Concord Stats -
Charleston Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - Coming off a 28-24 win over West Virginia Wesleyan, the Concord University football team plays its only night game of 2019 when it visits Charleston 7:00 p.m. Thursday at Laidley Field in a Mountain East Conference clash.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: The University of Charleston Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of the contest.
Video: Charleston will also have live video available with UC play-by-play voice Pat Hyman on the call.
RECORDS
With the victory, the Mountain Lions picked up their first win to move to 1-8 on the season and 1-7 in the MEC.
Charleston defeated West Virginia State 49-28 to run its record to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the MEC.
NEAR THE TOP
Against Wesleyan, Concord forced three fumbles and recovered all three. Senior defensive lineman
Ryan Gatrell recovered two fumbles while junior defensive back
Imani Moore scooped up his fourth fumble of the season. With three fumble recoveries Saturday, the Mountain Lions rank fourth nationally with 13 recoveries and are first in Super Region One. Individually, Moore leads the MEC. Additionally, the Dublin, California native set the all-time single-season program record for fumble recoveries Saturday. Meanwhile, Gatrell moved into a four-way tie for second in career fumble recoveries at CU with five after the Huntington, West Virginia native had three fumble recoveries last season. In terms of forcing fumbles, 11 different players have forced fumbles this season including sophomore defensive lineman
Nathan Lease and junior linebacker
Dwain Porterfield forcing their fumbles of the season Saturday.
DUAL THREAT
While senior quarterback
Kyle Akin may not be a running quarterback, the Jackson, Tennessee native has showed off his ability to tote the ball each of the last two weeks. On Saturday, Akin led the Mountain Lions in rushing yards for the second time this season as he ran the ball 14 times for 62 yards and his first career rushing touchdown. Over the last two games, Akin has 109 ground yards on 32 attempts, an average of 3.4 yards. The last CU quarterback to run for over 100 yards in a two-game stretch was converted running back
Ben Nester in 2013 when he rushed for 220 yards against West Virginia Wesleyan and Charleston—61 of those yards came against Charleston.
CATCHING A GAP
In the third quarter of Saturday's game, junior wide receiver
Tywan Pearce ran back a kickoff 82 yards, but fell short of scoring his first career special teams touchdown as he was tackled at the 13-yard line. On the next play, sophomore running back
Joshua Maxwell found the end zone for his second career multi-touchdown game. Though Pearce didn't find pay dirt himself, the North Kissimmee, Florida native set a career high with the 82-yard return besting his previous high of 57 yards set last season against Charleston. Furthermore, Pearce went over 1,500 career kickoff yards and is now 10
th in Division II with 1,510 return yards in his career. This season, Pearce is third in the MEC with a return average of 23.1 yards.
ACCESS DENIED
On Saturday, CU had six pass break-ups including sophomore defensive back
Zion Barnette and sophomore linebacker
Tylen Fowler recording two each. None were bigger than Fowler's swat on the goal line on the final play of the game to secure the 28-24 win. Fowler added a career-best 12 tackles into his performance. The six pass break-ups were the most for the Mountain Lions since tallying six against West Liberty in a 46-33 win in week nine of the 2018 season. In addition to the pass break-ups, senior defensive back
Ke'Shawn Hall picked off his second pass of the season that stalled out a Wesleyan drive in the red zone in the first half.
KEEP THE CHAINS MOVING
Despite a season average of 28 percent on third down, Concord converted a season-high—by percentage—6-of-12 third downs against West Virginia Wesleyan. Of the six conversions, Concord faced an average third-and-seven while three of the conversions were of nine, 12 and 15 yards. The Maroon and Gray averaged 16.3 yards per play on their six third-down conversions that included pass plays of 20, 23 and 34 yards. Pearce hauled in the two longer receptions while senior wide receiver
Brandon Plyler had the 20-yard catch. The only time CU had converted more third downs this season was a 7-for-17 effort against Wet Virginia State. The Mountain Lions will see one of the MEC's better third down defenses as Charleston is tied for fourth in defensive third down conversions, 37.3 percent.
A CHANGE OF SCENERY
In the past Charleston has been a team that's hung its hat on a physical running game and stifling defense. However, the Golden Eagles are airing it out this season behind quarterback Brant Grisel and wide receivers Tremaine Ross and Mike Strachan. UC is one of two teams throwing for more than 300 yards this season in the MEC. Even though Concord hasn't defeated the Golden Eagles since a 24-20 win in Athens in 2014, the Mountain Lions haven't given up more than 200 yards passing to Charleston since the 2009 meeting. Grisel has played in one game versus CU in his career—the 2017 matchup—when he completed for a pass for minus-two yards.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Number of games Concord has had multiple fumbel recoveries this season.
18- Number of penalties that Concord forced Wesleyan into--an MEC high for a single game in 2019.
89- Miles separating Concord and Charleston, the Mountain Lions closest geographical opponent.
CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Even with their high-octane passing attack, the Golden Eagles leaned on running back Tyreik McAllister against West Virginia State. McAllister's performance of 25 carries, 254 yards and two touchdowns earned him MEC Offensive Player of the Week . Grisel has tossed an MEC-best 23 touchdowns to just six interceptions. Strachan is the only receiver in the MEC with 1,000 receiving yards—1,081 to be exact—and has hauled in 16 touchdowns. A year after losing defensive lineman John Kominsky to the NFL Draft and the Atlanta Falcons, current UC defensive lineman Kenny Randall leads the league with 14 tackles for loss.
