ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University football team piled up a program-record 735 yards of offense as it snuck past Charleston 68-60 Saturday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at Callaghan Stadium.
Concord (6-1, 5-1 MEC) erased a 47-35 deficit halfway through the third quarter as it went on to post 27 points in the final period of play. The Golden Eagles (3-4, 3-3 MEC) produced the first two touchdowns of the second half after CU held a 35-33 edge at the break.
Facing their largest deficit of the game, the Mountain Lions drove 67 yards in 10 plays that was finished off on the second receiving touchdown of the day for senior running back
Kris Copeland at the 3:43 mark of the third quarter.
After a UC field goal, the next two scoring plays in the game belonged to Concord. Senior quarterback
Jack Mangel found junior wide receiver
Jarod Bowie for one of his three scores on the afternoon on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line to get Concord within 50-48 with 7:54 remaining in the fourth.
On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore defensive back
Delando Morris forced a fumble that was recovered by sophomore linebacker
Jordyn Bentley at the Charleston 16-yard line. Two plays later, junior running back
Thurlow Wilkins raced 16 yards for his third touchdown of the day to give CU a 55-50 lead.
The scoring wasn't over though with 7:37 left.
The Golden Eagles answered two minutes later with a one-yard rushing score to regain a 58-55 lead after a two-point conversion. Concord was unfazed as Mangel found Bowie down the near sideline for a 34-yard strike. The extra point was blocked and returned by UC to trim the margin to 61-60 with 4:07 remaining.
On the next UC possession, Charleston was forced to attempt a long fourth-down that came up short inside Concord territory. Now just needing to drain the clock—that showed 2:10 after the turnover on downs—Wilkins scampered 59 yards with 1:44 remaining to push the lead to 68-60.
Down to one timeout and 1:35 left on the clock, the Golden Eagles drove down to the Concord two-yard line with approximately 15 seconds left. On goal-to-go, fifth-year senior defensive lineman
Dajor Davenport stopped the play at the line of scrimmage. With under 10 seconds remaining, a Charleston player was injured and a 10-second runoff occurred to end the game.
Wilkins toted the ball 27 times for 279 yards and four touchdowns. Wilkins' rushing total is the third-most in program history behind only Brian Kennedy who had a 286-yard game and a 303-yard contest. He becomes the first player with four rushing touchdowns since Angus Harper in 2014 versus Glenville State.
CU's offense overcame six turnovers on the day. Mangel threw for 399 yards and a single-game program record six touchdowns. Bowie hauled in 10 receptions for 132 yards to go with the three scores. Copeland caught seven passes for a career-best 131 yards while finding the endzone twice.
The 68 points scored by Concord were the most since August 2010 versus Southern Virginia. And the 735 yards were not only a single-game program record, but the most in a Division II game this year.
Concord's defense forced four fumbles and jumped on three loose balls. Fifth-year senior defensive back
Marcellus Saint came up with 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. Graduate linebacker
Ty Maust added 11 stops. Junior defensive lineman
Manny Azolin had a career-best seven tackles and two of the three CU sacks as well as a forced fumble.
On the offensive front, Concord's line helped churn out 341 rushing yards and did not allow a sack in 48 drop backs for Mangel. Â
The 128 points scored were the most combined in a game involving Concord in program history.
The Mountain Lions travel to West Virginia State 1:00 p.m. Saturday, October 22.
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