Concord Goes to Urbana in MEC Action

Concord Stats - Urbana Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team makes a trip to Urbana 1:00 p.m. Saturday for a Mountain East Conference contest at UU Stadium.

LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The Urbana Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of Saturday's contest. 
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for the contest courtesy of Urbana. 

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are 0-7 this season and 0-6 against MEC competition.

Urbana sports a mark of 5-2, both overall and in the MEC.

ALL-TIME MARKS
In Saturday's game against Fairmont State, junior wide receiver Tywan Pearce became the all-time leader in kickoff return yards at Concord as he ran back four kickoffs for 85 yards. The North Kissimmee, Florida native passed Bill Bussy for the all-time mark and now has 1,390 kick return yards in his career. Meanwhile, senior wide receiver Brandon Plyler continued to make his way up the receiving list at CU. With 10 catches, Plyler is now fourth in career receptions with 141. Additionally, the Fort Mill, South Carolina native went for a personal single-game high with 165 yards and moved into eighth in all-time yards at Concord with 1,769. Additionally, Plyler notched his sixth career multi-touchdown against Fairmont State—the first two touchdown game for any CU player this season.

TAKE IT AWAY
Against Fairmont State, junior defensive lineman Tyler Jones both caused a fumble and recovered one in the contest. It was the first career forced fumble and fumble recovery for the Covington, Virginia native. Additionally, Jones joins junior defensive back Imani Moore as the only Mountain Lions to have both a fumble recovery and forced fumble in the same game this season. Moore had two recoveries and one forced fumble against Glenville State.

TALLYING TACKLES
Sophomore linebacker Tylen Fowler and junior linebacker Dwain Porterfield both registered double-digit tackles against Fairmont State. Fowler racked up a career-best 11 tackles while Porterfield's 15 tackles are the fourth most in the MEC this season for a single game, and also career high. Fowler and Porterfield are the first set of Concord teammates with 10 or more tackles in the same game since Zach Malone and senior defensive back Ke'Shawn Hall last season at Shepherd. Furthermore, Porterfield's 15 tackles are the most for a CU defender since Dominic Wilson had 19 at Charleston two years ago.

BY COMMITTEE
Both quarterbacks, senior Kyle Akin and redshirt freshman Matt Shearer made their presence felt in Saturday's game against Fairmont State. Akin threw his 20^th career touchdown pass in the contest becoming the 10^th player in program history to accomplish the feat. Meanwhile, Shearer came in the game in the second half and tossed for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Both marks were a career best as all but 16 of Shearer's yards came in the fourth quarter. The duo combined to throw for 285 yards, marking the third time this season CU has thrown for 280 or more yards this season—the first time the Concord offense has gone for 280 or more through the air in three or more games since 2014.

GROUND AND POUND
Sophomore running back Joshua Maxwell enjoyed a career day against Urbana in the 2018 season finale. The Aberdeen, Maryland native saw 23 carries for 176 yards as the Mountain Lions finished with 207 yards rushing as a team. The 207 rushing yards for CU was the fifth straight game for the Blue Knights last season in which they surrendered 200 or more yards on the ground. As for Concord offensively, it had 200-yard rushing yard games on the bookends of 2018 as it opened up the season with 212 yards against West Virginia Wesleyan.

TOUGH SLEDDING
After struggling to stop the run at the end of last season, the Blue Knights have been one of the best run defenses in the MEC in 2019—one of three conference teams limiting opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground on average. Urbana is allowing 97.1 rushing yards per game. One reason for the stingy UU rush defense is the experience of the Urbana defense. Of the seven box players, five are seniors and a sixth is middle linebacker L.A. Kelly who is 11^th in the MEC in tackles with 54. Kelly also had 14 tackles against CU last season. While rushing could be tough to come by, Concord's passing attack is ranked sixth in the conference, averaging 235 yards per contest. Meanwhile, UU's secondary isn't as tough to pass against as opposed to running the ball. Urbana is allowing 231 yards passing per game, fifth in the MEC.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Sheareer became the first CU quarterback with three touchdowns and no interceptions in a game since Adam Fulton in October 2017. 

4- Plyler ranks fourth in the MEC in receiving yards this season with 621. 

6- Number of tackles fo rloss for Concord in last year's game against Urbna--tied for the high water mark in 2018. 

URBANA AT A GLANCE
The Blue Knights knocked off previously unbeaten—in the MEC—West Virginia State, 35-31, on a late drive at WVSU. Quarterback Eddie Stockett tossed for 236 yards and three touchdowns including a go-ahead score with 27 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The performance led to Stockett picking up MEC Offensive Player of the Week honors.  Led by W.R. Sanders and his 530 yards and eight touchdowns, UU is averaging 195 rushing yards per game. Two of Urbana linebackers, Kelly and Duray Hall have combined for 112 tackles this season. Although Mikal Toliver has just 19 tackles, he has lived in the opponent's backfield this season with 7.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and two forced fumbles. Toliver's 7.5 TFLs are tied for ninth in the MEC with Concord's senior defensive lineman Ryan Gatrell.