JAMESTOWN, N.D.—The University of Jamestown football team had a comeback attempt come up short Saturday afternoon at Charlotte & Gordon Hansen Stadium, falling 31-23 to Concordia-St. Paul.
After UJ's opening series ended with a
Kobe Irmen punt, Lincoln Graf's 32-yard third-down run moved the Golden Bears (3-2, 2-2 NSIC) into Jimmie territory, but
Zach Mueller hurried one incompletion and
Xander Jarosh broke up another before James Graves made a 41-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead at 11:34. Jamestown (0-5, 0-4 NSIC) answered with their best sustained possession of the first quarter, getting a first down on
Jacob Mattick's four-yard completion to
Ethan Hoffman and another on
Andres Bonilla's 13-yard run before the drive stalled at the CSP 40.
Concordia-St. Paul followed with a 13-play, 86-yard drive from their own 14, converting third-and-6 on Graf's 14-yard completion to Carter Zezulka and later third-and-11 on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Manny Harris before the extra point made it 10-0. UJ's final possession of the quarter continued when a roughing-the-passer penalty wiped out an interception, and Bonilla's 25-yard run moved the ball to the CSP 33 as the first quarter ended.
UJ opened the second quarter in Golden Bears territory, and Hoffman's 31-yard completion to
Gage Solano set up
Simon Kieffer's two-yard touchdown run.
Ethan Lieb's extra point made it 10-7 at 13:53. CSP answered quickly when Graf connected with Joel Lacy for a 60-yard touchdown, then put together a 75-yard drive capped by Lacy's two-yard run to move ahead 24-7.
After Bonilla's fumble gave the Golden Bears the ball at the UJ 32, the Jimmie defense forced a punt, and the offense followed with an 11-play, 69-yard drive, ending with Lieb's 35-yard field goal at 1:10. Mueller sacked Graf on the final play of the second quarter, and CSP led 24-10 going into the half.
The Golden Bears opened the third quarter with an 11-play, 65-yard drive, aided by Lacy's 26-yard run to the UJ 10. Graf found BJ Davis for a 4-yard touchdown on fourth down, and Graves made the point after kick to extend the lead to 31-10 with just under ten minutes left in the period.
Jamestown's next possession picked up a first down on Mattick's 18-yard pass to Bonilla, but the drive stalled near midfield and Irmen punted. On CSP's next series,
Ethan Gall dropped Graf for a 3-yard loss and Mueller hurried a fourth-down incompletion at the UJ 38 to force a turnover on downs at the 3:05 mark. UJ turned the ball over on downs at their own 46 on the ensuing possession, and the Golden Bears used two Lacy runs to move the chains before the third quarter ended with the ball at the UJ 35 and the score still 31-10.
After CSP missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt at 13:19, the Jimmies put together a 13-play, 67-yard scoring drive highlighted by Mattick's 11-yard completion to
Nate Burke on fourth-and-9, and ended with Solano's three-yard touchdown pass to
Jordan Theisen. Lieb's extra point made it 31-17.
The Golden Bears moved to the UJ 34 on their next possession, but Gall and
Evan Smith combined for a two-yard tackle for loss on third down before a fourth-down incompletion turned the ball over at 3:00.
Jamestown covered 66 yards in 1:22 on the ensuing drive, with Mattick running for 17 yards, hitting Solano for 36 yards, and later finding Hoffman for a four-yard touchdown at 1:38. The conversion attempt failed, leaving the score 31-23, and CSP took over after recovering an onside kick and ran out the clock.
CSP finished with 424 yards of offense, including 241 passing and 183 rushing, while UJ ran for 189 yards and passed for 145 more. The Golden Bears also had the time of possession advantage, 34:17 to 25:43, and converted 8 of 14 third downs, compared with the Jimmies' 4 of 11.
Bonilla led the UJ ground game with 73 rushing yards, and Mattick added 50 rushing yards along with 114 yards on 13 of 21 passing. Solano caught two passes for 67 yards. Hoffman finished with seven receptions for 17 yards and a touchdown while also throwing for 31 yards and rushing for 17. Jarosh led the Jimmies defensively with eight tackles.
Lacy carried 14 times for 88 yards and a touchdown, and caught six passes for 121 yards and another score. Graf completed 22 of 34 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, while adding 33 rushing yards. Harris caught eight passes for 45 yards and a touchdown. Jonas Barros recorded a team-high eight tackles.
UJ travels to Bismarck, North Dakota, to face University of Mary on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, at 2 p.m.
