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MARSHALL, Minn. - The Southwest Minnesota State offense was held to 255 yards, committed a season-high four turnovers and had a punt blocked as Concordia University, St. Paul topped the Mustangs 29-17 Saturday evening in an Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest at the Regional Event Center in Marshall, Minn.

CU snaps a four-game losing streak and improves to 2-6 (2-5 NSIC), while SMSU drops its fourth straight game and falls to 3-5 (2-5 NSIC).

Jordan Schultenover led the Golden Bear offense with a game-high 11 receptions for 125 yards and one touchdown, while CU quarterback Mitch Brecke completed 27 of 34 passes for 329 yards.

It was the second straight game the SMSU defense was held in check after racking up at least 333 yards in its first six games of the season.  The CU defense, which entered the game allowing 414.9 yards per game, limited the SMSU passing attack to just 211 yards, while the SMSU rushing game was held to 44 yards.  SMSU quarterback Ryan Ratekin finished 17-of-28 for 211 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.  Ratekin was also sacked a season-high five times. 

SMSU scored the game's first points on a Charlie Klaverkamp 28-yard field goal with 4:14 left in the opening quarter.  It was the first career field goal for Klaverkamp.

As was the story in the entire game, the CU offense had an answer and marched down the field in eight plays capped by a Brecke 3-yard touchdown run with five seconds left in the quarter.

The CU defense then forced the game's first turnover as Ratekin was intercepted on a tipped pass and CU's Trevor Glomski returned it 39 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-3 just 50 seconds into the second quarter. 

Following a three-and-out by the SMSU offense, the Mustang defense forced its first turnover in nine quarters as Lionel Lamarre intercepted Brecke at the SMSU 43-yard line and weaved his way through the CU offense and scored on a 57-yard interception return to cut the CU lead to 14-10 with 11:02 remaining in the half.  It was SMSU's first INT return for a touchdown since Tyler Reed's 100-yard return for a score versus the University of Mary on Sept. 29, 2007.

The Mustang defense then forced a three-and-out by the CU offense, but the momentum SMSU had was quickly erased as Ratekin was intercepted at the CU 35-yard line.  The Golden Bears turned the turnover into points driving 62 yards on eight plays with Brecke completing a third-down and goal pass from the 9-yard line to Schultenover with 2:41 remaining to extend the lead to 20-10 following the missed extra point.

Ratekin then fumbled on the next offensive play for SMSU at the 33-yard line but the Mustang defense forced a field goal attempt that was missed with 16 seconds left to keep the game at 20-10 in favor of CU at halftime.

The Mustang defense forced a turnover on CU's opening drive of the second half as Nick DeCaneva picked up his first career INT at the SMSU 26-yard line.  The Mustang offense couldn't muster anything and was forced to punt after three plays giving CU the ball back at its own 26-yard line and the Golden Bears moved down to the SMSU 16-yard line before settling for a 33-yard field goal by Steven King with 3:25 left in the quarter.

SMSU finally had an answer facing third-down and six from its own 43-yard line, Ratekin ran for a first down to the CU 48-yard line and one play later Ratekin dropped a screen pass to Zach Wysong, who made several great moves to break free and score from 48 yards out to trim the CU lead to 23-17 with 1:34 remaining in the quarter.

CU though put together the biggest drive of the game moving 74 yards on 10 plays with Breck finishing the drive with a 1-yard run to push the lead 29-17 and never looked back.

The SMSU offense was held to 177 yards of offense heading into its final drive of the game before gaining 78 yards on its final drive of the game that ended at the CU 8-yard line as time expired.

Wysong led the SMSU offense with eight receptions for 134 yards and one touchdown, while rushing 12 times for 42 yards.

Derek Klinkner finished with a game-high eight tackles for SMSU, while Joe Butler and Trevor Glomski each added seven tackles for CU.

SMSU, 3-5 overall, 2-5 NSIC, will travel to Mankato next Saturday, Oct. 24 with a conference game versus No. 6 and undefeated Minnesota State, Mankato starting at 2 p.m