Concord Faces Nationally-Ranked Shepherd

Concord Stats - Shepherd Stats - Live Stats - Live Audio - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - After a narrow road loss, 23-21, to Notre Dame in Mountain East Conference action, the Concord University football team returns home to host one of its league rivals, ninth-ranked Shepherd.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve Cox will have live play-by-play radio coverage of Saturday's game on 97.3 FM "Willie or online at mywillie.com
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department provides live in-game statistics for all home games.
TV: A.J. Good and Will King will do live television coverage of Saturday's game on WVVA-TV.
Online: WVVA's live stream can be viewed at wvva.com/live

To access any of the live coverage options, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• The loss drops CU's record to 4-3, both overall and in the MEC.

• A two-yard run on the first play of the second half allowed senior Calvinaugh Jones to break Concord all-time rushing record. Jones now has 4,258 yards for his career after a 139-yard, one-touchdown performance versus the Falcons.

• In the process, Jones set a new personal single-season high with his 11th rushing touchdown of the season.

• After a slow start to the 2015 season, Jones has now ripped off 100 or more rushing yards in three consecutive games and 100 yards against Shepherd would tie Jones' second-longest streak of his career with four games of 100 or more rushing yards.

• Saturday was also a career day for senior defensive lineman Ervin Moore who had a personal-best 12 tackles while also forcing two fumbles, his first multi-forced fumble game in his career.

• Moore moved from a tie for fourth to a tie for second with former CU linebacker Ethan Perry with six career forced fumbles.

• Additionally with the 12 tackles, the Lancaster, South Carolina native tied senior linebacker Austin Dotson for the active team lead with 184 tackles.

• Dotson notched his first double-digit tackle game of the season by making 10 stops against Notre Dame.

• Senior fullback Shaun Workinger had two touchdown runs of one yard which was his first career multi-touchdown game, and Workinger now has four rushing touchdowns this season.

• Sophomore wide receiver TJ Smith racked up 110 yards on five receptions to notch his first 100-yard receiving game of 2015.

• The Concord field goal block unit came up with its third blocked kick of the season as senior linebacker Cade Rogers swatted away a kick at the end of the third quarter to keep the game 20-14.

• Rogers also added eight tackles on the day, his most since the season-opener at West Liberty.

• By making six tackles, junior defensive lineman Darryl Johnson became just four active CU player to have 100 or more tackles in a career, joining Dotson and Moore and senior defensive back Derrick Johnson

• Concord and Shepherd have split the last four meetings with each team winning on the other's home turf once (Shepherd at Concord, 2013; Concord at Shepherd, 2014).

• Additionally, three of the last four meetings have come when at least one of the teams were ranked including 2014 when both were ranked by the American Football Coaches' Association Poll.

• The 2014 edition of Concord-Shepherd was an instant classic with the No. 12 Mountain Lions outlasting the No. 21 Rams 29-20 in overtime.

• Smith had one of his best games at CU to date by snagging five passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

• With only one turnover in the game, the Concord special teams came to the forefront against SU.

• Senior wide receiver Tiko Henderson returned a kickoff to vault CU to a 20-13 lead late in the game, however, Shepherd answered with a long touchdown-scoring drive to force overtime.

• After senior kicker Andy Ellington connected on a 43-yard field goal on CU's possession, Johnson blocked Shepherd's field goal attempt and sophomore defensive back Jeremiah • Johnson raced 86 yards for a touchdown to secure a 29-20 win.

• With the game being the regular-season finale for both teams, Concord won the MEC Championship with the victory inside Ram Stadium.

• Dotson's career high in tackles came versus Shepherd last season with the Pound, Virginia native collecting 11.

• The Mountain Lions also recorded four sacks in last year's game with Dotson and Rogers notching one each.

• In his last two games against Shepherd, junior quarterback Brian Novak has thrown two touchdowns in each game.

• In 2013 his scoring tosses went to Henderson and Workinger.

• Additionally, the Mountain Lions have had a 100-yard receiver in each of the last two games versus a vaunted Rams defense, Henderson in 2013 and Smith in 2014.

• Just like several recent games between Concord and Shepherd, Saturday game will pit the league's two best scoring defenses and rushing defenses as Shepherd has only allowed 16.2 points per game this season while CU is giving up 19.4 points per game.

• The Rams have limited their opponents to 88.3 yards per game, and Concord is allowing 111.9 yards.

• However, Saturday's game could also involved some fireworks offensively with Shepherd leading the league in scoring offense with 44.3 points per game.

• Concord is fifth in the MEC in scoring with 34.6 points per game.

• Shepherd quarterback Jeff Ziemba has thrown for 1,601 yards and 16 touchdowns with only one interception this season.

• Ziemba (158.7) and Novak (148.0) rank first and second in the conference in passer efficiency.

• Ziemba's top target this season has been Billy Brown, who scored a touchdown in last year's game.

• Brown has caught 31 passes for 506 yards and two touchdowns.

• Meanwhile, the 1-2 backfield punch of Allen Cross and Jabre Lolley have combined for 764 rushing yard and 10 touchdowns this season with seven coming from Lolley.

• The Rams have five different players with at least 25 tackles this season led by spur linebacker Keon Robinson with 40.

A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
• A Concord win over Shepherd would knock the Rams from ranks of the undefeated nationally where only 10 teams remain unbeaten in Division II.

• A Concord win over Shepherd would be two straight for the Mountain Lions.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Number of punts sophomore punter Garrett Lee knocked inside the 20-yard line last year at Shepherd.

27- Number of combined starts for Concord players, both offensively and defensively versus Shepherd.

275- Yards needed by Novak to go over 7,000 pasing yards for his career