BOX SCORE

MARSHALL, Minn. – Concordia Univeristy, St. Paul forced four Southwest Minnesota State turnovers and limited SMSU to just a pair of scores on five trips inside the CU 20-yard line to earn a 32-14 victory on a snowy, windy day in Marshall.

The game featured a combined seven turnovers and a total of 22 penalties for 248 yards. It was the second straight week SMSU committed four turnovers in a game and the first time since 2006 that SMSU lost four fumbles in a game.

The Golden Bears earned their third straight victory and improves to 8-3 overall, 7-3 NSIC. CU finishes in fourth place in the conference standings and will now wait for a possible bid to the Mineral Water Bowl in December. An announcement will be made on Sunday. SMSU ends the season losing its third in a row and finished the 2010 season with a 4-7 overall record, 3-7 NSIC.

Spencer Ohm led the Golden Bears offense with 52 yards rushing and one touchdown, while completing 14 of 22 pass attempts for 126 yards and one touchdown. James Peterson rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries.

The CU defense was paced by linebacker Trevor Glomski, who recorded a game-high 12 tackles with three tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one pass break-up.

SMSU quarterback Tyler Peschong, making his first career start in place of injured senior Ryan Ratekin, completed 15 of 39 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown. Warren Matthews rushed for 53 yards on 20 carries for the Mustangs, while Shane LaDage caught a team-high four passes for 55 yards.

Concordia started the game on its own 42-yard line following a short kick by SMSU to begin the game. Seven plays later Sam Campbell scored from two yards out with 11 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock and following Steven King's PAT the Golden Bears took a 7-0 lead.

SMSU had a pair of chances to tie the score or at least put points on the board, but a pair of red-zone miscues kept the Mustangs scoreless. Shane LaDage fumbled at the CU 8-yard line on SMSU's first possession and following a CU punt, SMSU moved the ball to the CU 12-yard line, but Mike Wenk missed a 29-yard field wide right to keep the game at 7-0.

CU extended the lead early in the second quarter as James Peterson scored on an 18-yard touchdown run with 13:18 remaining to make the score 14-0.

On its next possession, SMSU was forced to punt and on the attempt, the snap sailed over punter Mike Wenk, who kicked the ball out of the end zone for a safety to give CU a 16-0 lead with 11:47 left in the half.

The SMSU defense forced a turnover on the game's next play as Brandon Torry sacked Ohm, who fumbled the ball at the CU 47-yard and was recovered by SMSU's Paul Muecke at the 50-yard line. SMSU picked up three first on its next possession, moving the ball to the 11-yard line, but Matthews was stuffed for zero yards and then suffered a six-yard loss on the next play moving the ball back to the 17-yard line. Peschong was then sacked for a loss of nine yards, before an incomplete pass ended the drive.

CU held a 16-0 halftime lead before pushing the lead to 19-0 with 8:27 remaining in the third quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Steven King.

SMSU put up its first points of the game two possessions later as John Kersbergen recovered a CU fumble at the SMSU 36-yard line. The Mustang offense then moved 64 yards on 14 plays with Gannon Moore capping the drive with a 2-yard touchdown to trim the lead to 19-6 with 52 seconds left in the quarter following a failed two-point conversion.

The Mustangs had the momentum following the score and then recovered an on-side kick setting up the offense at the 50-yard line. Following a 27-yard first down completion from Peschong to LaDage down to the CU 27-yard line, Peschong was sacked and fumbled at the 35-yard line with CU's Jake Vann recovering the ball.

CU would later score on an Ohm 10-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Simon with 5:08 left in the game, before SMSU closed out its scoring with a Peschong 14-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dean with 4:14 on the clock. Peschong then completed a two-point pass to Dean to cut the deficit to 25-14.

Two possessions later, CU closed out the game's scoring with an Ohm 2-yard run with 1:33 remaining.

Joe Stupka and Kersbergen paced the Mustang defense with eight tackles apiece. Kersbergen finished with two tackles for loss and one fumble recovery.

Concordia finished the game with 354 yard of total offense and was 3 of 10 on third-down conversions. SMSU recorded 196 yards of offense, but was held to just 16 yards rushing.

Today marked the final home game for 25 Mustang seniors.