ST. PAUL – Concordia-St. Paul used seven sacks and a pair of big turnovers to earn a 24-14 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division football on Saturday at Sea Foam Stadium.

SMSU, which dropped its third straight game and falls to 3-7, 1-5 NSIC South, finished the game with a 31-15 advantage in first downs and recorded 468 yards of offense compared to just 286 for CSP.

CSP (6-4, 4-2 NSIC South) used a strip sack to set up its first touchdown of the game and then sealed the victory with a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown.

SMSU quarterback Boyer Bouman completed 33 of 53 pass attempts for a career-high 397 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions. He completed passes to nine different receivers.

Daniel Davis had a huge game for the Mustangs recording a career-high 15 receptions for a career-high 221 yards. Davis has now recorded five straight 100-plus yard receiving games and has 12 in his career. The 12 career 100-yard games ties Nate Huot for the fourth most in program history. Davis also is the first SMSU player since Anthony Dean in 2013 to reach 200 yards receiving.

Max Simmons rushed for a team-high 51 yards on 13 carries and also caught three passes for 38 yards and one touchdown.

Onte Burns paced the Mustang defense with 11 tackles, including 1.5 for loss. Adihia Bell finished with a career-high seven tackles, while Peyton Sanders added six tackles, two for loss, one sack and an interception.

The CSP defense made the first big play of the game as All-American defensive end Chris Garrett stripped-sack Bouman and CSP’s Shawn Aarhus recovered the fumble at the SMSU 30-yard line. Six plays later Maxon Hutton scored on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line to give the Golden Bears a 7-0 lead with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

SMSU put together a solid drive midway through the second quarter, using more than seven minutes off the clock, and moving the ball to the CSP 32-yard line. But a pair of penalties and a sack ended the drive and the Mustangs were forced to punt.

CSP answered with a pair of big runs by Shaq Johnson moving the ball to the SMSU 23-yard line. The Mustang defense stiffened and forced CSP to settle for a 38-yard field goal by Danny Laudet with 1:53 remaining in the half.

SMSU picked up three first downs on ensuing drive and had first down at the CSP 14-yard line, but once again the strong CSP defense recorded a sack and two Bouman incomplete passes to force SMSU into a field goal attempt. Skyler Crew came on to attempt a 39-yard field goal but missed it wide left to send the teams into the halftime break with CSP holding a 10-0 advantage.

CSP used a big kickoff return to open the second half and eventually moved the ball inside the SMSU 10-yard line. But the Mustang defense came through with several big plays in the red zone, including a huge stop on fourth and one at the 7-yard line.

The SMSU offense then countered with one of its most impressive drives of the season. SMSU used more than six minutes off the clock, moving 93 yards on 15 plays with Duce Reynolds scoring on a 7-yard run to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 4:54 remaining in the third quarter. The Mustangs had three third-down conversions on the drive.

CSP answered in a big way on its ensuing drive, taking advantage of a lucky bounce and a big special teams play. CSP quarterback Maxon Hutton fumbled on the second play of the drive, but was able to recover to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, CSP was in punt formation on fourth and 11 from midfield, but Laudet elected not to punt and broke free for a 13-yard first down run. The Golden Bears would later convert a pair of big third down plays to keep the drive alive and eventually scored on a Johnson 2-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 17-7.

SMSU wouldn’t go away and put together another solid drive as Bouman connected on three passes to Davis to the CSP 35-yard line. Facing fourth and five from the 35-yard line, Bouman found Davis open across the middle for a big first down and would’ve scored to cut the deficit to possibly three points, but on the play Davis was called for taunting at the CSP 3-yard line to nullify the touchdown. Three plays later and facing third and 9 from the 17-yard line, Bouman was intercepted by Preston Piltoff at the 8-yard line and returned the interception 92 yards for a touchdown to give CSP a 24-7 lead at the 9:16 mark.

SMSU answered back on its next drive as Bouman connected on a 19-yard pass to Simmons to cap off a 12-play, 75-yard drive to cut the deficit to 24-14 with 5:26 remaining.

CSP recovered the ensuing on-side kick, but couldn’t put the game away as Peyton Sanders intercepted Hutton at the Mustang 13-yard line to keep SMSU in the game. The Mustangs picked up three first downs on the next drive, but eventually stalled near midfield following a pair of Golden Bear sacks to seal the victory.

Johnson led the Golden Bears with 132 yards rushing and one touchdown on 24 carriers, but was limited to just 15 yards on 10 carries in the second half.

Hutton, who was injured in last week’s last-minute loss at Augustana, completed 10 of 14 passes for 65 yards. He also rushed for 27 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries.

Jake Tanner had a team-high five receptions for 46 yards for CSP.

Garrett had three sacks and six tackles for CSP, while teammate Jake Portz had a team-high 11 tackles.

Southwest Minnesota State concludes the season next Saturday, Nov. 16, with a road match-up versus Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D., with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications