Concordia-St. Paul built a 26-0 halftime lead and went on to defeat Wayne State College 29-7 Thursday evening in a Northern Sun Conference matchup that was twice delayed by storms at Sea Foam Stadium in St. Paul, Minn.
The Golden Bears took advantage of a blocked punt on Wayne State’s first series of the game, taking over at the Wildcat 41. Two plays later, running back Shaq Johnson found the end zone on a 13-yard run with 11:07 to play in the first quarter, giving the Golden Bears a 7-0 lead.
Following a second weather delay that lasted nearly 90 minutes, Concordia-St. Paul registered a safety when Wayne State had a bad punt snap that sailed over the head of punter Blake Kaiser for a safety to give the Golden Bears a 9-0 lead at the 9:42 mark of the first quarter.
Concordia-St. Paul took a 12-0 lead on the third play of the second quarter with a 30-yard field goal from Jonas Schenderlein.
Midway through the second quarter, the Golden Bears struck again as quarterback Dom McKinzy fired a 31-yard scoring pass to Marcus Gustaveson to give Concordia-St. Paul a 19-0 lead.
The Golden Bears added one more score just before halftime as CSP intercepted Aaron Bleil at the Wildcat 40 and found the end zone with just five seconds left in the second quarter as McKinzy connected with MJ Williams on a 40-yard scoring play to give Concordia-St. Paul a 26-0 lead.
Following a scoreless third quarter, Wayne State avoided the shutout with 4:25 remaining in the contest as junior reserve running back D’andre Vanexel hit paydirt on a one-yard run to cap a 55-yard, five play drive to make the score 26-7. The big play on the drive was a 31-yard pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Brady Brandsfield to Wayne freshman wide receiver Mason Lee.
Concordia-St. Paul closed out the scoring on a Jonas Schenderlein 36-yard field goal with 1:36 remaining to make the final score 29-7.
Concordia-St. Paul gained 398 yards in the game compared to 291 for Wayne State. The Golden Bears had 200 yards rushing and 198 passing while Wayne State had 131 on the ground and 160 passing. The two teams combined for 15 punts, eight by Wayne State for an average of 31.6 yards per punt.
Marlon Warren was the top rusher for the Wildcats with 53 yards on 13 carries followed by D’andre Vanexel with 45 yards on seven rushes.
Bleil was just 11-of-28 passing for 103 yards with one interception while Brandsfield completed 3-of-11 attempts for 57 yards. Nate Rogers was held to five receptions for 40 yards, snapping a streak of seven consecutive games with at least one touchdown reception dating back to last season. Lee had four catches for 70 yards.
Romel Hill led the Wildcat defense with 12 tackles followed by Ian Ailts with nine.
The next game for the 1-3 Wildcats will be Saturday, Sept. 29 when they host Bemidji State in the annual Homecoming/Hall of Fame Game at Bob Cunningham Field in Wayne. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
