Box Score
ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University football team withstood a rash of injuries and went toe-to-toe with the University of Charleston football team for four quarters before ultimately losing to the Golden Bears, 17-14, Saturday at Callaghan Stadium.
The loss, Concord's second consecutive defeat, drops the Mountain Lions' record to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Charleston stayed perfect on the season, improving to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the WVIAC.
As a team, Concord held advantages over Charleston in first downs (18-11), time of possession (31:10 – 28:50) and third down conversions (7-3).
In his first career start, quarterback
Albert Rose went 16-of-27 for 137 yards while also rushing for one touchdown. Also making his debut for Concord on Saturday was running back
Calvinaugh Jones. The Glen Burnie, Md. native rushed for 111 yards on 22 attempts for an average of five yards per carry.
Six different CU players caught at least two passes with senior tight end
Andrew Lindner leading the way after a three-catch, 19-yard performance.
The Concord defense held Jordan Roberts, Charleston's All-American running back, to just 48 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Linebacker
Jake Lilly finished with a game-high 15 tackles, one shy of matching his career-high. Lilly also had 2.5 tackles for a loss.
Howard Jordan and
Davon Marion chipped in eight and seven tackles, respectively. In addition to their tackles, Marion broke up two passes and Jordan registered one sack. Cornerback
Mike Carey recovered one fumble.
The Concord defense came out ready to play. After surrendering a field goal to Charleston on the Golden Bears' opening drive, the CU defense kept Charleston in check until UC was able to score off of a five-yard run from Roberts with 6:25 left to play in the second quarter.
The Mountain Lions' responded to Charleston's touchdown on the next possession by going on a 11-play, 75-yard drive that featured eight runs by Jones and was capped off with a nine-yard scramble from Rose for a touchdown, cutting the Charleston lead to just three points, (10-7) heading into halftime.
Both defenses were able to silence the opposing offenses for the majority of the third quarter until Concord took advantage of a Charleston fumble at the UC 45 by marching down the field in eight plays and ultimately taking a 14-10 lead when
Ben Nester scored from four yards out with 2:51 left to play in the third quarter.
However, Concord was unable to keep its lead. With just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Concord was buried deep inside its own territory (the 14-yard line) after a Charleston punt when Rose was sacked from behind by UC's Jeff Green. Rose fumbled the ball and Green was able to scoop it up and score the go-ahead touchdown to give Charleston a 17-14 lead that it would not relinquish en route to its third consecutive win.
Concord will regroup and hit the road for its first away contest of the season Sept. 15 at West Virginia State. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m..
