Photo by Jenny Kirk SMSU’s Blake Gimbel looks to pass during their game against Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday. The Mustangs fell to the Golden Bears 16-10.

MARSHALL – Concordia-St. Paul’s Jonas Schenderlein booted three field goals–including two from 50-plus yards–to help pace the Golden Bears to a 16-10 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in NSIC football at the Schwan Region Event Center on Saturday.

CSP (5-5, 3-3 NSIC South) was limited to 281 yards of offense and 14 first downs, but the CSP defense recorded seven sacks to stymie several SMSU drives throughout the game.

SMSU, which dropped its second straight game, falls to 4-6 overall, 1-5 NSIC South.

Mustangs coach Cory Sauter said both teams had chances to put the game away but CSP just made more plays down the stretch.

“Two teams were battling for a winning season and ultimately, Concordia made a few more plays than we did here (Saturday),” Sauter said. “We certainly had our chances, especially on third and short and fourth and short. We came up, literally, inches short on some of those. I told the kids after the game, I’m really, really proud of the effort, the week of work. It was our best week of preparation. We just didn’t get the payday at the end of it. That was the hard part to swallow. You could tell it mattered to a lot of kids. It’s just a heartfelt loss for everybody. That’s just the nature of sports. You’re going to have those highs and lows.”

The Mustangs finished the game with 368 yards of offense and 22 first downs, but the story of the game was SMSU’s failure to convert on third and fourth down. SMSU finished the game 6 of 17 on third down conversions and 0 for 4 on fourth down, including three times inside the CSP 40-yard line.

SMSU quarterback Blake Gimbel completed 32 of 46 passes for 353 yards and one touchdown. It was his third straight 300-passing game–the first SMSU quarterback to reach the mark in three straight games since 2009–and the 13th of his career.

Gimbel has now amassed 10,107 passing yards in his career and is just nine yards shy of Jeff Loots’ school record of 10,116 (1990-92).

SMSU’s Daniel Davis caught a game-high six passes for 35 yards, while Chance Nelson caught five passes for a team-high 82 yards. Max Simmons led the SMSU rushing attack with 47 yards on 17 carries, while Hudson Walton added 19 yards on seven attempts.

SMSU senior linebacker Shane Ratkovich finished with a team-high nine tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and now has 20 on the season breaking the school single-season record of 19 held by Paul Petan (1985) and Jason Jacobs. Alex Ney and Onte Burns both chipped in with eight tackles for the Mustangs, while Hunter Cushman added seven stops.

Sauter said Ratkovich is just a selfless competitor and has improved each year as a playmaker on defense.

“Shane is one of those kids who is a selfless competitor. He could care less who gets credit or anything like that,” Sauter said. “He’s just one of those guys who asks what he can do to help the team. He certainly has a ton of ability, but he just has a knack for making plays, especially plays in the backfield.”

CSP’s Lajuan Preston gained a team-high 50 yards rushing on 10 attempts, while MJ Williams finished with five receptions for 105 yards to pace the Golden Bears receivers.

SMSU opened the game on offense and moved to the CSP 40-yard line, but Bailey Olson was stopped a yard short on fourth-and-two to end the drive.

CSP answered behind quarterback Maxon Hutton, who was making his first start of the season, with a 10-play, 61-yard touchdown drive. Facing third-and-15, Hutton completed a short pass to Keyon Walters who broke free for a 20-yard touchdown reception to put the Golden Bears on top 7-0 with 6:01 left in the opening quarter.

SMSU answered on its ensuing drive as Gimbel scrambled free on third-and-nine and lofted a perfect pass to Nelson for a 50-yard touchdown at the 2:46 mark. Skyler Crew’s PAT tied the game at 7-7.

The CSP special teams came through on the ensuing kickoff as Dez Bassett broke free for a 55-yard return to set up the Golden Bears offense at the SMSU 36-yard line. The SMSU defense held strong and forced CSP’s Jonas Schenderlein to boot a 53-yard field goal to put CSP on top 10-7 after one quarter of play.

It remained 10-7 until late in the first half when SMSU tied the game behind a 33-yard field goal by Crew to close off an 11-play, 45-yard drive at the 4:14 mark. SMSU missed a golden chance to take the lead on the drive, facing first-and-goal from the 4-yard line, but a penalty and a sack stalled the drive to force the field goal attempt and send the game into halftime at 10-10.

Both teams punted on their opening drives of the second half, including a 53-yard punt by Gimbel that pinned CSP at its 1-yard line. The Golden Bears answered with their most impressive drive of the game, picking up four first downs and moving the ball inside the SMSU 10-yard line. The SMSU defense stiffened in the red zone and forced CSP to settle for a Schenderlein 28-yard field goal to regain the lead at 13-10 with 5:44 left in the third.

SMSU moved the ball inside the CSP 30-yard line on its next drive, but Gimbel’s pass to Simmons on fourth-and-seven from the 28-yard line came up two yards short of the first down marker.

CSP extended the lead to 16-10 on its next drive as Schenderlein booted a big 52-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

SMSU turned the ball over on downs at its own 45-yard line early in the fourth, but the SMSU defense forced CSP into a punt following a quick three-and-out.

Taking over at 20-yard line, SMSU looked poised to take the lead as Gimbel completed passes of 14 and 23 yards to Luke Narveson, before connecting on a 15-yard pass to Aaron Murphy down to the CSP 28-yard line. Following an incompletion, Gimbel fired a 19-yard pass to Nelson setting up first-and-goal from the 9-yard line. After a four-yard run by Davis and an incomplete pass, Gimbel was sacked moving the ball back to the 18-yard line. Crew’s 35-yard field goal was missed wide left to keep CSP with a six-point advantage.

CSP punted on its next drive giving SMSU another chance on offense. But after a first down that moved the ball near midfield, a pair of incomplete passes and a sack forced SMSU to punt with just over four minutes remaining in the game.

The SMSU defense forced CSP into a third-and-11 from the Golden Bears’ 33-yard line, but Dom McKinzy completed a high 16-yard pass to Williams to keep the drive alive. CSP would later add another first down and eventually moved the ball to the SMSU 24-yard line with 20 seconds remaining. Schenderlein came on to attempt a game-sealing field goal, but his 41-yard attempt was blocked and was recovered by Lucas Fisher who returned the ball to the SMSU 40-yard line with 12 seconds remaining.

Gimbel completed a third-down pass to the CSP 45-yard line, but SMSU’s attempt to lateral the ball was fumbled and recovered by the Golden Bears to end the game as time expired near midfield.

Southwest Minnesota State will conclude the season next Saturday, Nov. 10, host Augustana (6-4, 3-3 NSIC South) starting at 1 p.m.

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