ST. PAUL, Minn. (Griffin Stadium) - It was a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football opener which neither Bemidji State nor Concordia-St. Paul will ever forget. Golden Bear quarterback James McNear picked up his fourth rushing touchdown of the day in the first overtime, and Bemidji State quarterback Nathan Sannes (Fertile, Minn.) was intercepted in the end zone on BSU’s first play of overtime as Concordia-St. Paul survived a wild 55-48 shootout.
For different reasons at different times during the contest, overtime seemed to be the day’s least-likely possible outcome.
Concordia-St. Paul scored two first-quarter touchdowns and held BSU’s offense to just 41 total yards, leaving the Beavers staring at their biggest deficit after one quarter in nearly six years.
McNear got Concordia on the board first, setting the tone for what would become a monstrous afternoon with a 24-yard scamper to cap a 91-yard touchdown march. He later found Jason Simmons from 23 yards out to help put the Golden Bears on top, 14-0, with 1:07 to play in the first. Concordia took the 14-0 lead into the quarter break, marking BSU’s biggest deficit after one quarter since also trailing 14-0 at Northern State on Sept. 25, 1999.
But BSU would chip away in the second quarter, sandwiching a 37-yard touchdown pass from Sannes to Chad Christianson (Hudson, Wis.) and a one-yard dive by Alvaro Carvajal (San Francisco, Calif.) around a 45-yard scoring run from McNear to trail by eight, 21-13, heading into the halftime intermission.
Concordia-St. Paul’s first-half control did not carry over into the early portions of the third quarter. The Golden Bears seemed to implode with four critical mistakes, and BSU scored three touchdowns in the first 2:32 of the third quarter to charge into the lead.
BSU’s Josh Templin (Baudette, Minn.) hit Montez Bridgefourth on the opening kickoff of the second half, and Bridgefourth fumbled the ball away to Terrell Phelps (Lincolnton, Minn.). Concordia kept the ensuing BSU drive alive by drawing a 15-yard flag for roughing Sannes after an incomplete pass on 3rd and seven, and on the next BSU snap Sannes found Danny Rodgers (Plymouth, Minn.) in the end zone. The PAT pulled BSU within a point, 21-20.
Josh Smith (Badger, Minn.) then intercepted McNear on the first Golden Bear play from scrimmage following the touchdown, and returned the pick 29 yards for a touchdown to give BSU its first lead of the contest. BSU’s two-point conversion failed, leaving the Beavers with a 26-21 advantage.
Bridgefourth again fumbled on the kickoff, but this time the ball went out of bounds. However, Brian Holmes fumbled on the first play of the ensuing Concordia drive, and Justin Kaney (Wittenburg, Wis.) recovered to put BSU in business at the Concordia 40.
Sannes found Jonathan Hawks (Gainesville, Ga.) in the end zone on the next play. Sannes found Tyler Olson (Alvarado, Minn.) from 22 yards out later in the quater to give BSU a 40-21 advantage.
However, Concordia-St. Paul ripped off touchdowns on each of their next four possessions to retake the lead.
The Golden Bears answered Olson’s touchdown with a 10-play, 74-yard drive which took just 1:54 off the clock. McNear completed 4 of 7 passes on the drive, and Aaron Cawthorn capped it with an 11-yard run.
McNair found Nate Harrington from 34 yards out on the next Golden Bear drive, and with the PAT BSU’s lead was cut to 40-35 with 1:54 to play in the third quarter.
The Golden Bears recaptured the lead on their next possession.
McNear found Antwon Williams on a 45-yard catch-and-run on a 2nd and 10 play to push the ball into BSU territory, and later in the drive McNear called his own number on 3rd and 5 and scrambled in from 13 yards out. The PAT kick completed the Concordia comeback, erasing the 19-point BSU lead and giving the hosts a 41-40 advantage.
BSU went three-and-out, and the Bears seemed to add some insurance with their fourth of four unanswered touchdowns.
McNear hit Williams for a 22-yard gain to get the ball into BSU territory, and the Bears rode Cawthorn on four consecutive runs to cap the drive - culminating with a 13-yard scoring run. The point after was good, and the Bears led 48-40 with 2:54 to play.
But Bemidji State was not done.
Sannes set up the Beaver offense at the Concordia 17-yard line, and needed just eight plays and 2:04 to drive the length of the field. Sannes completed 4 of 6 passes on the drive for 82 yards, and he capped the rally with a one-yard scoring plunge with 50 seconds to play in regulation. He then found Carvajal in the back of the end zone on the two-point conversion pass to tie the score at 48.
Concordia was unable to drive into field goal range on its final drive of regulation, and BSU threw one incomplete pass after taking over with six seconds to play to send the game into overtime.
Bemidji State won the coin toss in overtime and elected to put its defense on the field to open. McNear found Bridgefourth for one yard on first down, then picked up 20 yards on the following play. He scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the afternoon from one yard out on the next play, and the PAT kick put the Bears on top 55-48.
Sannes attempted to find Hawks in the end zone on BSU’s first snap in overtime, but Antonio Brown intercepted the pass to seal the victory for the Golden Bears.
McNear assembled a statistical performance which rivals the greatest single-game efforts by any quarterback in college football history. He completed 22 of 40 passes for 309 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and rushed 22 times for 215 yards and an additional four touchdowns. He became the first BSU opponent to account for six touchdowns since 2001 (see game notes), and McNear’s 524 yards of individual offense were more than BSU had allowed to an entire team since Oct. 9, 2004 (526 yards by then-18th ranked Winona State).
Sannes did his part to keep pace. He matched McNear by going 22-of-40 through the air and threw four touchdown passes for the third time in four games this year. He threw for 377 yards, the second-highest total of his career and the fifth-best day in BSU history.
Bemidji State’s running game continued to struggle. It generated just 81 yards, marking the second time in the last three games it failed to top 100 yards, and at halftime BSU had rushed for only 23 yards - its worst first half since losing nine yards in the first half of its last trip to Concordia-St. Paul in 2003.
Ben Baratto (Crosby-Ironton, Minn.) had 14 tackles for the BSU defense, one shy of his career high, while Jeremiah Johnson (Glidden, Iowa) racked up 11 tackles. Johnson has recorded at least 10 tackles in each of BSU’s four games this season.
Kaney finished with five tackles (four solo), one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and a sack.
Today’s game marked the fourth overtime game in BSU history, and the first for the team since Oct. 26, 2002. The loss dropped BSU to 2-2 in overtime tilts.
Bemidji State set two school scoring records in the contest. BSU’s 48 points scored were the team’s most-ever in a loss (prev: 47-46 loss to Southwest State on Nov. 17, 1991); and the 48-48 score BSU and Concordia at the end of regulation was the highest combined point total (96) through four quarters in BSU history (prev: 93 on two occasions).
BSU fell to 2-5 all-time against Concordia-St. Paul and remained winless in four trips to St. Paul.
The loss dropped Bemidji State to 3-1 on the year, snapping the team’s five-game winning streak which had been tied for the longest in the Jeff Tesch era (since 1996), and fell to 0-1 in NSIC play. Concordia-St. Paul improved to 4-1, 1-0 in the NSIC. BSU is back in action Saturday, Oct. 1 against Southwest Minnesota State. Opening kickoff for BSU’s 2005 Homecoming game is set for 1:30 p.m. Central time at Chet Anderson Stadium on the BSU campus.
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