ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University football team was held to a season-low 306 yards of offense, but that didn't stop the Mountain Lions from squeaking by Bloomsburg, 32-26, in the Super Region One Final Saturday afternoon at Callaghan Stadium.
Concord (13-0) continued its storybook season with outstanding play on special teams, crucial stops defensively deep inside its own territory and timely explosive plays on offense.
BU attempted to jump on Concord early by successfully recovering an onside kick to open the game, but the Mountain Lions made one of many fourth-down stops on the day from its own 36-yard line.
After the stop, Concord took 10 plays to score as sophomore quarterback
Brian Novak hit junior wide receiver
Ryan Stewart in the middle of the endzone for his 12 touchdown catch of the season, giving the Mountain Lions a 6-0 advantage. On the ensuing point after try, a bad snap allowed BU to grab the ball and score two points of its own.
The Concord defense would get the Huskies off the field, setting up a long Mountain Lion drive that took 14 plays and over six minutes off the clock. Junior kicker
Andy Ellington who was 2-for-2 for the afternoon, Â gave CU a 9-2 lead with 1:18 left in the first quarter.
Perhaps, the turning point of the game came on two different plays in the second quarter. After CU had taken a 9-2 lead, junior athlete
Jermeil Douse caught a line drive punt on the fly at the Concord 19-yard line and raced 81 yards for a 16-2 Mountain Lion lead.
Douse's second punt return of the season was sprung by a bone-jarring block from senior running back
Josh Williams.
With momentum already on CU's side, the ensuing kickoff was fielded by BU's Lawrence Elliott Jr., who coughed up the ball at his own 25-yard line. Junior defensive lineman
Ervin Moore forced the fumble and Williams pounced on the loose ball.
The Mountain Lions needed seven plays and a successful fourth-down conversion from the one-yard line, but junior running back
Calvinaugh Jones was able to plunge into the endzone, giving CU a 23-2 lead with 10:59 left in the second quarter.
The next three scores of the game came from the Huskies, scoring once before halftime and adding two in the early stages of the second half as quarterback Tim Kelly ran for a touchdown and tossed for another. With 7:55 left in the third period, Concord and Bloomsburg were locked at 23-23.
Concord's offense was unfazed as it took four plays to grab the lead back. Jones ran off the left side of the offensive line for a 16-yard touchdown, making it a 29-23 game. Jones' touchdown was set up by a 39-yard connection from Novak to freshman wide receiver
TJ Smith.
After giving up touchdowns on consecutive drives, the Maroon and Gray defense stood tall for the remainder of the game. The Huskies were poised to score a touchdown after driving the field, but were stopped on four straight plays from inside the 15-yard line. BU kicker Braden Drexler knocked through a 28-yard field goal to make it 29-26 contest with 1:29 left in the third.
The only score of the fourth quarter was another short field goal from Ellington.
With CU clinging to a 32-26 lead, Bloomsburg had multiple chances to overtake Concord.
Once again Bloomsburg drove down to the Concord 11-yard line, but a holding call negated their first-down play. Three straight incompletion by Kelly forced the Huskies off the field.
After a CU punt, Bloomsburg needed a fourth-down conversion to keep its drive alive and potential season alive.
As Kelly rolled out to his left on the fourth-and-five play from the Bloomsburg 42-yard line, his intended pass was batted in the air by junior linebacker
Austin Dotson and the pop fly fell into the arms of junior defensive back
Derrick Johnson, sealing Concord's regional championship.
Jones claimed his 12
th 100-yard rushing game of the season after gaining 116 yards on the ground. He also moved into third place on the career touchdowns list at CU, passing Soloman Paddyfote.
In addition to his damage on special teams, Douse was Novak's top target in the passing game, hauling in seven catches for 67 yards.
Defensnively, sophomore defensive lineman
Darryl Johnson and De. Johnson tied for the team led in tackles with eight each. Moore added seven tackles, a tackle for loss and the forced fumble.
As a team, Concord limited BU to 1-for-5 on fourth down attempts.
Concord will play Minnesota-Makato in the national semifinals of Division II next Saturday. The location of the game will be announced in the coming days. Stayed tuned to cumountainlions.com for complete updates and coverage of the game.
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