Concord Stats -
West Virginia Wesleyan Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team begins the shortened 2021 spring season against West Virginia Wesleyan 2:00 p.m. Saturday as it visits Cebe Ross Field in Buckhannon, West Virginia.
LIVE COVERAGE
Stats: Live in-game statistics of Saturday's contest will be provided by the West Virginia Wesleyan Sports Information Department.
Video: Live streaming video will also be available for Saturday's game.
RECORDS
Concord was 1-10 during the 2019 season.
WVWC lost its first game of the season on the road two weeks ago against West Virginia State.
RETURN TO PLAY
The Mountain Lions will take to the gridiron for the first time in 504 days with their last game coming November 16, 2019 in a narrow defeat to Wheeling, 27-20. Saturday will be the first game under new head coach
Dave Walker, who was officially introduced as CU's 20
th head coach December 23, 2019, after winning 304 games and eight state championship at Martinsburg High School in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Walker returns his leading receiver from the 2019 season in senior
Tywan Pearce who hauled in 65 receptions for 690 yards and three touchdowns. Pearce also averaged nearly 22 yards (21.7) per kickoff return in 2019. Defensively, senior linebacker
Dwain Porterfield (79) and junior linebacker
Tylen Fowler (77) were the top two tacklers for CU a season ago as both set single-season highs. Senior defensive back
Jonathan Roebuck is scheduled to suit up in his 32
nd game at Concord on Saturday as the Leesburg, Virginia native has four career interceptions.
NEW FACES
With the hiring of Walker, a new coaching staff was also assembled. Offensive coordinator
Brian Ferguson and offensive line coach
Ben Luther arrived in Athens during the spring of 2020 from Tusculum University. Former West Virginia Wesleyan defensive coordinator
Logan Williams assumes the same role in his first season at Concord.
Max Lilly made the transition from Concord's defensive line coach to defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator during the offseason.
Bobby Grishaber (wide receivers),
Carter Mangel (running backs/tight ends),
Troy Walker (defensive line) and
Zay Williams (safeties) are also new to the staff.
NEW FACES PART II
The Mountain Lions have several new players acclimating themselves to Concord football in the spring of 2021. Some of the notable first time players for the Maroon and Gray is Northeast Mississippi Community College transfer junior quarterback
Jack Mangel, a trio of junior college offensive lineman in juniors
Josh Ramos (Chaffey College), Devin Raheny (Reedley College) and
Saul Robles (Los Amigos College). Also new to the offense is the one-time Martinsburg receiving duo of
Teddy Marshall and 2019 MetroNews Player of the Year
Jarod Bowie and their quarterback,
Elijah Banks. Defensively, Concord added a WVU transfer in junior defensive back
Rashon Lusane who also spent time at Division I Morgan State. Lackawanna College transfer
Marcellus Saint joins Lusane in the defensive backfield coupled with the experience of Roebuck.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
Pearce begins the spring 2021 season with 139 career receptions. The North Kissimmee, Florida native ranks fifth in school history in passes caught and needs 11 to not only reach 150 for his career, but pass his former teammate
Brandon Plyler (2016-2019) for fourth on the all-time receptions list at Concord. Pearce is also 106 yards away from breaking into the top 10 at CU as he has 1,598 for his career. Pearce would join Bill Bussey as the only players in program history in the top 10 of receiving yards and kickoff return yards as Pearce owns the program record with 1,560. Junior kicker
Luke Walls is two points away from becoming the fourth player in program history with 100 career points by a kicker. The Richmond, Virginia native is also 24 points away from passing Dustin Ferrell for third place at CU.
TIGHTLY CONTESTED
The last four meetings between Concord and West Virginia Wesleyan have been decided by five points or less. Program record-setting quarterback Brian Novak led a late touchdown drive in 2016 at WVWC to lift Concord to a 20-17 win. The Mountain Lions scored two defensive touchdowns in 2017 at home including an interception return for a touchdown by Roebuck in his first collegiate game, but Wesleyan came away with a 23-18 victory. Back at Wesleyan in 2018, Walls converted a 40-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give Concord a victory, 34-31—a game in which Concord trailed 21-7 at halftime. In the 2018 win, senior defensive back Cam Fannon had six tackles. Another late score in 2019 gave CU a 28-24 win over the Bobcats as the Mountain Lions scored with 1:01 left. Pearce hauled in seven receptions for 64 yards last season. Fowler had a career-best 12 tackles and two pass break-ups, including one on the final play of the game at the goal line.
HOMECOMING
The defensive coordinator for WVWC in Concord's 28-24 win is now the defensive coordinator on Walker's staff,
Logan Williams. The first-year CU defensive play caller coached four All-MEC players on the defensive side of the ball for the Bobcats in 2019, including one of the MEC's best tacklers, John Mercia. Making the move from Wesleyan to CU with Williams is senior defensive back
Simon Duval. Over the last two seasons, Duval appeared in six games for the Bobcats.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3- Fumbles forced by Concord against Wesleyan in 2019, including one each by junior defensive lineman Lease and Porterfield.
4- CU has won four straight games at Wesleyan dating back to a 23-16 win in 2012.
911- Yards of offense the teams combined for in the 2018 meeting at WVWC.
WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN AT A GLANCE
WVWC has been able to get one game in this season, a 38-13 road loss to West Virginia State. The Bobcats were limited to nine rushing yards on 29 attempts by the stingy WVSU rushing defense. The leading receiver for Wesleyan is Mason Brubeck who grabbed five receptions for 57 yards. Briar Wilfong completed 17 of his 33 passes, but threw three interceptions. Linebacker Grant Safford tallied nine tackles for the Bobcats in the opener while Merica who had 103 stops in 2019 racked up seven tackles against the Yellow Jackets. West Virginia Wesleyan was only flagged for 29 yards in penalties versus WVSU. In last season's meeting, WVWC had 503 yards of offense.
