MARSHALL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul used a strong second to pull away from a four-point halftime advantage to earn a 27-17 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday afternoon at The Schwan Regional Event.
CSP improves to 1-2 overall, 1-1 NSIC, while SMSU drops to 0-3 overall, 0-3 NSIC.
CSP, held to 107 yards of offense in the first half, used a strong rushing attack and solid defense to pull away and earn its first road victory since the 2019 season. Jaylin Richardson, limited to 13 yards rushing on six carries in the opening half, closed the game with 108 yards on 22 attempts and one touchdown.
CSP finished the game with 288 yards of offense and 16 first downs, while SMSU closed the game with 292 yards and 17 first downs.
SMSU quarterback,
Kendon Krogman, making his first career start, completed 19 of 28 pass attempts for 186 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for a team-high 52 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.
Tryg Auten and
Colin Maher each finished with four receptions to pace the Mustangs.
SMSU finished 2 of 12 on third-down conversions and was 2 of 3 on fourth-down tries. CSP finished the day converting 4 of 10 on third-down.
The CSP defense was outstanding in the second half, limiting the SMSU offense to a pair of first downs and 33 yards for much of the second half until the Mustangs scored a late touchdown to close a 75-yard drive with just over a minute remaining.
Diego Maldonado and
Josiah Hedensten, who both finished with seven tackles, led the SMSU defense, which forced one turnover in the setback.
After the SMSU defense opened the game forcing CSP into a three-and-out, the CSP defense opened the game's scoring taking advantage of a high snap over Krogman with the Golden Bears' Ben Rehl falling on the ball in the end zone to make the score 7-0 at the 11:34 mark of the first quarter.
SMSU cut into the deficit later in the quarter with
Connor Shelton connecting on a 33-yard field goal with 2:01 remaining. SMSU came through with points, but missed a great opportunity to score a touchdown, facing third-and-goal at the 1-yard line, but a personal foul stalled the drive and the Mustangs had to settle for Shelton's first career field goal.
The Mustangs would take its first lead of the game in the second quarter as Krogman, facing fourth-and-three, connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass to
Tryg Auten to put SMSU in the lead at 10-7 following the Shelton PAT.
CSP regained the lead just over three minutes later as Reed Styer found Drew Enke on a pass across the middle and after breaking a tackle, Enke sprinted to the end zone to give CSP a 14-10 advantage with 5:27 left in the half.
Following an SMSU punt on its next possession, the Mustang defense came through with
Parker Knutson intercepting Styer at the SMSU 37-yard line and returning the ball all the way to the CSP 10-yard line. Unfortunately, on the interception return, the Mustangs were called for an illegal block setting up the SMSU offense at the 37-yard line. After one first down, Krogman was intercepted at the CSP 4-yard line to end the scoring threat and keep CSP in the lead into halftime.
CSP extended the lead with just under six minutes left in the third quarter with Richardson capping a 65-yard, nine-play drive with a 2-yard run. The Golden Bears took advantage of a personal foul and converted a pair of third-downs to keep the drive alive and make the score 20-10 after failing on the two-point try.
SMSU punt on its first three possessions of the second half, while CSP put together the game-sealing drive in the fourth quarter, moving the ball 85 yards on nine plays over six minutes to take a 27-10 lead.
The Mustangs put together its best drive of the game in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter with Krogman sprinting in for a 21-yard touchdown run to close an 11-play, 75-yard drive.
SMSU will return to the road next week facing Minnesota Duluth with game time set for 12 p.m.
