Concord Makes First Road Trip of Season to Charleston

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

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team plays a second straight Thursday night game when it visits the University of Charleston at Laidley Field 7:30 p.m. Thursday in a Mountain East Conference clash.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason "Moose" Reed and Steve Cox will provide live play-by-play of the game for Thursday night on "Willie" 94.5 FM and online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: The University of Charleston Sports Information will provide live in-game statistics for the matchup between the teams.
Video: Thursday night's game is the Mountain East Conference Game of the Week meaning West Virginia Metronews will carry a live stream of the game online at wvmetronews.com.

To access any of the live coverage for this week's game, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

RECORDS
CU is 0-1 both overall and in the MEC after falling 23-18 to West Virginia Wesleyan.

Meanwhile, UC has the same record after losing 51-28 to in-county rival West Virginia State Saturday.

UNCONVENTIONAL SCORING
In the season opener against West Virginia Wesleyan, the Concord defense came through with two scores.

The first was courtesy of a 30-yard interception return by redshirt freshman defensive back Jonathan Roebuck who hauled in a deflected pass from Wesleyan quarterback Ryan Deal and ran it back for a score.

The second defensive touchdown was a fumble recovery by senior defensive back Jeremiah Johnson who gobbled up a loose ball at the 25-yard line and made the short sprint to the end zone for six points.

Each of the last two seasons, the Mountain Lions have just two defensive scores combined.

In each instance, it has been interception returns by senior defensive back Chaudlier Shepherd against UNC-Pembroke last season and at home versus UVa.-Wise in 2015.

Furthermore, it was the first time Concord had two non-offensive touchdowns in the same game since 2014 at Shepherd when Tiko Henderson returned a kickoff for a touchdown and Johnson ran back a blocked kick for a score.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Not only was Roebuck was stellar in his CU debut, but freshman linebacker Kendall Byrd was also impressive in his first time in the Maroon and Gray.

Roebuck became the first Concord player to have two interceptions in the same game since Johnson's two picks versus Charleston last season at home.

The Leesburg, Virginia native also broke up an additonal pass. Roebuck was just one of two players with two interceptions in the MEC during week one.

Meanwhile, Byrd was second on the team in tackles versus Wesleyan, making seven stops on Thursday.

Over the last two seasons, Concord has had a couple of impressive debuts by new faces.

Last season, then first-year junior college transfer Dominic Wilson made nine tackles versus Urbana after missing the first two games of the season due to injury.

NO FLY ZONE
Dating back to last season, Concord has broke up at least three passes in four consecutive games including five versus the Bobcats--the most for CU since Nov. 7, 2015 versus West Virginia State.

Roebuck, sophomore defensive back Ke'Shawn Hall and senior defensive back Andrew Roach each had one in the secondary.

Additionally, junior defensive lineman Colton Neal and sophomore linebacker Ty Walker each batted a pass down at the line of scrimmage.

TURNOVERS
The Mountain Lions forced five turnvoers against West Virginia Wesleyan and leads the MEC in turnvoer margin at +3.

Concord intercepted two passes and recovered three of the four WVWC fumbles.

It was the first time CU came away with five turnovers in a game since Oct. 11, 2014 at home versus Urbana.

In that particular game, Shepherd had one of the three UU interceptions and Concord also forced and recovered two fubmbles. 

DOWN TO THE WIRE
When Charleston defeated Concord 36-23 last season at Callaghan Stadium, it was the first time a contest between the two rivals was decided by more than a possession since a 38-15 Concord win in 2011.

From 2012-2015, the combined points that decided the games was 21 points in four matchups.

Last time the teams played in Charleston, the Golden Eagles used a pass break-up to hold off Concord 29-21.

Down eight with less than five minutes left in the game, the Mountain Lions faked a field goal only to see the pass batted away at the goal line.

STRENGTH ON STRENGTH
The Mountain Lions have the third-rated pass defense in the MEC after one week of play.

Concord held WVWC to 162 yards through the air.

Charleston had the fewest passing yards of any team in the league last week, recording 112 yards pasings at West Virginia State.

However, Charleston ran for the 352 yards, the only team with at least 300 yards on the ground in week one.

CU has the 10th ranked rushing defense after facing Wesleyan.

BREAKOUT AGAINST CHARLESTON
Last season, then-freshman running back JaVaughan Burrus was making his first career start.

Burrus rushed for 81 yards on 15 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per handoff.

It was the second-best rushing average for a CU rusher in a game last season to only senior running back Nick Loftin's 5.8 yards per carry against West Liberty.

Defensively, junior linebacker Zach Malone had 17 tackles against UC.

The Charleston, West Virginia native was just two off the 2016 single-game record for tackles in the MEC.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Career interceptions for Johnson against UC including two in 2016.

4- Number of receptions for senior tight end Jordan Bryant last week, tying  a career best.

45.7- Average total yards per punt for senior Garrett Lee in week one versus Wesleyan, ranking first in the MEC.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Dual-threat quarterback Mason Olszewski paced the Charleston offense in the week one loss at West Virginia State.

Olszewski rushed for 186 yards, the third most by any player in the league last week, while also scoring two touchdowns on the ground.

The UC signal caller passed for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Jonte Kelly was UC's second-leading rusher with 79 yards against WVSU.

The Golden Eagles surrendered 311 yards through the air and 538 yards of total offense in last week's loss.