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Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
Day Tripper: Concord takes on West Virginia State at Institute
- Story byBluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
- Day Tripper: Concord takes on West Virginia State at Institute
ATHENS — Today, the Concord University football team are Day Trippers. And they're not planning for it to be a one way ticket. (Yeah!).
Concord (3-2, 1-2 MEC) heads up the turnpike to Institute today to take on West Virginia State (1-4, 0-3 MEC) at Dickerson Field in a Mountain East Conference football game that kicks off at 1 p.m.
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The game is a day trip, not an overnighter. This is an away game scenario that Concord head football coach Cody Edwards appreciates. More or less.
"The good thing about a day trip for us is that our Friday schedule stays exactly the same," said Edwards.
"Now, on a Saturday trip you have to get up a little earlier. You have to sit on the bus, you have to get them off the bus, you have to get them somewhere for a pregame meal. You have to go through a stretch. Then you're going through your walk-throughs on a parking lot versus a football field.
"Those things are kind of different, but the main thing is that we keep our [weekly] schedule exactly the same," he said.
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West Virginia State has beaten Concord University in football for nine consecutive seasons. Has the time finally arrived for another Mountain Lions slump to bite the dust?
The last time the Mountain Lions got the better of the Yellow Jackets was a 52-7 rout at Athens in November of 2015.
"They do some really good things. They bring back a lot of players from last year's team," Concord head coach Cody Edwards said.
"They're still incredibly talented on the offensive side of the football. They're doing some really good things that are going to challenge us on defense."
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The Mountain Lions are coming off a 43-31 win over Frostburg State that saw quarterback Devin Kargman pass for 310 yards and four touchdowns. Sophomore wide receivers Dom Collins — a former Princeton High School standout — and Ethan Jackson caught two touchdown receptions apiece. Collins had career-high nine catches for a season-high 152 yards. Jackson started his first career game versus Frostburg State and came away with four catches for 51 yards and the pair of scores.
The Concord defense collected up with four takeaways against the Bobcats, three of which came in the second half. Junior linebacker Jonathan Williams, junior defensive back Bradly Harris, freshman defensive back Elijah Owens were credited for three defensive takeaways. On special teams, sophomore defensive back Marley Ashley collected Frostburg's final turnover, pouncing on a fumble created by redshirt freshman defensive back Quay McCauley's sack.
"I was really proud of our defense … the way they stepped up," Edwards said. "A couple of weeks prior they had a lot of pressure on them at the end of the games. I think they stepped up at the end of the game and really held Frostburg out of the end zone. I think there was a lot of growth in game management."
Concord placekicker Christian Torres has gone 7-for-7 on field goal attempts this season. He hit two of two attempts at Frostburg.
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Edwards was pleased with how the Mountain Lions handled the a flurry of controversial penalties that might have robbed the Mountain Lions of momentum had they allowed themselves to get caught up in the negative emotions of the moment.
"I think we showed to be a pretty mature football team. We were pretty level headed … I was really proud of our football the way we handled some adversity," Edwards said.
West Virginia State has played three quarterbacks this season: Joe Dailey, Kaleb Jackson and Bryan Johnson.
Last season, Jackson passed for close to 2,300 yards and 17 TDs. After seeing limited snaps in the first three games of this season, Jackson has passed for 485 yards and five TDs against Fairmont State and West Liberty.
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Devin Cox leads the Yellow Jackets' rushing attack with 329 yards and four touchdowns, followed closely by Justin Pessoa, who has accumulated 308 yards rushing.
Malik Baker leads the receivers with 372 receiving yards and three touchdown catches. Amare Ary and West Liberty transfer Osama Hurst have also reeled in three TD receptions apiece.
West Virginia State's defense has collected three takeaways this year. Keyshon Washington leads the unit with 35 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss.
"They do some good things in all three phases of the game. We're going to have to play our best game to have a chance to beat them," Edwards said.
