Concord Set for Road Trip to Glenville State

Concord Stats - Glenville State Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team makes its way to Glenville State for a Mountain East Conference road game 12:00 p.m. Saturday at Morris Stadium in Glenville, West Virginia.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Bob Edwards of Glenville State will have live radio play-by-play of Saturday's game on 100.3 WAFD and streaming online.
Stats: The Glenville State Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of the contest
Video: Streaming video of Saturday's game will be made available courtesy of the GSC Sports Information Office.

RECORDS
The Mountain Lions are coming off a 52-14 setback in the home opener against Frostburg State as they are now 0-2 overall and in the MEC.

Glenville State was nipped late on the road against West Virginia State, 33-30, as it prepares for its home opener with a mark of 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference. 

CENTURY MARK SYMMETRY
Against Frostburg State, sophomore running back Joshua Maxwell posted his third career 100-yard rushing performance with 104 yards on 18 carries to go with his first touchdown of the season. All three of Maxwell's 100-yard games have come in the last four contests dating back to last season. In the air, senior wide receiver Brandon Plyler caught a team-best seven passes for 108 yards to top the 100-yard mark for the third time in his career. Additionally, Plyler topped the 100-reception mark for his career and now has 105 which is ninth best in program history. With Maxwell and Plyler both going over 100 yards rushing and receiving, respectively, it marked the first time CU had a 100-yard receiving and rushing game in the same contest since November 2015 when Calvinaugh Jones and Jermeil Douse accomplished the feat against West Virginia State.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
In the game last week, senior quarterback Kyle Akin and redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Shearer combined to find 10 different receivers on 21 completions. Plyler hauled in the aforementioned seven receptions. Junior wide receiver Tywan Pearce made four catches while freshman running back Derek Kincaid hauled in his first three career receptions. Freshman wide receivers Caeleb Bass, Elijah  Butz and Michael McNeal all made their first collegiate catches against Frostburg State. The last time Concord had nine or more players catch at least one pass in a game was in 2015 in a 59-7 win against West Virginia Wesleyan.

TAKE IT AWAY
The Mountain Lions forced two turnovers in the contest against Frostburg State with junior linebacker Dwain Porterfield intercepting his first career pass to go along with a career-best 10 tackles. Meanwhile, junior defensive lineman JT Turner jumped on his first career fumble that was caused by sophomore defensive back Zion Barnette. Though CU is even in turnover margin through two games, it is tied for second in the MEC in turnovers forced with four. The group tied with Concord is Charleston, Glenville State, Frostburg State and Wheeling. The four takeaways by the Mountain Lions in the first two games of the year are the most to start a season since 2017 when they had six takeaways in the first two contests.

NO FLY ZONE
While Porterfield's interception is the lone one of the season for CU, teams have been hesitant to pass on the Maroon and Gray. Concord is allowing just 184 yards per game through the air to start the season which ranks second in the MEC. Glenville State is passing for only 204 yards per game to start the season which is ninth in the conference. However, the Pioneers will test Concord's rush defense as Glenville State is averaging 209 yards per game on the ground, slotting it third in the MEC. The Mountain Lions are allowing 226 rushing yards per contest through two games this season.

KICKER SHOWCASE
On Saturday, sophomore kicker Luke Walls became the sixth placekicker in program history to reach 60 points in a career as he converted both of his extra-point tries versus Frostburg State. Walls needed just 13 games to reach the mark. With nine more points, he would move past Zack Keaton and into the top five in all-time points by a kicker in program history. Meanwhile, Glenville State possesses one of the best placekickers in the conference in Ole Miss transfer Justin Watts. On the season, Watts has made 5-of-7 attempts, but did miss two field goal tries in the three-point road loss against West Virginia State.

HELLO, OLD FRIEND
When the Mountain Lions and Pioneers meet Saturday, it will be the meeting of past Concord connections. Glenville State head coach Mike Kellar was the head man in Athens during the 2009 and 2010 seasons when he guided CU to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1991 and 1992. Head coach Paul Price was a linebackers coach for Kellar in his two-year stint. Meanwhile, current defensive coordinator Kevin Elliott was a safety on Keller's two Concord teams. On Kellar's staff at Glenville State is former CU special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach Steve Adams who was in Athens for the 2011 WVIAC Championship season as well as the 2012 campaign. Adams coached Elliott to a spot on the All-WVIAC Honorable Mention Team in 2012 when the Herndon, Virginia native had 39 tackles and four interceptions.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Consecutive games with a tackle for loss by senior defensive lineman Ryan Gatrell as well as four of the last five games dating back to last season.

50- Kincaid and Maxwell both had at least 50 yards rushing last week. The last time two CU players had 50 or more yards on the ground was last season against GSC.

72- Average number of offensiver plays by Concord through two games. 

GLENVILLE STATE AT A GLANCE
GSC possesses 2018 First Team All-MEC running back Mario Pender, but the Pioneers have been spreading the wealth around early in the season as Pender is only averaging 61 rushing yards per game as part of Glenville State's 209 rushing yards per game. Due to an injury of starting quarterback Jaylen McNair, Glenville State has been forced to employ two quarterbacks as Tim Heltzel has also seen snaps. However, the duo has combined for 408 passing yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions in two games. Matter-of-fact, the Pioneers are the only team in the league without a giveaway this season. All-region linebacker Dominic Cizauskas headlines the defense as he has 17 tackles in two games. Defensive back Delonte Hood is the only player in the MEC with two interceptions early in the season.