Concord Starts Price Era at Home Against West Liberty

Concord Stats - West Liberty Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - For the first time since the start of the 2011 season, the Concord University football team will have a new head coach on the sidelines when it opens up the season 12:00 p.m. Saturday at home versus West Liberty.

LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve will have full play-by-play of Saturday's game on Willie 97.3FM locally and online by clicking this link or at the top of the page.
Stats: The Concord Univeristy Sports Informatin Department will be providing live in-game statistics of Saturday's game. To follow the live stats follow the link at the top of the page or by clicking here.
Video: Live streaming video of Saturday's game can be found at the link at the top of the page or by clicking here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
Paul Price took over for former head coach Garin Justice in January as he was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach at CU.

Price will have the luxury of six starters returning on the offensive side of the ball led by senior quarterback Brian Novak and senior wide receiver Jermeil Douse.

Novak is set to become the most prolific quarterback in Concord history.

Heading into Saturday's matchup with the Hilltoppers, the College Park, Maryland native needs 324 yards to become the school's all-time leading passer and two touchdowns to become CU's leader in touchdown passes in a career.

In his time at CU, Novak has thrown for 7,507 yards and 56 touchdowns while averaging 220.7 passing yards per game, second most in school history.

A season ago, Novak tossed for 2,212 yards and 15 touchdowns that followed a 34-touchdown season in 2014.

The new offensive coordinator for CU, Brendan Murphy, coached with former Concord and current VMI offensive coordinator Dustin Ward at St. Joe's College in Indiana, who Novak flourished under in 2014.

Douse, the leading receiver for the Mountain Lions in 2015, returns for his senior season after catching 49 passes for 919 yards and five touchdowns in his first full season as a wide receiver in 2015.

Protecting Novak and opening up holes for the running game will be returning linemen, seniors Coleman Osborne and Paul Smith along with sophomore Derek Dressler.

Anchored by Osborne and Smith, the offensive line has finished first and second in the Mountain East Conference the last two seasons in sacks allowed including a league-low nine sacks last season.

The sixth returner to the CU offense is junior tight end Jordan Bryant who battled injuries in 2015, but appeared in nine games making three catches.

The biggest hole on offense is replacing Concord's all-time leading rusher Calvinaugh Jones.

Senior running back Ethan Richardson is listed as the top running back on the depth chart followed by junior college transfer Nick Loftin.

Richardson rushed for 175 yards two years ago, but appeared in half of CU's games last season due to injuries.

Meanwhile, Loftin rushed for 423 yards last season at Moorpark College in California.

On the defensive side of the ball, promoted defensive coordinator Pat Dawson welcomes back five starters to a traditionally stout defense.

The defense will be led by all-conference junior cornerbacks, Jeremiah Johnson and Chaudlier Shepherd.

The duo finished first and second in the MEC in pass break-ups with 11 and 10, respectively, last season as Johnson earned second team all-region.

The other three starters for the Mountain Lions on defense come in the way of senior defensive linemen Brandon Hazzard, Darryl Johnson and Kevin Pierre.

Last season, Hazzard and Johnson combined for 41 tackles and two sacks as Johnson missed five games to start the season.

Meanwhile, Pierre had a breakout year, tallying 34 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss (TFLs) and three sacks, all career highs.

Senior defensive back Akil Bordelon is listed as the top strong safety on the depth chart, and saw significant time as the nickel cornerback last season as he racked up 23 tackles and two interceptions.

Last season, the Mountain Lions dropped a 29-28 decision at West Liberty as the Hilltoppers recorded a safety and a field goal in the final 2:37 of the contest to steal a game from the Mountain Lions.

Novak threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns at WLU.

Two of the scores went to Douse who finished with three catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

In two previous games against West Liberty, Douse has caught seven passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

Overall, Douse has recorded 271 all-purpose yards and six touchdowns in his career versus WLU.

Meanwhile, Novak has thrown for 485 yards and five touchdowns in his last two starts against the Hilltoppers.

Pierre began his career season with a solid performance in last year's opener by recording seven tackles and two sacks against West Liberty.

The Concord defense was responsible for three of the 15 interceptions that then-junior quarterback Dakota Conwell threw last season as Bordelon and Shepherd each intercepted the WLU signal call in last year's game.

For Shepherd, it one of his team-leading four interceptions from last season.

In the secondary, J. Johnson also broke up three additional passes thrown by Conwell.

The Baltimore, Maryland native continues to climb up the all-time list at CU in passes defended with 28, and with seven more passes defended he will move into fourth place.

SCOUTING WEST LIBERTY
West Liberty is coming off a 5-6 season in 2015 as it lost three of its last four games.

Conwell not only threw for 2,377 yards, but is also WLU's second-leading returning leading rusher with 603 yards on the ground last season.

The Hilltoppers did lose their top receiving target in tight end Daree Goodwin who had 916 yards and 13 touchdowns, but Anton McCallum, who had 732 yards and eight touchdowns in 2015, is back.

A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
A Concord win would give Price his first career win at CU and his first win since being a head coach at WVU Tech in 1998.

A Concord win would give Novak his 25th career win as the starting QB at CU.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2- Touchdown passes by Novak to become the school's all-time leader.

4-  Concord won four straight games in this series from 2011-2014 before last year's defeat.

61- Number of points Concord put on the board when CU and West Liberty met at Callaghan Stadium two seasons ago.