Concord Stats -
West Liberty Stats -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team embarks on one of its longest road trips of the season when it faces West Liberty at West Family Stadium 1:00 p.m. Saturday in a Mountain East Conference game.
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Liberty Sports Information Department will have live statistics and live video of Saturday's game.
Live Stats
Live Video
SERIES HISTORY: West Liberty leads 36-32-3
LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS WEST LIBERTY
September 30, 2023: West Liberty 23 - Concord 21 (Athens, W.Va.)
October 8, 2022: Concord 45 - West Libery 28 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
October 9, 2021: Concord 20 - West Liberty 16 (Athens, W.Va.)
October 12, 2019: West Liberty 47 - Concord 6 (West Liberty, W.Va.)
October 27, 2018: Concord 46 - West Liberty 33 (Athens, W.Va.)
CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 0-4
MEC Record: 0-2
Home Record: 0-3
Away Record: 0-1
DEEP THREAT
In Saturday's contest versus Charleston, Concord hit its longest play of the season, a 79-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from freshman quarterback
Tristan Gabrels to sophomore wide receiver
Zion Odoms. It was the longest pass play from scrimmage for Concord since
Jack Mangel connected with Tywan Pearce on an 89-yard pass at Fairmont State in 2021—a program record for longest pass play. The 79-yard find by Gabrels was the second longest pass play in the MEC this season. After not having a play over 50 yards in the first two games, CU has recorded three plays of more than 50 yards—all pass plays—in the last two contests. Junior quarterback
Kameron Howard found freshman wide receiver
Marcus Striggles for a 51-yard pass at Frostburg State and later threw a 55-yard touchdown to senior running back
JQ Brown.
NEW FACES
On Saturday, five Mountain Lions saw their first significant snaps on either side of the ball against Charleston. Offensively, Gabrels played four series at quarterback as he finished 5-of-11 for 96 yards and the touchdown to Odoms. He added 22 rushing yards. It was the first time a true freshman has taken snaps at quarterback for CU since Adam Fulton in 2017. Freshman wide receiver
Deon Parker was used on offense for the first time this season—at running back. Parker rushed five times for 25 yards. Redshirt freshman wide receiver
Kaleb Shelton was targeted in the fourth quarter in his first snaps of the year. Freshman defensive lineman
Mohamed Ali provided four tackles in his first game of 2024. And after making four tackles on special teams in the first three games, freshman defensive back
Taurin Kemp collected two tackles on defense Saturday.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
For the second time this season, Concord had two or more players finish with 10 or more tackles. Against Charleston, graduate defensive lineman
Jaylen Dollar notched a career-best 11 tackles while sophomore defensive back
Kendall Bournes had his second career game with double-digit tackles as he finished with 10 stops. With 19 tackles in his last two games, Bournes has risen to second on the team with 28 tackles which ranks in a tie for sixth in the MEC. Sophomore linebacker
Ryker Brown is third in the MEC with 31 tackles. Meanwhile, Dollar's 11 tackles was the first time a CU defensive lineman had 10 or more tackles in a game since Keionte Gainey against Notre Dame in 2017.
HOMEFIELD THREAT
From 2014-2021, the home team won in each instance when Concord and West Liberty met on the gridiron. However, the road team has won each of the last two seasons between CU and the Hilltoppers. The Mountain Lions collected a 45-28 win at West Family Stadium in 2022, but West Liberty returned the favor with a 23-21 win last season at Callaghan Stadium last year. Despite the limited success by the road team in the series, Concord is 3-3 in its last six games at WLU—the wins coming in 2011, 2013 and 2022. And the 2015 contest was decided by a point, 29-28.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Two of the last three meetings between Concord and West Liberty have been decided by four or fewer points. CU collected a 20-16 win in Athens in 2021 behind a big day from the Concord defense and special teams. The Mountain Lions recorded a safety in the first quarter, had a blocked extra point returned for a score in the fourth and held West Liberty to less than 200 yards of offense. In the Hilltoppers' 23-21 win in Athens, West Liberty scored on the final play of the game—a 10-yard passing touchdown. On defense, graduate linebacker
Jamari Smith racked up a career-best 18 tackles with 13 stops being unassisted. Sophomore linebacker
Brodee Rice also recorded a career-best 11 tackles. Graduate defensive lineman
Vonte Pannell tallied one of his three sacks on the season versus WLU.
AIR IT OUT
Saturday will be a meeting of two offenses that have some of the top passing numbers in the conference. West Liberty is second in the MEC at 249 passing yards per game. However, the Hilltoppers have also thrown 10 interceptions, and Concord is seeking its first interception of the season. The Mountain Lions held both Charleston and Frostburg State to less than 200 yards passing in each of the last two games. At receiver, WLU's Ben Turner leads the MEC with 329 receiving yards while scoring a pair of touchdowns. Striggles is tied for third in the MEC with 17 receptions despite playing only three games this year. West Liberty's pass defense is giving up the most passing yards per game in the MEC, 277.5.
INTANGIBLES
Concord continues to get strong production from the special teams. Freshman wide receiver
Jeremiah Valdry remains in the top 40 of Division II in kick return average (26.6 yards), graduate punter
Josh Hutley is 18th in Division II in punting average (42.9) and sophomore wide receiver
Jake Roberts is 10
th in Division II in punt return average (13.0). Meanwhile, West Liberty is 10
th in the MEC in both kickoff return average (13.2) and punt return average (2.0). Additionally, the opponents' average starting field position versus West Liberty after WLU kickoffs is the opposition's 43-yard line. In the punting game, CU is first in the MEC in net punting (37.7) while West Liberty is seventh (32.7).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6- Pass break-ups by Concord versus West Liberty last season—the second most in a game in 2023.
69- CU hit its longest pass play of the season in last year's meeting with West Liberty.
107- West Liberty is the only team in the MEC forcing the opponent into more than 100 yards in penalties per game on average.
WEST LIBERTY AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 0-4
MEC Record: 0-2
Home Record: 0-3
Away Record: 0-1
SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
Like Concord, West Liberty has used three quarterback this season: Alex Dunlevy, Levi Guillion and Trevor Lagarde. Lagarde has thrown for 552 yards and three touchdowns, but has eight interceptions. Guillion and Dunlevy are listed on the WLU depth chart this week without Lagarade. Dunlevy and Guillion have only combined for 59 pass attempts. Hunter Patterson paces the WLU run game with 238 yards and three touchdowns. With the transfer of All-American defensive lineman Cam Rice to Ohio University, Taison Fa'Asuamanu has picked up the slack with 23 tackles, 4.5 for loss and two sacks.
