Concord Stats -
Charleston Stats -
Live Audio -
Live Stats -
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Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - In what has been a closely-contested rivalry the last four years, the Concord University football team welcomes the University of Charleston to Callaghan Stadium 1:00 p.m. Saturday for a Mountain East Conference contest.
LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve will have live play-by-play of Saturday's game on 97.3 FM locally in the Mercer County area and online at this link.
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of Saturday's contest.
Video: The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live streaming video of the game between Concord and Charleston.
The live links can be accessed above or at the top of the page.
MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
The Mountain Lions snapped a two-game losing streak by grabbing a road win at West Virginia Wesleyan, 20-17, Saturday afternoon to even their record at 2-2.
Charleston earned its own rivalry game win, its first win of the season, in the Kanawha Classic as it defeated West Virginia State to move to 1-3 on the season.
CU was led by senior quarterback
Brian Novak in the win at WVWC.
Novak threw for 232 yard and three touchdowns as he connected with redshirt freshman wide receiver
Brandon Plyler for two touchdowns on the afternoon.
Novak finished the game 21-for-32 through the air, the fourth straight game the College Park, Maryland native has completed 20 or more passes.
Before this season, CU's signal caller had only completed 20 or more passes in eight games and had never done it in more than two consecutive contests.
Senior defensive back
Akil Bordelon led the Mountain Lions' defense as he racked up a team-high nine tackles and intercepted two passes at West Virginia Wesleyan.
For Bordelon, it was his third and fourth interceptions of the season.
Bordelon's multi-interception game was the first for a Concord player since 2013 when Josh Clark picked off two passes against UVa.-Wise.
The Oakland, California native is now tied for the MEC lead in interceptions with Glenville State's Nick Lopez and is one of three players in the nation with four or more picks in 2016.
Junior wide receiver
Paul Jones was the top target on the afternoon as he hauled in a career-high seven receptions for 30 yards and grabbed the game-winning touchdown with 4:39 left in the game.
Novak has spread the wealth around this season as seven different players have caught at least three passes in a game from Novak in senior fullback
Eric De Lucchi (3 vs. Urbana), senior wide receiver
Jermeil Douse (all four games), Jones (4 vs. West Liberty, 7 at West Virginia Wesleyan), sophomore wide receiver
Cameron Kerley (3 at Fairmont State), junior running back
Nick Loftin (5 at Fairmont State), senior wide receiver
Davon McGill (4 at Fairmont State, 4 at West Virginia Wesleyan) and Plyler (3 vs. West Liberty, 3 at West Virginia Wesleyan).
Additionally, Novak has completed a pass to at least seven different receivers in all four games this season.
Douse continues to climb the Concord record books in receiving.
The St. Petersburg, Florida native is tied with Randall Hawkins and Howie Castillo for eighth in all-time receptions at CU with 104 and can pass
Ryan Stewart with four catches versus UC.
Furthermore, Douse is 71 yards away from passing Castillo for fifth on the all-time receiving yards list.
Douse enters the weekend with 1,848 career receiving yards.
WVWC held the ball for nearly 35 minutes on CU Saturday, however, the Mountain Lions were able to get off the field when it mattered
Concord held West Virginia Wesleyan to 3-for-14 on third downs which was the fewest number of third downs converted on a CU defense since WVWC last season (1-for-14).
The Mountain Lions were plus-1 in turnover margin as Bordelon picked off the two passes while senior defensive lineman
Brandon Hazzard was credited with forcing his first career fumble.
Freshman defensive lineman
Mikeal Lipscomb made the recovery for the Maroon and Gray on Hazzard's strip.
The turnover battle could prove critical against Charleston.
Concord ranks fourth in the conference in turnover margin (+2) while the Golden Eagles are last (-7).
The Mountain Lions have forced a turnover in six consecutive games and eight of the last nine contests.
Another critical aspect of the 2016 meetings between the teams could be the punters.
CU's
Garrett Lee ranks second in the nation in punting average at 46.2 per boot while Charleston's Brett Benes is first in Division II, getting off an average of 47.4 yards per punt.
The last four meetings between CU and Charleston have been decided by one score.
Last season on the road, UC held off Concord 29-21.
The Mountain Lions won the two previous seasons by scores of 24-20 in 2014 and 9-3 in 2013.
Charleston won 17-14 in 2012 in Athens.
Douse was the leading receiver last season as he caught seven passes for 65 yards.
Defensively, Hazzard had five tackles and a sack for CU.
In two career games versus UC, senior defensive lineman
Darryl Johnson has notched 11 tackles and three tackles for loss.
Meanwhile, junior defensive back
Jeremiah Johnson has six tackles and one interception in his career versus Charleston.
SCOUTING CHARLESTON
Even though Charleston is 1-3 this season, those opponents have a combined record of 11-5.
UC has played three different quarterbacks in Anthony Fontana, Brant Grisel and Mason Olszewski with Grisel starting the last game, but the trio has combined for eight interceptions.
The Golden Eagles lead the league in rushing offense, averaging 203 yards on the ground per game.
UC is the only team in the league with two running backs over 250 rushing yards, Tevion Cappe (324) and Marvin Elam (258).
Rhakeem Stallings leads the league in tackles with 43.
A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
A Concord win would push CU back abNumber of combined points the four meetings have been decided by between Concord and Charleston. ove the .500 mark on the season.
A Concord win would give the Mountain Lions its 14th all-time win over Charleston. UC leads the series 15-13.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9- Â Number of different receivers that have caught a pass from Novak this season.
21- Number of combined points the four meetings have been decided by between Concord and Charleston.
106- Yards needed by Novak to surpass 1,000 passing yards for the season.
