ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Augustana football team played its second-straight game on the road and won its second-straight on the road in a 24-16 win at Concordia-St. Paul Saturday night. The Vikings move to 3-0 on the year while CSP falls to 1-2 on the season.
 
Casey Bauman threw for three touchdowns on 243 yards while Jarod Epperson had his best game of the season with 80- yards rushing while averaging 6.7 yards per rush. Defensively, Peyton Buckley put himself into contention for the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week with 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a pair of pass breakups.
 
After the Golden Bears opened the game with a 13-play, 75-yard drive to give AU its first deficit of the 2023 season at 7-0. On the final play of the first quarter, Casey Bauman placed a perfect pass to the left hand of Jack Fisher for a 23-yard touchdown pass.
 
With Jake Pecina's point-after, the Vikings had things tied up after a 6-play, 60-yard drive.
 
Augustana then jumped to a 14-7 lead as Bauman had another perfectly placed pass, this time to Mitchell Goodbary. The Vikings' tight end made the catch in the front-corner of the end zone for a 23-yard reception.
 
With 22 seconds remaining in the first half, Pecina split the uprights on a 19-yard field goal pushing Augustana's lead to 17-7. The home team then connected on a field goal of its own as the clock hit 00:00 as AU went into the locker room with a 17-10 lead.
 
On the opening drive of the second half, the Vikings marched 70 yards on eight plays while chewing up 3:20 of the game clock to take a 24-10 lead. Bauman found Fisher in the end zone for the second time in the game as Fisher found a seam in the CSP defense and caught the ball while crossing the goal line.
 
Concordia-St. Paul was able to connect on two more field goals to make the final score 24-16 as Augustana won its seventh-straight game in the series.
 
Augustana totaled 390 yards of total offense with 243 through the air and 147 on the ground. After Epperson's 80 yards rushing, Kyle Graham totaled 42 yards rushing and was key in the AU running out the clock at the end of the game. Fisher was Bauman's top target yards wise with 77 receiving yards on three catches and two touchdowns. Goodbary and Logan Uttecht each had four receptions for 65 and 63 yards, respectively.
 
The Vikings return to Kirkeby-Over Stadium for the 100^th Viking Days celebration on Saturday as MSU Moorhead invades Jim Heinitz Field. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. To purchase tickets, head to GoAugie.com/Tickets.