West Liberty, WV- The Concord University Mountain Lion football team traveled to West Liberty, WV to take on the Hilltoppers Saturday, September 15th. West Liberty (ranked #34 in NCAA-II) toppled Concord 39-6.
After a series of punts to begin the game, West Liberty began the scoring with 8 minutes to go in the first quarter after a 24 yard reception by Almonzo Banks. West Liberty lead early in the game 7-0 and would keep the same score to end the first quarter.
The Hilltoppers offense would strike again, capping an 8 play drive with a 6 yard run by Kevon Calhoun. Concord's offense struggled early in the game against a very stout Hilltopper defense, but Concord's defense remained tough early into the second quarter.
West Liberty would get the ball right back off a Mountain Lion special teams turnover and would increase the lead quickly to 20-0. A field goal would put the Hilltoppers up 23-0 over the Mountain Lions for the half.
Concord came out strong at the start of the second half as Chris Harker would force a fumble on the kick-off return and Duke Adu would recover the fumble. It would only take Concord one play to score as Dustin Greenwood found Nathan Tanner on a bubble screen. The 12 yard reception put the Mountain Lions back in the game at 23-6.
But the Hiltoppers quieted any Mountain Lion hopes as they scored on a 30 yard reception by Willie Walker, putting them up 30-6. The game would end 39-6 in favor of the Hilltoppers.
Larry Hamblin lead the Mountain Lions in rushing with 56 yards with Travis Harris adding 50. Dustin Greenwood was 12-24 passing for 71 yards and a touchdown. Nathan Tanner lead the Mountain Lions in receiving with 8 catches for 52 yards and the only Mountain Lion touchdown.
Duke Adu lead the Mountain Lions in tackles with 11 and had a forced fumble while Doug Heath also had 11 tackles. Joey Thomas added 8 tackles while Ola Adams had 7.
Concord Mountain Lion Football (0-3, 0-1 WVIAC) will be back at home next Saturday, September 22nd as they take on West Virginia Wesleyan. Kickoff is set for 6:00pm.
