Concord Stats -
West Liberty Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team heads back on the road for a second consecutive week for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff Saturday against West Liberty in a Mountain East Conference clash at West Family Stadium.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The West Liberty Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of Saturday's contest.
Video: The WLU Sports Network will have live streaming video of the game.
RECORDS
Concord is 0-5 after a 38-14 defeat in its only non-conference game of the season at Hillsdale.
West Liberty enters the matchup at 2-3, both overall and in the MEC, after losing on the road at West Virginia State last week.
ONE, TWO PUNCH
Junior wide receiver
Tywan Pearce and senior wide receiver
Brandon Plyler both went over 100 yards receiving at Hillsdale. Pearce caught seven passes for 110 yards and his first touchdown of the season. The 110 yards represented a career best for the North Kissimmee, Florida native. Plyler did one better as he hauled in 11 receptions for 150 yards while also scoring his first touchdown of the season. Plyler became the first CU wideout with 10 or more catches and at least 150 yards receiving in the same game since
Jermeil Douse in the season's final game in 2016 at West Virginia State. The duo was also the first two Concord receivers to go over the century mark in yards since Douse and
Davon McGill in that 2016 contest at WVSU. Furthermore, Plyler moved past Nathan Tanner and Carlos Lee and into the top five in receptions at Concord with 127 for his career. The Fort Mill, South Carolina native is now seven receptions shy of catching Douse for fourth in program history.
TACKLING MACHINE
After just three tackles at Notre Dame to begin the season, junior linebacker
Dwain Porterfield has now notched nine or more tackles in the four games since including a career-best 12 stops at Hillsdale. With his recent run of stopping the opposition, Porterfield is tied for fifth in the MEC in tackles with 44. Also at Hillsdale, senior defensive back
Ke'Shawn Hall had 11 tackles, his highest amount of tackles since he had 12 tackles in the second game of the 2018 season against Charleston.
BOOM GOES THE PUNT
Freshman punter
Francisco Flores had his best punting day at Hillsdale in his young career. Flores got away six punts for an average of 45.8 yards per boot. It was the highest average for a CU punter since
Garrett Lee averaged 51.7 yards on five punts against Shepherd in 2017. Additionally, Flores landed four punts inside the Hillsdale 20-yard line, and his 61-yard punt is the longest in the MEC this season. No Concord punter has had a punt of over 60 yards since Lee did so in the same game against Shepherd in 2017 when he hit a 61-yard boot.
HOME IS WHERE YOU WIN
In the last five meetings between Concord and West Liberty, the home team has come out victorious including a 46-33 win for the Mountain Lions last season at Callaghan Stadium. The 46 points were the most scored by CU in the
Paul Price head coaching era, going back to the 2016 season. Even though Concord was outgained by 102 yards (510-408) in last year's game, CU's defense came up with four turnovers. Junior defensive back
Cameron Fannon jumped one of three fumbles, for a touchdown, in the first quarter. Senior defensive lineman
Ryan Gatrell and senior defensive back
Jakil Sarhim also had fumble recovery against the Hilltoppers. West Liberty won 44-14 in 2017 while the Mountain Lions won Price's Concord head coaching debut, 32-25, in 2016.
KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKET
Last week's game at Hillsdale featured just four accepted penalties with all four violations coming against the Chargers. Heading into this weekend, the Mountain Lions are tied for first in terms of the least amount of penalties in the MEC this season with West Virginia Wesleyan. Both teams have only been penalized this season. Concord is averaging 56.6 yards in penalties this season, second fewest in the conference. Concord has not reached double-digit penalties in any game this season. Like CU, West Liberty has not had more than nine penalties in a single game this season.
BACK END DEFENSE
Saturday's game will feature two of the most experienced secondary in the MEC. West Liberty has four seniors in the secondary with seniors Lherry Fontilisse and Josh Ojo manning corner back. One time MEC Defensive Freshman of the Year Logan Deri is at one safety position for the Hilltoppers. At the nickel is four-year player Brandon Morrison. Ojo led the MEC in interceptions in 2018 with seven. During his freshman season in 2016, Deri was second in the MEC in interceptions with five. Meanwhile, the Mountain Lions counter with seniors Hall and
Jakil Sarhim as well as junior
Jonathan Roebuck with the trio combining for 78 starts. WLU is third in the MEC in passing defense, surrendering 225 yards per game. Concord is just behind in fifth, allowing 226 yards per game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6- Completions needed by senior quarterback
Kyle Akin to reach 200 for his career.
35 - Combined poitns between CU and West Liberty in the first quarter of last year's game.
269- Yards receiving by Plyler over the last two games.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
The Hilltoppers lost 39-29 last week at West Virginia State. Quarterback Zach Phillips has thrown 10 touchdowns compared to just three interceptions. Tight end Thomas Cole has caught half of Phillips' touchdowns as he also has a team-best 286 receiving yards. Deri leads West Liberty in tackles with 42, but has done a little bit of everything that includes two sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. Three of the five games WLU has been in this season have been decided by 10 points or less including a three-point win at Wheeling and a three-point loss to Frostburg State.
