ATHENS, W.Va. – In a game that was delayed twice by lightning, the Concord University football team was edged by West Virginia State, 33-23, Saturday afternoon at Callaghan Stadium in a Mountain East Conference game.
The game had a 52-minute lightning delay with 23 seconds remaining in the first quarter and another suspension that began during halftime at 2:40 p.m. and did not end until 4:07 p.m.
The game—that ended at 5:36 p.m.—was the longest game for Concord since the season opener in 2011 against Lenoir-Rhyne. That particular game was scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m., but lightning forced a start of approximately 9:00 p.m. with the game not ending until after midnight.
WVSU (3-1, 3-0 MEC) grabbed momentum after the first delay as they outscored Concord 16-3 in the second quarter to take a 19-6 lead into halftime. The Mountain Lions (0-4, 0-4) struck first on one of three field goals by sophomore kicker
Luke Walls to take a 3-0 lead with 11:42 left in the first quarter. But the Yellow Jackets scored 19 of the final 22 points in the first half. Included in the outburst for West Virginia State was 131 yards of offense from end of the first delay until halftime.
After the longer of the two delays, Concord was the team taking back momentum in the game.
Freshman running back
Derek Kincaid opened up the second-half scoring with a one-yard touchdown run. Kincaid capped off a 10-play, 71-yard drive that was started by an interception from junior defensive back
Jonathan Roebuck in the Concord defensive red zone.
The Mountain Lions drove the field on its next series that lasted for over five minutes, ending with a Walls' field goal to get Concord within three. On the ensuing first play from scrimmage for WVSU, senior defensive back
Jakil Sarhim forced a fumble. that sophomore defensive lineman
Nathan Lease pounced on. The second turnover forced by Concord in the second half set up a short touchdowns pass from quarterback
Kyle Akin to sophomore tight end
Brent Butler on the third play of the fourth quarter to give Concord a 23-19 lead.
West Virginia State quickly answered with a touchdown drive to go ahead 26-23. Still down by three after punting, it appeared CU defense would get the ball back to the offense. However, West Virginia State pulled off a fake punt with six minutes to go and scored on the drive to go up 10 for the final margin of victory.
Concord outgained WVSU (409-326), had more first downs (20-14) and held the ball for nearly 40 of the 60 minutes (39:51). However, the Yellow Jackets owned a +1 advantage in turnovers and averaged 6.3 yards per play, compared to 5.4 for CU.
Akin had a career day passing as he threw for 284 yards, a career-best, and one score. The Jackson, Tennessee native was also the leading rusher for the Maroon and Gray with 66 yards.
Akin's top target was senior wide receiver
Brandon Plyler who hauled in nine catches for 119 yards.
Three of the four CU defensive backs forced takeaways on the day as Roebuck and senior defensive back
Ke'Shawn Hall each had interceptions coupled with Sarhim's forced fumble.
Junior linebacker
Dwain Porterfield had nine tackles to lead the way while Lease had five stops and the fumble recovery.
Concord steps out of MEC play briefly for a non-conference road game at Hillsdale next Saturday, October 5.
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