Box Score
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Junior running back
Ben Nester ran for three touchdowns and the Mountain Lions' defense held the Mountain East Conference's leading rusher to just 40 yards rushing as the Concord University football team defeated Notre Dame College 30-14 Saturday afternoon at Mueller Field.
The victory, Concord's fourth consecutive win, improves the Mountain Lions' record to 8-2 overall and 7-1 in MEC games. CU's triumph on Saturday sets up a showdown with Shepherd University (9-0, 8-0 MEC) next week that will be for a share of the MEC championship. Notre Dame falls to 4-6 overall and 3-5 in league play with the loss.
Concord, which entered the game allowing an NCAA Division II low 11.2 points per game, was once again impressive on defense. The Mountain Lions held Notre Dame to just 248 yards of total offense while also forcing two turnovers. The Falcons' 14 points were their lowest output of the season.
Notre Dame's Pedro Powell, who entered the game averaging an MEC-high 133.9 yards per game, was limited to just 35 yards on 17 attempts. For the year Concord has allowed just two individual 100-yard rushing performances.
As a team, Concord held advantages over Notre Dame in total offense (344-248), rushing yards (248-38), first downs (16-14) and time of possession (34:40 – 25:20).
Leading the Mountain Lions on defense was the trio of senior linebacker
Jake Lilly, sophomore linebacker
Austin Dotson and junior safety
DeShon Marman. Lilly and Dotson tied for the team-lead in tackles with 10 with Marman right behind them at nine stops.
The Mountain Lions tallied 11 tackles for loss with junior defensive lineman
Will Greathouse leading the charge with two TFLs and one of CU's two sacks on the day. Junior defensive lineman
Keith Ferguson had Concord's other sack.
Senior safety
Davon Marion and junior cornerback
Mike Carey each intercepted a pass. Marion's INT was his fifth of the season while Carey's pick was his third.
Concord's offense was led by the three-headed running attack of Nester, sophomore
Calvinaugh Jones and redshirt freshman
Sam Wright. Jones ran for a game-high 104 yards to push his season total to 958, Nester picked up the first three-touchdown game of his career in addition to 67 yards and Wright rushed for a career-high 79 yards to go with one touchdown.
The Mountain Lions' 248 rushing yards marked Concord's second-best rushing performance of the season.
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Brian Novak completed 7-of-15 passes for 96 yards and one interception. Redshirt freshman wide receiver
Davon McGill caught three passes for 47 yards. The trio of redshirt freshman tight end
Dalton Brindo, sophomore wide receiver
Tiko Henderson and junior wide receiver
Darrick Williams each caught one pass for 19 yards, 17 yards and 14 yards, respectfully.
Sophomore kicker
Andy Ellington continued to improve upon his historic season by connecting on a school-record 52 yard field goal. Ellington already owned the previous longest field goal in Concord history at 48 yards.
Wright opened up the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown run on Concord's first possession of the game. CU held on to its 7-0 lead for the remainder of the first quarter before Notre Dame cut its deficit down to one point at 7-6 by recovering a fumble in the end zone midway through the second quarter.
Nester proceeded to produce his first rushing score of the day off of a three-yard run at the six-minute mark in the second quarter to send Concord into halftime leading the Falcons 14-6.
The Falcons managed to tie the game on their first series of the second half when quarterback Ray Russ found Colton Mitchell for a 41-yard touchdown connection followed by a successful two-point conversion.
However, any thoughts of a comeback would be short lived as the Mountain Lions went on to drive 92 yards in 12 plays on their ensuing possession with Nester finishing the series off with a one-yard touchdown run to extend CU's lead to 21-14. Concord added nine insurance points in the fourth quarter by way of Ellington's 52-yard field goal and another Nester touchdown to secure the 30-14 victory.
The Concord offense possessed the ball for 20 minutes and 18 seconds in the second half.
Notre Dame was led by Russ, who completed 22-of-35 passes for 175 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Concord's regular-season finale against Shepherd is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff next Saturday at Callaghan Stadium. A Concord win would not only guarantee them a share of the conference title, but also go a long way in helping CU secure a playoff berth.
