ATHENS, W.Va. – Unbeaten Concord took advantage of some West Liberty mistakes to build a big early lead here Saturday and coasted to a 61-24 win in Mountain East Conference action at Callaghan Stadium.
The Mountain Lions (4-0, 3-0), who entered the game with one of the nation’s top 10 offenses, racked up more than 500 yards of total offense for the fourth straight week but it was their special teams work that broke the game open late in the opening half.
After the Hilltoppers (2-2, 2-2) cut the margin to 17-10 midway through the second quarter with a 28-yard Shawn Carl field goal, Concord QB Brian Novak found WR Ryan Stewart for a 38-yard TD and a 24-10 lead. Back-to-back sacks forced West Liberty to punt from its own end zone and the Mountain Lions stormed through to block the punt with Cade Rogers recovering in the end zone to push the count to 31-10.
Concord got the ball right back when WLU fumbled the ensuing kickoff at its own 15 and Angus Harper powered in from 7 yards out to give the hosts what proved to be an insurmountable 38-10 halftime lead.
The Mountain Lions shifted into ball-control mode over the final two quarters, grinding out 256 of their season-high 308 rushing yards over the final 15 minutes and tacking on three more rushing TDs to put the game on ice.
Nevertheless, despite the lop-sided final margin, there were still some bright spots for the Hilltoppers.
Sophomore QB Dakota Conwell completed 20-of-41 passes for a season-high 275 yards, running for one touchdown and throwing for two more while guiding a resilient West Liberty attack to more than 400 yards of total offense.
Conwell gave West Liberty an early 7-0 lead with an 8-yard scramble on the game’s opening possession and had scoring passes of 46 yards to Anton McCallum and 5 yards to Max Kapron. Dylan Potts had 7 catches for 73 yards while McCallum had 73 yards on 2 catches and Kapron added a game-high 79 receiving yards on 3 grabs. The Hilltopper rushing attack picked up 129 yards on 41 attempts with Jeremiah Ortiz’s 68 yards on 16 carries leading the way.
Novak completed 15-of-21 passes for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns. Douse’s 77 yards on 4 catches led the CU receiving corps. Calvinaugh Jones paced the Mountain Lions on the ground with 108 yards on 15 carries.
Marcus Schumacher led the WLU defense with a career-high 13 tackles while Marco Ricchetti added a dozen stops, 2 pass break-ups and blocked a field goal. West Liberty had more first downs (24) than Concord (22) and posted a 30:56-29:04 edge in time of possession but lost two fumbles to go along with a blocked punt and interception. The Mountain Lions didn’t commit a turnover.
The Hilltoppers hit the road again next week for a 1 p.m. game against NCAA Division I FCS foe Duquesne in Pittsburgh.
