Concord Stats -
Hillsdale Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team plays its only non-conference game of the season when it travels to Hillsdale, Michigan to take on the Chargers of Hillsdale College 1:00 p.m. Saturday at Frank Waters Stadium.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Hillsdale College Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics of the non-conference contest.
Video: Live streaming video will also be made available from Hillsdale
RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 0-4 overall after a 33-23 home defeat against West Virginia State.
Hillsdale evened its record at 2-2 with a shutout win, 30-0, against Walsh.
RECORD-BREAKING DAY
A week after going to overtime against Glenville State—one of nine Division II games to go to overtime this season—Concord found itself in a game that lasted over five hours and was marred by two different lightning delays that totaled 2:19. The first lightning delay was 52 minutes in length in the first quarter with the other dragging out to 1:27 during halftime. It was the first CU game to go more than five hours since the season opener in 2011 against Lenoir-Rhyne that wasn't over until midnight after an intended kickoff of 7:00 p.m. In the actual game Saturday, senior quarterback
Kyle Akin threw for a career-high 284 yards while rushing for 66 yards, also a career best. Senior wide receiver
Brandon Plyler tied his career best by hauling in nine receptions for 119 yards, three yards shy of tying his personal high. Plyler's game against West Virginia State moved him within 10 receptions of the top five in career catches at CU. The Fort Mill, South Carolina native has 116 career catches.
BALL HOGS
Despite the loss against West Virginia State, the Mountain Lions held the ball for nearly 40 minutes in the game—39:51. Additionally, CU collected more first downs (20-14) and tallied its first 400-yard offensive game of the season with 408 yards. It was the first time Concord had more than 35 minutes of possession in a contest since the season finale in 2016 against UNC-Pembroke. It was also the most possession for the Maroon and Gray since holding onto the ball for 42:23 in a 49-21 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in 2013.
TAKE THE BALL
For a fifth consecutive game—dating back to last season—Concord forced multiple turnovers as it took the ball away from West Virginia State three times last week. The latest Mountain Lions to come up with a turnover was senior defensive back
Ke'Shawn Hall tallying his second career interception—his first since his freshman season—sophomore defensive lineman
Nathan Lease falling on his first career fumble and junior defensive back
Jonathan Roebuck intercepting his fourth career pass. With 10 turnovers, four interceptions and six fumble recoveries, CU is tied for the Mountain East Conference lead with Glenville State in takeaways and is tied for 25
th in Division II. Only junior linebacker
Dwain Porterfield and junior defensive back
Imani Moore have two takeaways this year as eight different defenders have a takeaway.
JUST FOR KICKS
Sophomore kicker
Luke Walls converted all three field goal tries against West Virginia State as he hit from 29 yards twice while also setting a new career best with a 42-yard field goal. Along with the field goals, the Richmond, Virginia native hit both extra-point tries for his second career double-digit point game. The first for Walls came during his first collegiate game in 2018 against West Virginia Wesleyan. Walls is tied for third in the MEC in made field goals this season with six after making just eight in 2018.
BRINGING OUT THE BEST
The last two weeks the CU defense has stood tall, not only by taking the ball away, but in terms of limiting the opponents' yardage. At Glenville State, the Pioneers were averaging over 200 yards rushing per game, but the Mountain Lions held GSC to 88 yards on the ground. Versus West Virginia State, the Yellow Jackets were averaging 433 yards of offense per game. Concord held WVSU to 100 yards below its average as CU gave up 326 yards. This week, the Mountain Lions will face a Hillsdale offense that is averaging 321.8 yards per contest—the least potent offense, in terms of average yards, that CU has seen so far in 2019.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Saturday will be the first all-time meeting between Concord and Hillsdale, and also the first time CU will face a team from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). The only other time the Mountain Lions have faced a team from the state of Michigan was a game with Northwood. On the opposite side, Hillsdale will be facing a MEC team for the second consecutive year after being eliminated from the second round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs by Notre Dame in 2018. Since the start of the decade, Concord is 5-5 against Division II teams in regular season non-conference games.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7- Converted third downs against West Virginia State—in 17 chances—after converting just seven third downs in the first three games of the season.
275- Akin was the first CU quarterback to pass for at least 275 yards in a game since the end of the 2016 season.
465- Total mileage one way from Concord to Hillsdale, CU's longest road trip since the NCAA Division II Semifinals in 2014 to Minnesota State at Mankato.
HILLSDALE AT A GLANCE
Hillsdale started 0-2 before rattling off wins against conference foes Lake Erie and Walsh to get back to .500 on the season. The Chargers were ranked 19
th in the AFCA Division II Preseason Poll before dropping games to Michigan Tech and nationally-ranked Indianapolis. HC is led by veteran head coach Keith Otterbein who is in his 18
th season at the school. Otterbein has taken Hillsdale to the playoffs three times in his tenure. Running back David Graham is averaging 87 yards per game on the ground and has scored four touchdowns. Redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Keller has 718 passing yards to go with five touchdowns, but also six interceptions. Nate Jones and Drake Temple each have two interceptions in the defensive backfield for Hillsdale.
