Box Score

ST. PAUL, MINN.: Southwest Minnesota State scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to rally from a 28-17 deficit as the Mustangs defeated Concordia University, St. Paul 38-28 on Saturday in St. Paul.  SMSU improves to 4-4 overall and 4-3 in the NSIC, while CU drops to 3-5 overall and 2-5 in the NSIC.

Trailing 28-17 with 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-ten from their own 24-yard line, SMSU quarterback Josh Shudlick found Blake Wilson for a 13-yard first down catch to keep the drive alive.  Shudlick then completed six of his next seven passes and finished off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Wilson with nine minutes left in the game to trim the CU lead to 28-24.

The game's biggest play came on the next CU possession as on first down SMSU senior Brad Wolf sacked CU's Spencer Ohm and forced a fumble that was recovered by SMSU's Paul Muecke at the Golden Bear 17-yard line.

It took just two plays and on second and ten Shudlick fired a 17-yard pass to Derek Townsend to give SMSU its first lead of the game at 31-28 with 8:31 left in the fourth quarter.

The Mustang defense then stepped up once again forcing a three and out and SMSU regained possession at its own 38-yard line with 7:30 remaining.  The CU defense answered back and did its part forcing SMSU to punt and took over at its own 24-yard line with 5:41 left in the game.

The CU offense picked up three first downs and had first and ten from the SMSU 32-yard line but an incomplete pass, a CU penalty and another incomplete pass set up third and 15 from the SMSU 37-yard line.  After a 10-yard completion moved the ball to the SMSU 27-yard line, SMSU's Michael Liggins and Aaron Diggs forced Ohm to throw the ball deep down the sideline and the Mustangs' Curt Gosser knocked the ball away to end the CU drive.

SMSU regained possession with 2:20 left in the game and CU still had all three timeouts.  Facing third and five from the 32-yard line with just over two minutes remaining in the game SMSU's Zach Wysong ripped off his longest run of the season as he sprinted 68 yards for the game-clinching touchdown to put SMSU up 38-28 with 1:59 remaining the contest.

Wysong finished the game with a career-high 152 yards rushing on 22 carries and also caught seven passes for 54 yards.  Shudlick tied a career-high passing for four touchdowns while completing 30 of 48 passes for 260 yards.  Shudlick is now just 10 completions shy of tying the SMSU career record for completions in a career.  

The game started out poorly for SMSU as Shudlick was hit on the game's first play and the ball bounced in the air and was grabbed by CU's Duy Huynh who returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.  CU would then add another first quarter score to take a 14-0 lead after 15 minutes.

SMSU scored its first points of the game midway through the second quarter on a Shudlick found Townsend opened for a 9-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead to 14-7 with 6:52 left in the half.  The Golden Bears scored with just 1:22 left in the half to take a 21-7 lead but SMSU had one of its biggest drives of the game on its next possession driving 62 yards on seven plays as Shudlick capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Wade McDonough with 22 seconds remaining to cut the CU lead to 21-14 at halftime.

SMSU scored on its opening drive of the second half on a 40-yard field goal by Scott Talcott to trail 21-17 before CU answered with another touchdown to take a 28-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Wilson led all receivers in the game with nine catches for 78 yards and one score while Townsend had seven receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns.

The SMSU defense recorded a season-high six sacks with Gosser picking up one and a half to lead the team.  Tyler Reed finished with a team-high six tackles. 

With the victory SMSU picks up its second conference road win of the season, the first time a Mustang team has won two conference road games in one season since 1999.

SMSU will now return home for a two-game homestand and will open with a big game versus regionally ranked Minnesota State, Mankato next Saturday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. at the Regional Event Center.

Audio Highlight Clips, courtesy of Marshall Radio's Aaron Ziemer (play-by-play) and SMSU's athletic communications director Kelly Loft (color)

Wysong's game-clinching touchdown

Wilson's touchdown from Shudlick

Townsend's second touchdown from Shudlick

Wolf/Muecke's sack and fumble recovery