Concord Faces Nationally-Ranked Notre Dame to Open 2019

Concord Stats - Notre Dame Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team begins the 2019 season with a road trip to nationally-ranked Notre Dame 12:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Mueller Field in South Euclid, Ohio.

LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Notre Dame play-by-play voice Eric Little will have the call of the game on ESPN Radio Cleveland and also streaming online.
Stats: The Notre Dame College Sports Information Department will provide live in-game statistics of the game.
Video: NDC will also provide live streaming video of Saturday's contest.

2018 RECORDS
The Mountain Lions finished up last season at 2-9 and was 2-8 in the Mountain East Conference.

Notre Dame, a Division II National Semifinalist and the fourth-ranked team in the AFCA Preseason National Poll, was 13-1 a season ago including going 10-0 against MEC teams.

HIGH NOTE
Though Concord dropped its season finale in 2018 to Urbana, 31-24, the Mountain Lions had plenty of positives to reflect on during the offseason. Sophomore running back Joshua Maxwell rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown in the defeat to the Blue Knights. It was the first time a CU rusher amassed 175 or more rushing yards in a single game since Calvinaugh Jones in the 2014 NCAA Division II Playoffs against West Chester. In his final two games of the season, Maxwell tallied 287 yards versus Fairmont State and Urbana which counted for 45.7 percent of his season total in rushing yards of 628. Additionally, the Aberdeen, Maryland native had runs of 50 or more yards in each contest. Junior wide receiver Tywan Pearce also finished 2018 strong as he totaled 80 or more yards receiving in three of his final five games while hauling in four of his seven touchdown receptions in the  last five contests to end the 2018 campaign.

EXPERIENCE IN THE BACK
The Mountain Lions return three of their four starters in the secondary from a year ago including the senior duo of Ke'Shawn Hall and Jakil Sarhim as well as junior Jonathan Roebuck. Hall is the leading returning tackler for CU after racking up 69 stops in 2018. Sarhim led Concord in pass break-ups a season ago with eight and was ninth in the MEC in pass break-ups . Roebuck, listed as a cornerback on Concord's first depth chart of the season, makes the move to corner after spending the last two seasons at safety where he made 67 tackles and collected three interceptions—all in 2017. Together, Hall, Roebuck and Sarhim have combined to start 63 games since the beginning of the 2016 season.

HALFWAY THERE
Last season, Concord led Notre Dame 22-17 at halftime before NDC shutout the Mountain Lions in the second half on its way to a 47-22 victory at Callaghan Stadium. CU was just one of three teams to hold a halftime advantage on the Falcons over their 14-game schedule last year. Senior wide receiver Brandon Plyler rolled up career highs in receptions (nine) and receiving yards (122) in the loss while tallying one of his five career multi-touchdown games and one of two, two touchdown games in 2018 with the other one coming against Charleston. Both touchdowns for Plyler came from senior quarterback Kyle Akin who finished the game with 136 yards while CU had 206 passing yards as a team.

A LOOK AT THE LEADERBOARD
Speaking of Plyler, the Fort Mill, South Carolina native starts the season 10th in career touchdown receptions at CU with 13. Furthermore, Plyler needs nine receptions to break into the top 10 at Concord in career catches. And Plyler would be the first Mountain Lion receive to record 100 career catches with four receptions Saturday since Jermeil Douse went over the century mark during the 2016 season. Elsewhere in the Concord record book, sophomore kicker Luke Walls needs two points to move into sixth all-time at CU in points by a kicker. After a successful freshman year that saw Walls connect on 30 point after tries and 8-of-9 field goals, the Richmond, Virginia native starts 2019 with 54 career points. And in the kickoff return game, Pearce is 68 yards shy of becoming the sixth in player in program history with 1,000 or more yards on kickoff returns.

RETURN GAME SPECIALISTS
Saturday's contest will feature two of the best kickoff and punt return men in the MEC. Pearce averaged 19.7 yards per return on 19 kickoffs last season and was previously named as the All-MEC First Team Return Specialist as a freshman in 2017, and for his career Pearce is averaging 21.6 yards per return. Meanwhile, Notre Dame's Marvelle Ross averaged just under 19 yards per kickoff return, but scored three touchdowns on 26 punt returns  in 2018. Last season, Ross was a First Team All-MEC selection as a wide receiver. However, Ross was slowed by the CU coverage units as he had minus-9 yards on two punt returns in last year's meeting. Meanwhile, Pearce averaged 22.7 yards on four kickoffs and 17 yards on two punt returns.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
It's been nearly two years since the Mountain Lions played a team ranked inside the top five in Division II. Concord hosted then-number three Shepherd at Callaghan Stadium in September 2017. The last time CU faced a top five team on the road was during the 2016 season in a game at Shepherd in which the Rams were also ranked number three ahead of the October 22, 2016 meeting.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2- Number of years Concord has gone without a season-opening win. CU defeated West Liberty 32-25 to start 2016.

9- Consecutive games with at least one passing touchdown for Akin.

63- Concord and NDC averaged less than 63 yards of penalties per game in 2018, both ranking in the top half of the MEC.

NOTRE DAME AT A GLANCE
From Notre Dame's 13-1 team that advanced to the Division II Semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Valdosta State, the Falcons return their leading rusher, quarterback, top three receivers and five of its top six tacklers. Sophomore running back Jaleel McLaughlin was not only the MEC Freshman of the Year last season, but also the MEC Offensive Player of the year as he tallied 2,421 rushing yards and came within 300 yards of breaking the single-season Division II rushing mark held by former Chadron State and NFL veteran Danny Woodhead. Quarterback Chris Brimm threw for 2,500 yards and 24 touchdowns during his freshman season. His top target was Ross who accounted for 1,203 receiving yards and 10 scores. Markus Hood and Zaire Mitchell each had four touchdowns. Sha'haun Williams racked up 20 sacks last season to lead Division II. Linebacker Guam Lee had 93 tackles and five takeaways in 2018.