Concordia University St. Paul Athletics

ST. PAUL, Minn. - After opening the season with a pair of 30-plus point performances, Concordia-St. Paul (1-2, 0-2 NSIC) leaned on a sturdy defensive performance but came up short, falling 13-10 to the University of Mary (2-1, 1-1 NSIC) on a windy Saturday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium. 

Concordia remains at home for its homecoming game next Saturday, September 19 with a noon kickoff. 

The Golden Bear defense produced five sacks, held the Marauders to 1.7 yards per carry on 40 rushes for 67 yards and limited the Marauder passing game to 204 yards for just 271 yards of total offense and 17 first downs. 

Senior defensive end Marquis Coleman had a busy day with 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, six tackles and a mammoth pass deflection in the backfield. Junior linebacker Jonas Barros matched freshman defensive lineman Hunter Meyers for the team-high with eight tackles, and each had a half sack. Barros had a pair of TFLs to Meyers' 1.0. Sophomore defensive lineman Airion Bradley had seven tackles, 1.5 for loss and a half sack and sophomore safety Aydin Buchanan had five tackles and a sack. Senior linebacker Jude Onuoha also had four tackles and a sack for the defense. 

But CSP wasn't able to keep the chains moving on offense, coming up with nine first downs, 142 yards of total offense and 3.1 yards per play. 

The Marauder defense held CSP sophomore quarterback Lincoln Graf in check in the first half as he completed 3-7 for six yards and had negative yards in total offense. He would finish the day with a solid second half on 8-12 passing for 73 yards after the break, finishing 11-19 for 79 yards overall. CSP running backs Manny Harris (3-43), Joel Lacy (10-28) and BJ Davis (7-24) combined for 20 carries for 95 yards with Davis getting into the end zone for the third time this year. Lacy also had 4-22 receiving and Harris had a 22-yard kickoff return. 

The Marauders were just 4-14 on third down in the contest but came up big when it mattered the most on their final scoring drive. Taking over early in the fourth quarter and heading straight into a NW 15-25 mph wind, UMary carved up nearly 10 minutes of game clock on a 17-play, 64-yard drive that featured 3rd-and-5, 3rd-and-6, 4th-and-6 and 3rd-and-2 conversions to move into goal-to-go territory. Concordia's defense secured a key third-down sack by Aydin Buchanan on 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line, forcing UMary to kick a go-ahead field goal from 23 yards out for the 13-10 lead.

UMary was 1-9 on third down prior to the drive, and went 2-2 on fourth down in the game.

By contrast, CSP finished the day 1-11 on third down and missed its only fourth-down attempt, a 4th-and-5 from midfield with 1:54 to play as the Marauders secured their fifth sack of the game to match Concordia's pass rush as each team had five sacks. It was Concordia's first missed fourth-down on the season, having previously converted seven in a row to start the year. 

While the game ended with the Marauders executing on third and fourth down on their final drive while CSP came up short on money downs, it's how the game started that kept Concordia from pulling ahead early. With the Marauders winning the toss and getting the early wind advantage, CSP came up a yard shy on the game's opening drive and was forced to punt into a strong wind from its own 34-yard line. 

And Caden Carsen delivered his first of multiple masterpieces on the day, sending his first punt 54 yards where it was down at the Marauder 12-yard line. Carsen punted seven times on the day for a 46.3 average with six of his punts inside the 20 and along of 54 yards. 

CSP flipping the field position didn't stop the Marauders on their opening drive, though, and the biggest play was a penalty negating a turnover. After a 47-yard passing play to start the drive, CSP safety Kam Williams had an interception at the CSP 23-yard line with a 19-yard return. But the play would be overturned by a roughing the passer penalty, giving the Marauders a first down and new life. The Marauders extended the drive by picking up a 4th-and-1 from the CSP 17-yard line, and on the next play CJ Jackson punched the ball out on a pass play but the ball was recovered by the Marauders at the 4-yard line, setting up Mary's lone touchdown. 

Aside from UMary's opening touchdown drive and their final field goal drive, Concordia held the Marauders to 36 plays for 119 yards on their other nine possessions of the contest with all but one of the other nine drives resulting in five plays or les, with the lone exception being a 12-play, 65-yard drive taking 6:09 of the third quarter to get a field goal for a 10-3 lead. 

Concordia continued to bury UMary in field position in the first half as UMary had an average start at its own 13 on seven first-half possessions compared to CSP's average start at its own 38 on its seven possessions. 

In the second half, field position evened out, but CSP still had a 2-yard advantage and a strong starting point at the 41 compared to UMary's 39. 

Concordia got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter after Ryan Schroeder's opening kickoff was misplayed by UMary with Hudson Jean hustling down the field to recover the loose ball at the UMary 11. Although the Golden Bears didn't find the end zone, freshman kicker James Graves converted a 30-yard field goal. UMary would match the field goal on its next drive for a 10-3 lead midway through the third quarter. 

The Golden Bears responded with their best possession of the game, as Graf completed passes of 9, 8, 14, 11 and 23 yards, going 5-6 for 65 yards on the drive with quick decision making and accurate passes to his targets. The 11-yard completion was a 3rd-and-7 pickup to EJ Previlma to the UMary 30-yard line, and on the next play he found Kemari Walcott for 23-yards inside the 10, setting up a bruising touchdown run by BJ Davis that included multiple broken tackles with Graves converting the PAT to tie the game at 10-10 with 4:45 left in the third quarter. 

The Golden Bears would only secure two more first downs the rest of the game, though. 

The Marauders were led by Ryan Blair as the visiting QB completed 14-22 for 204 yards. He found Karsyn Jablonski for 4-78 and Desmond Duffy for 3-58. Xavier Brackenridge carried 16 times for 59 yards and a score to lead UMary's ground game. Vegas George led the Marauder defense with 3.5 TFLs and 2.0 sacks, adding a forced fumble and seven total tackles. He produced the game-icing fourth-down sack on CSP's final offensive play. Christopher Federico had a game-high 10 total tackles, adding 2.5 for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.