Concordia-St. Paul 27 #24 Wayne State 24
Concordia-St. Paul handed #24 Wayne State College its first Northern Sun Conference loss Saturday afternoon 27-24 at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota. The host Golden Bears are now 3-4 on the season and 2-4 in the NSIC while dropping Wayne State to 5-2 overall and 5-1 in league play.
The Wildcats opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, finding the end zone on their second possession of the game as senior running back Bryce Hawthorne scored on a one yard run to cap a 12 play, 69 yard drive that put Wayne State up 7-0 with 6:54 to play in the first quarter. Concordia-St. Paul used a time consuming drive to get on the scoreboard in the second quarter. The Golden Bears used 7:13 on the clock and moved 56 yards on 15 plays before settling on a 48 yard field goal by Tom Obarski to trim the Wildcat lead to 7-3 with 9:58 remaining in the first half.
Later in the second quarter, WSC capitalized on a CU turnover inside their 20 yard line to increase its lead. Junior defensive tackle Jeff Pokorny sacked Golden Bear quarterback Spencer Ohm at the Golden Bear 16 yard line, forcing a fumble that was recovered by fellow Howells graduate Michael Bazata at the CU 11 yard line. The Wildcats, however, could not find the end zone and settled for a Max Martin 21 yard field goal with 5:15 to go in the second quarter to take a 10-3 lead.
Concordia-St. Paul wasted little time to respond to the Wildcat score. After starting the drive on their own 40 yard line after the kickoff by Wayne State's Max Martin went out of bounds, the Golden Bears needed just four plays to score as Ohm found Tre Mason on a 44 yard touchdown strike, knotting the score at 10-10 with 3:42 left in the second quarter. After forcing WSC to punt on their next series, CU used a big pass play and a Wildcat face mask penalty to score and take their first lead of the game. A 52-yard pass play from Ohm to Charles Gilbert moved the ball from the CU 26 to the WSC 22. Following a face mask penalty called on Wayne State's Richard Daniel on a quarterback sack, the Golden Bears scored on the next play as Ohm connected with Cordell Smith on a 14-yard pass to give CU their first lead of the game at 17-10 with 44 seconds to play in the first half.
In the second half, Wayne State turned the ball over on their first three possessions (two interceptions and one fumble) but Concordia-St. Paul could only convert one of the three miscues into a score. After Wayne State's Mario Melvin fumbled a punt return that gave CU the ball at the Wildcat 46 yard line, Golden Bear quarterback Spencer Ohm found Charles Gilbert on a 46 yard touchdown pass with 7:30 remaining in the third quarter to put Concordia-St. Paul in front 24-10. Wayne State cut into the Golden Bear lead later in the third quarter when redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Most found the end zone on an eight yard run with 2:28 to go in the third quarter reducing the Golden Bear advantage to 24-17 entering the fourth quarter.
The Golden Bears scored on the ensuing drive as CU marched 64 yards on eight plays and used a 22 yard field goal by Tom Obarski to give Concordia-St. Paul a 27-17 lead with 14:10 to play. WSC came right back on the next drive and moved the ball 79 yards on 10 plays and had a first and goal at the CU 10 yard line. But Wildcat quarterback Nathan Most fumbled at the Golden Bear one yard line and Concordia escaped without any points scored by WSC. The Wildcat defense then held CU to a three and out forcing the Golden Bears to punt from their own end zone, resulting in WSC getting great field position at the CU 41 with 10:13 to play.
After both teams traded punts, WSC went to reserve quarterback Evan Johnson, who has not played since the Minnesota Duluth game on September 17th due to injury. The junior from Phoenix, Arizona engineered a Wildcat scoring drive in just 57 seconds as WSC covered 64 yards on just seven plays, capped by a 13-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Mitch Montgomery with 6:44 remaining in the game, cutting the Golden Bear lead to 27-24. After gaining one first down on its next possession, Concordia-St. Paul was forced to punt giving WSC the ball at their 20 yard line with 2:35 to play. Johnson completed a 35 yard pass to Montgomery on the first play of the series putting the ball at the CU 45. The 'Cats could not move the ball any further and turned the ball over to CU on downs at the Golden Bear 49 yard line with 1:55 to play.
Wayne State outgained Concordia-St. Paul in the contest 459-393. The 'Cats had 134 yards rushing and 325 passing while CU gained 88 yards on the ground and 305 through the air. The Wildcats had four turnovers in the game (two fumbles, two interceptions) while CU had just one turnover. The Golden Bears had the ball for 34:03 compared to 25:57 for WSC.
Senior Bryce Hawthorne was the top ground gainer for Wayne State with 87 yards on 22 carries followed by Nick Pulscher's 46 yards on 13 attempts. Nathan Most completed 11 of 23 passes with two interceptions for 195 yards while Evan Johnson came in during the fourth quarter and was 7 of 11 passing for 130 yards with one touchdown. Senior Mitch Montgomery was the top Wildcat receiver with seven catches and a career-high 150 yards receiving. Tommy Warren added 104 yards receiving on five receptions while Kevin Paulsen had five catches for 67 yards.
Defensively for Wayne State, redshirt freshman linebacker Tyson McGill of Norfolk made 13 tackles in his first career start while junior defensive tackle Jeff Pokorny added 11 stops with 2.5 tackles for loss and one forced fumble.
Wayne State is on the road again next Saturday as the Wildcats travel to Mankato, Minnesota for a 2:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Minnesota State.
