Concord Squares Off with Charleston Under Thursday Night Lights

Concord Stats - Charleston Stats - Live Stats - Live Video - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team seeks to put a 56-10 loss to Emory & Henry behind it when travels to Charleston 7:00 p.m. Thursday for the first Mountain East Conference game of the season for both teams.

LIVE COVERAGE
The University of Charleston Sports Information Department will have live in-game statistics and live video of Thursday's contest. 

Live Stats
Live Video

MOVING UP THE LADDER
Sixth-year wide receiver Kris Copeland had a career day in Concord's first game of the season as he hauled in 11 receptions for 147 yards and a touchdown. The Summersville, South Carolina native tied his career high with 11 catches while eclipsing his previous career best in yardage by 16, a mark he set at 131 yards last season versus Charleston. With the 11 receptions, Copeland also moved into eighth on the all-time receptions list at CU with 128. And Copeland is sixth among active Division II receivers in receptions. The only time Copeland has had double-digit catches in his career was last season was against UC.

ELITE COMPANY
Senior quarterback Jack Mangel also continued his ascent up the Concord record books on Saturday afternoon. By throwing for 275 yards against Emory & Henry, Mangel went over 7,000 career passing yards at CU as he currently sits at 7,098. He passed Zack Grossi (2010-2012) for fourth on the all-time passing yards list at Concord in the process as Grossi racked up 7,048 yards. Mangel is fifth in Division II among active signal callers in passing yards. Last season versus UC, the Athens, Georgia native exploded for 399 yards and six touchdowns in Concord's 68-60 win.

LIVIN' LIFE IN THE BACKFIELD
The Mountain Lions created seven negative yardage plays on Saturday afternoon as senior defensive lineman Haven Chapman came up with 2.5 tackles for loss. For Chapman, it was his first career game on the defensive line after the converted linebacker suffered a season-ending injury in third game of the season in 2022. Junior defensive lineman Lance Blankenship tallied his first career solo sack in the third quarter versus Emory & Henry. After one week, Chapman is tied for second in the conference in tackles for loss. And Chapman only had three total tackles in week one. In a game that featured 128 points, CU still recorded five negative plays against the Charleston offense, including three sacks, last season.

DEBUTING DAY
By game's end against Emory & Henry, four of the six top tacklers for the Maroon and Gray were players that were not on the roster a season ago. The seventh-leading tackler for CU was sophomore linebacker Andrew Waters who was a tight end during his first two seasons at Concord. Junior linebacker Jamari Smith (seven) and freshman linebacker Brodee Rice (six) split time at middle  linebacker last week, combining for 13 stops. Freshman defensive back Kendall Bournes and junior defensive back Trevis Dampier each had five tackles in their Concord debuts while Waters threw in five tackles, including a 0.5 tackle for loss.

LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
In Concord's eight-point win over Charleston, it was the most points scored in a game involving CU in program history. It was also just one of two times last season that the Maroon and Gray did not score first and went on to win—the other was at West Virginia Wesleyan. The 735 yards of offense that Concord posted last season was a program record. Mangel fell one yard shy of 400 passing in the game. Meanwhile, the 279 yards that senior running back Thurlow Wilkins amassed was the third most in program history for a single game, trailing on the 303 yards that Brian Kennedy piled up against versus West Virginia Wesleyan in 2011 and the 296 Kennedy ran for against Seton Hill in 2009.

TOTE THE BALL
Coming into the 2023 season, Wilkins and Charleston's Chavon Wright were the two-leading returning rushers in the MEC. Wilkins totaled 1,179 yards on the ground last fall while Wright wasn't far behind with 1,175. The pair also accounted for 29 touchdowns in 2022. In last season's meeting, Wilkins rushed for four touchdowns in the victory as he averaged 10.3 yards per carry over 27 rushes. Wright did not disappoint either as he finished the afternoon with 183 yards and three scores on 22 carries. In the opening week of the season, Wright was held to 71 yards while Wilkins tallied just 69. And UC (65) and Concord (89) were two of three teams in the MEC to give up less than 100 yards rushing in the first week.

FUMBLE FRENZY
Despite allowing 60 points to Charleston last season, the Concord defense did force four fumbles and recovered three of those. Junior defensive lineman Delando Morris jumped on a fourth-quarter fumble that led to the go-ahead score with CU trailing 58-55. In the first week of the season, the Mountain Lions were unable to force a turnover. Last fall, CU had 14 takeaways, including recovering six of the 13 fumbles that it forced. In the first week of the season, Charleston had three turnovers with two  interceptions and a lost fumble.

BEEN A WHILE
The Mountain Lions have not won at Charleston since a double overtime win in 2013 with the final score of 9-3. In CU's last visit to Laidley Field, Concord was stymied and held to three points in a 48-3 defeat in 2021. Mangel was able to throw for 149 yards. As a rusher, Copeland gained 110 yards on the ground on just 14 carries, an average of just under eight yards. Only three current defensive players appeared in the game in Chapman, Morris and junior defensive back Kevin Howard. Thursday night will be Concord's first Thursday night game since November 2019, also at Charleston.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13- Lead changes in last year's 68-60 game played at Concord. In two men's basketball games last season between CU and UC, there were only six combined lead changes.

35- First downs gained by Concord last year versus Charleston.

41- Punting average for graduate kicker/punter Josh Hutley in the opening week of the season, fourth-best in the MEC.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 1-0
MEC Record: 0-0
Home Record: 1-0
Away Record: 0-0

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Charleston was only able to muster 243 yards of offense in a 22-13 opening week win over Gannon, but limited the Golden Knights to 273 yards despite being on the field for 17 more plays than the offense (76-59). Nick Evans had two sacks in the contest and Ra'Shaad Morris intercepted a pass. Javonte Howard, who starred in last year's game at CU, was limited to 197 yards and two touchdowns to go with two interceptions. Tae Marrero was critical in the return game as he averaged 21.2 yards on four punt returns and 28 yards on three kickoff returns.