Concord Stats -
West Virginia Wesleyan Stats -
Live Audio -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team makes its way back to Callaghan Stadium to face West Virginia Wesleyan in a Mountain East Conference game 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will have live radio play-by-play coverage of Saturday's game on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of Saturday's contest.
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for the game.
RECORDS
Concord is 0-8 overall and 0-7 versus MEC foes this season after a 24-7 defeat at Urbana.
West Virginia Wesleyan sports a mark of 1-7 this season and is 1-6 in the MEC.
ON THE DEFENSIVE
In Saturday's game at Urbana, the Mountain Lions held the Blue Knights to a season-low 311 yards. It also represented the lowest output of offense allowed by Concord since limiting UVa.-Wise to 306 yards in a 7-0 shutout win on September 14, 2017. CU has only held one other opponent under 350 yards this season—a 326-yard outing by West Virginia State in late September. Sophomore linebacker
Tylen Fowler led the way for Concord's defense as he matched his career high in tackles with 11, a total set the week before against Fairmont State. The Roebuck, South Carolina native also added two tackles for loss and his first forced fumble of the season. Junior defensive back
Imani Moore was able to snatch the Fowler forced fumble for his third fumble recovery of the season, tying him for first in the MEC with Frostburg State's Wayne Palmer and Glenville State's Jansen King.
DIVING INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
With his third fumble recovery of the season, Moore becomes the 10
th player in program history with three fumble recoveries in the same season. Additionally, Moore is now in a five-way tie for eighth in career fumble recovery, joining teammate and senior defensive lineman
Ryan Gatrell in the group. Elsewhere in the Concord record books, sophomore running back
Joshua Maxwell went over 200 career carries to qualify for yards per carry. Maxwell sits eighth in career rushing yard average with 4.5 yards per tote in his 207 rushing attempts. Maxwell had seven rushes for 52 yards and his second touchdown of the season against Urbana.
DYNAMIC DUO
Junior wide receiver
Tywan Pearce and senior wide receiver
Brandon Plyler each caught five passes at Urbana. For Pearce, he moved into the top 10 in career receptions at Concord with 108 which is good enough for ninth. Plyler is now within four receptions of 150 for his career, and eight catches away from passing Rayshaun Ward for third on the all-time list at CU. Only Notre Dame's Marvelle Ross and his 161 career receptions is better than Plyler's 146 catches among active MEC players.
COMEBACK KIDS
Last season, the Mountain Lions got down 21-0 to West Virginia Wesleyan 25 minutes into the game. However, CU stormed back and used a 40-yard field goal by sophomore kicker
Luke Walls at the buzzer to defeat WVWC, 34-31, to open the 2018 campaign. The 21-point comeback represented the largest deficit overcome by the Maroon and Gray since the 2012 season opener against Lenoir-Rhyne when Concord also rallied back from 21 points to win 24-21. The 40-yard field goal remains a career long for Walls. Senior quarterback
Kyle Akin threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
KEEPING IT GROUNDED
Last season at West Virginia Wesleyan, Concord held the Bobcats to less than 100 yards rushing as they gained 99 yards on the ground. Coming off its third-lowest rushing yards allowed of the season—142—at Urbana, the Mountain Lions look to continue to slow a WVWC rushing attack that is averaging just 65 yards on the ground this season. In 2018, CU held West Virginia Wesleyan to a long run of just 14 while also limiting the Bobcats to 3.3 yards per carry. On the flip side of the CU rushing defense, the Mountain Lions ran for a 2018 season-best 212 yards at Wesleyan. Maxwell was responsible for 56 yards and the game-tying touchdown to make the score, 31-31, late in the fourth quarter.
A FOUR-QUARTER GAME
CU leads the all-time series over Wesleyan 21-14, but the last three contests have been decided by five points or less. In 2017, Concord scored two defensive touchdowns, but the Bobcats escaped Callaghan Stadium with a 23-18 win after the Mountain Lions were unable to get the ball back late in the contest. In head coach
Paul Price's first visit to West Virginia Wesleyan as CU's head man—he's a Wesleyan alum—Concord scored a touchdown with 4:34 left in the contest to squeeze out a 20-17 win. Before the recent string of close games between the sides, the last game to be decided by a touchdown or less was a 23-16 CU win at the end of the 2012 season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
0.9- Average number of yards separating the two offenses this season. Concord is averaging 287.8 while Wesleyan is racking up 286.9 on average.
8- Concord has eight takeaways in the last two games versus Wesleyan including two interceptioss by junior defensive back
Jonathan Roebuck.
17- With four more catches, Plyler would become the 17th active player in Division II with 150 career receptions.
WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
The Bobcats nearly come to Athens with a second win under their belt, but West Virginia State connected on a game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left to win 39-36 at Wesleyan last week. Safety John Merica, a former high school quarterback, is second in the MEC with 85 tackles. Despite the loss, the 36 points scored by WVWC is their highest output of the season. Though he has 12 touchdowns to 11 interceptions this season, quarterback Jarret Northrop threw for 376 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against West Virginia State. The lone win for Wesleyan this season was a 33-19 victory over Wheeling in week four of the season.
