Concord Stats -
Charleston Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Live Audio -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team starts the home portion of its schedule when it welcomes the University of Charleston to Callaghan Stadium 7:00 p.m. Thursday night for a Mountain East Conference matchup.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live radio coverage on "Willie" 94.5 FM around southern West Virginia and also streaming at this link.
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics throughout Thursday's contest with Charelston.
Video: Live video will also be available for the home opener from Callaghan Stadium.
To access the live statistics, follow the links at the top of the page or click on the highlighted links above.
RECORDS
Both teams got off to 1-0 starts in 2018.
Concord erased a first-half deficit of 21-0 and a fourth-quarter hole of 31-24 to defeat West Virginia Wesleyan 34-31 on the road.
Charleston defended its home turf in a 35-31 shootout win over West Virginia State on Thursday night.
COMEBACK KIDS
After a West Virginia Wesleyan touchdown with six minutes left to go in the second quarter put CU in a 21-0 hole, the Mountain Lions began their comeback with 24 unanswered points to go up 24-21 late in the third quarter after a screen from junior quarterback
Kyle Akin to freshman running back
Kris Copeland that went for 65 yards.
The comeback for Concord was the largest since they erased a 21-0 deficit six years to the day of its rally against Lenoir-Rhyne at home September 1, 2012.
The last time Concord erased a fourth-quarter deficit in a game it went onto to win was two seasons ago at West Virginia Wesleyan.
QUICK STRIKES
Even though the Mountain Lions ran 80 plays, their most since September 19, 2015 at Urbana, four of the six scoring drives for the Maroon and Gray lasted three plays or less including two scoring plays that were one-play drives.
The last time Concord had four or more scoring drives that lasted three plays or less was in a 59-17 home win over West Virginia Wesleyan during the 2015 season.
The only two lengthy scoring drives for CU in week one was a 12-play drive that ended with a field goal from freshman kicker
Luke Walls and reigning MEC Special Teams Player of the Week
Luke Walls as well as a 10-play drive conducted by Akin to tie the game with less than a minute to go.
WELCOME TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Head coach
Paul Price welcomed approximately 70 freshmen to campus this fall, and Saturday saw 26 freshmen or redshirt freshmen make the trip to Buckhannon, West Virginia to make their collegiate debut.
The biggest first impression was made Copeland who accounted for 229 yards of offense (141 rushing, 88 receiving) as he scored three touchdowns.
Copeland was the first CU player to find the end zone three times in the same game since
Jermeil Douse and
Davon McGill at the end of the 2016 season at West Virginia State.
Furthermore, Copeland scored on touchdowns of 73, 65 and 23 yards.
Freshman running back
Josh Maxwell scored the tying touchdown for CU in the fourth quarter.
Freshmen offensive linemen
Davis Roberson and
Keante Rose each started up front for CU.
Walls made an immediate impact by scoring 10 points in the game--just the fourth instance since the beginning of the 2015 season in which a CU kicker reached double-digits.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
Against West Virginia Wesleyan, Concord piled up 432 yards of offense as Akin threw for 220 and the CU rushers combined for 212 on the ground.
The rushing total for the Mountain Lions represented the first time since October 10, 2015 versus UVa.-Wise that the Maroon and Gray ran for at least 200 yards.
Additionally, Copeland became the third running back in the last six years to rush for over 100 yards in their Concord debut.
CU's all-time leading rusher
Calvinaugh Jones rushed for 111 yards against Charleston in 2012 and
Nick Loftin racked up 104 yards versus West Liberty two seasons ago.
Saturday also marked the first time in 13 games that the Mountain Lions gained over 400 yards of offense with the last instance coming against West Virginia State in early November of the 2016 campaign.
KEEP THE CHAINS MOVING
A season after converting on just 27 percent (41-for-151) of its third down attempts on offense, Concord made huge strides on third downs at West Virginia Wesleyan.
The Mountain Lions were 7-for-16 on third down conversions which is a percentage of 43.8, trailing only Fairmont State (53.3 percent) and West Liberty. (47.4 percent) in the MEC.
GOOD ON GOOD
Despite giving up over 300 yards of passing to West Virginia Wesleyan, CU limited the Bobcats to 99 rushing yards which was the second-fewest behind Notre Dame's 81 yards given up to Shepherd.
The longest run the Mountain Lions gave up to WVWC was a 14-yard scamper and they only gave up two total runs of more than 10 yards.
Under head coach Pat Kirkland, Charleston has routinely hung its hat on running the ball and Thursday's win over West Virginia State was no exception.
The Golden Eagles ran for 277 yards getting 100-yard performances from running back Jimmy Wheeler and quarterback Mason Olszewski.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
8- Senior defensive back
Chaudlier Shepherd hauled in his eighth career interception and is one away from the CU top 10.
65- The 65-yard pass play from Akin to Copeland was the longest completion for CU since Nov. 5, 2016 versus WVSU.
100- CU had over 100 yards on the ground versus WVWC. Last season, Concord didn't rush for 100 yards until its sixth game.
CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
In addition to running for 133 yards, Olszewski passed for 303 yards on just 10 compeltions while accounting for all five UC touchdowns against West Virginia State.
Michael Strachan and D'Andre Brooks combined for six receptions, 223 yards and three touchdowns as both averaged over 30 yards per catch.
A normally stingy Charleston defense allowed 496 yards of offense to the Yellow Jackets but did force two turnovers.
The UC defense is a veteran group that starts eight seniors led by defense linemen John Cominsky and Kahzin Daniels.
All three linebackers are seniors: C.J. Bagwell, Keon Mabin and Jalen Nelson.
Daniels is a former All-American who had 11 sacks two years ago. Cominsky racked up 11 tackles and a forced fumble versus West Virginia State.
