Box Score INSTITUTE, W.Va. – A week after scoring 54 points in a season-opening win over Glenville State, the Concord University football team continued its early-season offensive showcase Saturday with a 55-7 over West Virginia State at Lakin Field.
For the second consecutive game, Concord scored more than 50 points while recording 585 yards of offense. The 109 points CU has scored to start the season is the most points scored a Mountain Lion offense over a two-game straight since 2009 when they scored 115 against Southern Virginia and Lenoir-Rhyne to start the season.
Concord wasted little time flexing its offensive muscle against the Yellow Jackets as the Mountain Lions scored three times in the first quarter including three passing scores from sophomore quarterback
Brian Novak.
After a missed field goal by West Virginia State on its opening drive, Novak guided the offense down for field before finding freshman wide receiver T.J. Smith for a 13-yard strike to give CU an early 7-0 advantage. After another drive stalled for West Virginia State, Novak threw a crossing pass to junior wide receiver
Ryan Stewart for 51 yards to make it 14-0 Concord with 6:11 left in the first.
However, Novak and Stewart were far from finished from scoring touchdowns as the CU signal caller found Stewart on a slant route in the end zone with just 20 seconds left in the first quarter to give Concord a 21-0 advantage.
Concord added two more touchdowns in the second quarter highlighted by
Calvinaugh Jones punching in a six-yard run and Stewart grabbing another touchdown from Novak to take a 34-0 lead at halftime.
Out of the locker room, the Concord offense continued its domination as the opening score in the second half was a hard-nosed goal line touchdown from
Angus Harper, who was coming off a four-touchdown game against Glenville State. With the lead at 41-0, Novak went to the air once again to find Stewart on a 59-yard strike.
The final Concord score came from junior wide receiver
Albert Rose, who entered the game to play quarterback, finding junior wide receiver
Tiko Henderson on a 41-yard pass late in the third quarter.
West Virginia State added a score in the fourth quarter to avoid being shutout.
Saturday was one of the best days for Stewart wearing the Maroon and Gray. The Charlotte native set a career high in touchdowns with four while finishing just two yards shy from tying his career high of 177.
Novak continued his stellar play to star the 2014 season as he threw five touchdowns. For the season, he has six touchdowns to just one interception. By running for 113 yards, Jones went over the 100-yard rushing barrier for the 11
th time in his CU career and now stands just six yards away from breaking 2,000 in his career.
With the offense receiving most of the attention on the afternoon, the Concord defense put its offense in several situations to succeed as the defense limited West Virginia State to 295 yards. In the first half, the Yellow Jackets marched into CU territory three times, but with the help of a missed field goal, an interception from senior cornerback
Mike Carey and a blocked field goal by senior defensive lineman
Keith Ferguson kept the shutout intact over the first 30 minutes.
Along with Carey's interception, junior safety
Derrick Johnson and redshirt freshman cornerback
Jeremiah Johnson came away with their first interceptions at Concord. In addition to his interception, D.Johnson made nine tackles on the day, the second most by a CU defender behind junior linebacker
Brandon Hazzard who had 11 stops in the contest.
With the win Saturday, Concord begins the season 2-0 for the second straight season. It was also the 24
th head coaching win for
Garin Justice, breaking a tie with Joe Friedl for seventh all-time.
The Mountain Lions will now return home for two straight games beginning with CU's only non-conference game of 2014 next Saturday 12 p.m. versus Bowie State.
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