FOOTBALL PREVIEW: CONCORD vs UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON

1:00 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, CALLAGHAN STADIUM

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For the second straight season, the Concord Football team finds itself at a crossroads as it prepares to meet the University of Charleston.

Last year, the Mountain Lions were 3-0 going into their matchup with the Golden Eagles. But CU had lost QB Zack Grossi to a season-ending knee injury the week before, and as the offense adjusted Charleston rolled to a 52-14 victory at UC Stadium.  Concord finished the season 6-5.

This year, Concord is 2-1 going into its clash with the Golden Eagles, and coming off a frustrating 20-13 loss at West Virginia Wesleyan.

The Bobcats outgained CU 467-372, went 10-19 on 3rd down conversions and possessed the ball for 40:05, but Concord still had several opportunities to win.

Three turnovers scuttled the Mountain Lions' chances, including a fumble at Wesleyan's 15 in the final five minutes. CU head coach Mike Kellar says the loss didn't go down well, obviously, but that the painful defeat could serve as motivation against UC.


“It was one of those days. It'll sting. There's an old coaches' saying that the wins never feel as good as the losses hurt,” Kellar said. “On that day, they were better than us. That day, they kept scoring. But we can't forget that feeling. We can't forget how bad it hurt, how bad it felt to lose.”

On the other side, Charleston goes into Saturday on an upswing. The Golden Eagles lost their season opener 24-12 to still-unbeaten Tusculum on August 28, but recovered to trounce Mars Hill 42-20 in week two.  Last Saturday, after a bye week, Charleston routed arch-rival West Virginia State 42-0, outgaining the Yellow Jackets 406-213 in the process.

UC head coach Tony DeMeo's Triple Gun offense no longer has star QB DaRante Hunter, who rushed for 918 yards and 23 TDs a year ago.
But it still produced 806 yards in the Eagles' two wins this season, leading Kellar to note that even though there's a new signal-caller, DeMeo hasn't made a lot of changes.

“Schematically, he's almost exactly the same. He's featured some things kind of differently, and his method of getting to the things he likes to do is a little different,” said Kellar. “But when you look at them on tape, they're in the same formations and using the same motions they always have. The thing they do a lot different is that they throw the ball a lot more. But that's just using your personnel in the right way.”

Concord faced the WVIAC's top-ranked run defense last week at West Virginia Wesleyan and mustered just 53 yards rushing. This week, the Mountain Lions face the team that's second-best against the run – Charleston has allowed just 54.0 yards a game and 2.0 yards per carry.

But the Golden Eagles are second-to-last in pass defense, allowing opponents 269.7 yards per game and a .587 completion rate.

That could be good news for Grossi, who's thrown four interceptions in the last two games but leads the WVIAC in passing yards (917), TDs (8) and pass efficiency (150.4).
Plus, All-American WR Thomas Mayo again leads the league in receiving yards per game (109.3) and yards per catch (19.3).

Saturday's game kicks off at 1:00 pm Saturday at Callaghan Stadium.

Live streaming video will be available at  www.concord.edu/mltv.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 102.3 The Ticket (WMTD Hinton/Princeton/Beckley) with the audio webcast at  www.theticket102.com/, starting with "The Mountain Lion Preview" show at 12:30 pm.

Concord will provide Live Stats during Saturday's game at www.sidearmstats.com/concord/football/index.htm.


CONCORD FOOTBALL PAGE:  www.cumountainlions.com/index.aspx

CHARLESTON FOOTBALL PAGE:  www.ucwvathletics.com/index.aspx

WVIAC WEEKLY FOOTBALL PREVIEW PAGE:  www.wviac.org/news/2010/9/23/FB_0923103639.aspx

WVIAC STATS PAGE:  www.wviac.org/custompages/football/10fbHTML/confstat.htm

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