home to Augustana (5-2, 4-2 NSIC, 2-1 South) on a hot, windy Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium.
Following the bye week, Concordia remains at home against Winona State on Saturday, October 24 for a noon kickoff at Sea Foam Stadium.
On a sunny day with winds ranging from a sustained mid-to-upper teens with gusts into the 30 mph range and temperatures rising from the mid-70s during warmups to nearly 90 degrees by the game's end, it was Augustana from start to finish.
The Vikings found the end zone on their first four possessions while the Golden Bears had just one first down on their first three possessions before advancing into Augie territory for the first time midway through the second quarter, coming up empty on downs.
Concordia's top drive of the day was followed by three stops in a row by the defense as the Vikings carried a 28-0 lead into halftime following a punt and loss of downs to end the first half. CSP's defense came up with another stop to open the second half before Augustana scored four more touchdowns in a row while Concordia's offense picked up just one more first down the rest of the way.
All-purpose star
Manny Harris had a busy day for the Golden Bears with 125 all-purpose yards on 5-103 on kickoff returns with a long return of 30 yards while adding 4-11 on the ground and 2-11 receiving.
Quarterback
Lincoln Graf completed 14-25 (56.0%) for 86 yards with a long of 17 yards to
Vinny Churchwell, who led the receivers with 31 yards on three catches.
Tony Edwards III also had three catches for 17 yards with a long of 16 and added a 19-yard punt return. Graf also had a 17-yard run on the day and 97 yards of total offense.
Concordia finished with 110 yards of total offense and five first downs. CSP's defense was led by its three safeties with six tackles apiece:
Tyrelle Owens,
Aydin Buchanan and
Kam Williams. Owens had a busy day with three pass breakups and a quarterback hurry, as well.
Ben Rehl added five tackles, a sack and a pair of quarterback hurries on back-to-back plays to end the first half with Augustana nearing scoring position, and
Percy Robertson had three tackles, 1.5 for loss, a half sack and a pair of batted down balls at the line of scrimmage.
Concordia had eight pass breakups and four hurries on Augustana's 12 incomplete passes, but the Viking offense was too strong otherwise. Starting quarterback Gunnar Hensley completed 24-30 for 329 yards and five touchdowns on the day and Augustana had 361 team passing yards and six touchdown strikes.
Cody Oswald led the Viking offense with 6-139 receiving and two touchdowns while DJ Page also went over 100 yards (7-103).
Max Carlson found the end zone three times on just six touchdowns, rushing for 5-26 and two touchdowns and securing a 20-yard TD catch, and Max Grand led the team in rushing with 15-105.
Concordia punter
Caden Carsen had one of his best performances of the year, averaging 42.2 yards on eight punts with a long of 50 and one inside the 20.
