ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University football team scored two touchdowns in the final 1:52 of the game, but came up short 34-32 in a Mountain East Conference contest at Callaghan Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Down 34-20 after WVSU (4-4, 4-3 MEC) took its largest lead of the afternoon, junior quarterback
Jack Mangel proceeded to march the offense 75 yards in just five plays that took 92 seconds off the clock. However, the point after try failed as Concord (2-5, 2-5 MEC) remained behind by eight, 34-26.
Working with a short field after recovering the ensuing onside kick, the Yellow Jackets were forced off the field by CU's defense.
Mangel took immediate control of the offense as he hit consecutive passes for a combined 52 yards to set up CU inside the West Virginia State 30-yard line. After a Mangel scramble to the 17-yard line, the Athens, Georgia native found fifth-year senior wide receiver
Tywan Pearce for his third touchdown of the day to cut the deficit to 34-32. But, the ensuing two-point conversion was broken up by WVSU with 29 seconds remaining.
The Mountain Lions jumped out 17-0 in the first 20 minutes of the game as freshman kicker
Mikey Rago connected on his first career field goal, a 27-yard attempt on the game's first possession. Meanwhile, Pearce added touchdown receptions of two yards and his first of two scores from 17 yards out.
Rago hit a second first-half field goal, a 37-yard boot, with 2:07 remaining in the first half. However, the Yellow Jackets scored ahead of the first-half buzzer which started a string of 27 consecutive points rattled off by WVSU.
With a second-quarter reception that went for 10 yards, Pearce set the all-time program record for career receptions at 206 as he surpassed Thomas Mayo (2008-10). In total, the North Kissimmee, Florida native tallied 13 catches for 191 yards and all three Mangel touchdowns. Pearce now has 212 receptions in the Maroon and Gray and he also went over 1,000 receiving yards for the season Saturday.
Mangel finished the afternoon with 407 passing yards and also crept in the end zone for a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. Playing his first career game on offense, senior defensive back
Zion Barnette grabbed five passes for 115 yards. Junior wide receiver
Kris Copeland topped the CU rushing game with 84 yards on 10 carries.
Concord posted 544 yards of total offense—the most since a 2016 meeting with West Virginia State.
Defensively, junior linebacker
Ty Maust racked up a career-best 10 tackles. Senior defensive lineman
Dajor Davenport accounted for both CU sacks while junior linebacker
Jordan Jones matched Davenport's two tackles for loss Saturday.
The Mountain Lions begin a two-game road trip at Wheeling 12:00 p.m. October 30.
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