Concord Begins Home Slate Against Frostburg State

Concord Stats - Frostburg State Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Live Video - WVVA Broadcast - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team returns to Callaghan Stadium for the 2019 home opener as Frostburg State comes to the Athens for the first all-time meeting between the two schools.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and Steve Cox will have live radio play-by-play of the contest on 94.5 "Willie" FM and streaming online.
Stats: Live in-game statistics will be provided by the Concord University Sports Information Department.
Video: Streaming video is available for Saturday's game courtesy of the Concord Sports Information Department.
TV: WVVA-TV out of Bluefield, West Virginia will broadcast Saturday's game in the region and online at wvva.com/live

RECORDS
Concord started the season with a 33-10 defeat at Notre Dame in the Mountain East Conference opener for both teams.

Frostburg State was edged late by West Virginia State, 20-17, in the Bobcats' first-ever Division II game.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
After each game, the Concord football coaching staff votes on players of the week from each game. This week the players are:
Offense: Isaiah Bowman
Defense: Tylen Fowler
Special Teams: Luke Walls
Offense Scout Team: Matt Mullins
Defense Scout Team: Dayton Harris
Special Teams Scout: Antonius Gayflorsee

GOING BACKWARDS
In CU's loss at Notre Dame, the Mountain Lions recorded six tackles for loss (TFLs)—the same number of TFLs that they racked up in the 2018 season finale against Urbana. Senior defensive lineman Ryan Gatrell notched a career-best 3.5 tackles for loss. Only Wheeling's James Reese had more tackles for loss—five—than Gatrell during the opening week of the season. Sophomore defensive lineman Nathan Lease added a sack at NDC for his lone TFL. It was the second sack in the last four games for the Kings Mountain, North Carolina native dating back to the West Liberty game in 2018.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Staying on the defensive side, junior defensive back Cameron Fannon and sophomore linebacker Tylen Fowler tied for the team high with eight tackles a piece against Notre Dame. For Fannon, it topped his previous best in tackles by two—a high he set in last season's opener at West Virginia Wesleyan. Fowler also made it a single-game best in tackles in his first collegiate start. The Roebuck, South Carolina native had just 13 tackles in eight games last season as the backup weak side linebacker.

DEEP THREAT
Senior quarterback Kyle Akin threw for 212 yards and a touchdown against Notre Dame. It was the 10th consecutive game for Akin with at least one passing touchdown as his toss at NDC came on a 69-yard strike to junior wide receiver Isaiah Bowman. The third-quarter touchdown was the second longest completion by Akin in his CU career—only second to an 80-yard connection to Bowman in last season's game versus West Liberty. For Bowman, he finished the game with three catches for 89 yards. The Raleigh, North Carolina native topped his career high in receiving by a yard, previously set against WLU in 2018. As for Akin and his 10 consecutive games with at least one touchdown, it's the longest streak for a CU quarterback since Brian Novak threw for a touchdown in 14 straight games that started in 2013 and carried over to the 2014 season.

ONE TIMERS
Saturday will be the first meeting between Concord and Frostburg State. In fact, it's the first of three games for CU this season that pits the Mountain Lions against a school for the first all-time game. In October, Concord will square off against Hillsdale for the first time. The season concludes with the first meeting between the Maroon and Gray and Wheeling on November 16. The last time CU played three teams for the first time in the same season was 2014 when it faced Bloomsburg, Minnesota-Mankato and West Chester—all in the Division II playoffs. This week's game will be the first time CU is playing a school from the state of Maryland since a 2014 contest against Bowie State at Callaghan Stadium. The Mountain Lions hung on for a 37-34 win over the Bulldogs in that particular contest.

RETURN GAME SPECIALISTS
Last week's game showcased two of the more dangerous return men in the MEC in Concord's junior wide receiver Tywan Pearce and Notre Dame's Marvelle Ross. Like a week ago, Pearce and another explosive kick returner will be on display Saturday. Pearce returned four kickoffs for a total of 90 yards as he became the sixth player in program history to top 1,000 career kickoff return yards. Pearce's average of 22.5 yards per return ranks fourth in the MEC after one week of play. Frostburg State's Terrell Brown leads the MEC with an average of 35 yards on two returns. Last week, Brown had returns of 40 and 30 yards versus West Virginia State.

RETURN TRIP
Bobcats' head coach DeLane Fitzgerald is in his sixth season at Frostburg State, sporting a career record of 41-15 at FSU. Before Fitzgerald took over the successful Frostburg program, he was the head coach at NAIA turned Division III school Southern Virginia in Buena Vista, Virginia. Fitzgerald and his then-Knights previously played Concord in 2009 and 2010 including a 2010 meeting at Callaghan Stadium in which Concord won 72-21. The only three people associated with the CU program then and now are head coach Paul Price who was the linebackers coach at the time, current defensive coordinator Kevin Elliott who was a safety in both games and cornerbacks coach Tracy Gravely who has held the same position in both incidences.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Receptions need by senior wide receiver Brandon Plyler to reach 100 for his career.

5- Fewest penalties by Concord last October at West Virginia State.

142- Passing yards surrendered by Concord last week, the fewest in the MEC in week one.

FROSTBURG STATE AT A GLANCE
The Bobcats finished last season 10-1 and made it to the second round of the Division III playoffs before being knocked out by Johns Hopkins. In each of the last three seasons, Frostburg State has advanced to the Division III playoffs. Quarterback Will Brunson, who threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns last week, is a graduate transfer from the University of Albany. Kicker Jeremy Harrison proved his leg strength last week against the Yellow Jackets as he came up a couple of yards short on a game-tying 51-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds left. Along with his kick return prowess, Brown also hauled in six receptions for 98 yards. Running back Gavin Lavat just missed the century mark in rushing by toting the ball 22 times for 99 yards against WVSU.