Mountain Lions crush Bobcats

With three running back averaging at least seven yards a carry and a season-high 348 rushing yards, the Concord University football team stayed unbeaten by defeating West Virginia Wesleyan, 61-12, Sat- urday afternoon at Cebe Ross Field.

Junior Calvinaugh Jones led all Concord (7-0, 6-0 MEC) rushers with 120 yards on 10 carries to along with a touch- down, his seventh of the season. Redshirt freshman Jamal Petty also exceeded the 100-yard plateau by rushing 15 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns, the second multi-rushing touchdown game of his young college career. Senior running back Ben Nester found the endzone twice in addition to running for 66 yards on nine carries.

After West Virginia Wesleyan (3-4, 3-4 MEC) opened up the scoring in the first quarter, red- shirt freshman defensive back Jeremiah Johnson ran back the ensuing PAT try to put CU on the board, but trailing 6-2. The Mountain Lions would get their first touchdown with 12:28 left in the first quarter when Jones ripped off a career-long 74-yard run for a score.

The Bobcats came back with a rushing touchdown of their own to go back on top 12-9, but Concord ripped off the next 52 points. Jones’ touchdown was followed by Petty’s first touchdown of the day on a 45-yard rush. After rushing touchdown from junior running back Angus Harper and Nester,

Concord led 30-12 after the first quarter. Concord continued its offensive onslaught in the second quarter with touchdown passes from sophomore Brian Novak to junior athlete Jermeil Douse and junior wide receiver Ryan Stewart. Douse scored a touchdown for the fourth time in four weeks while Stewart caught his 10th touchdown re- ception of the season, putting him one shy of his career high he set in 2011.

Heading into the locker room Concord was in full command, leading 44-12.

In the second half, Nester and Petty added touchdown rushes of 19 and five yards respectively with junior kicker Andy Ellington connecting a 42-yard field goal to conclude the scoring for the Mountain Lions. Defensively, the Mountain Lions allowed a season-low 149 yards including just 98 passing yards as they also inter- cepted two more passes. Junior defensive back Derrick Johnson picked off a pass for the second straight while junior linebacker Brandon Martinez intercepted his first career pass at Concord, a week after scoring a defensive touchdown.

Junior defensive back Mike Carey set a career-high in tackles as he led the Mountain Lions with seven stops on the day. Senior defensive lineman Silas Agyemang recorded his first sack of the season while junior defensive lineman Tre Preston came away with a sack for the second straight game.

The 348 yards the Mountain Lions rushed for was the most since they racked up 403 rushing yards against West Virginia

Wesleyan last season. Jones has now rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns in his last two contests versus the Bobcats. The last time Concord surrendered less than 100 passing yards was last season versus Lenoir- Rhyne in the season opener. For the game, Novak finished with 269 passing yards and two touchdown while his top target on the day was freshman wide receiver T.J. Smith, who caught seven passes for 113 yards, the second time he has gone over 100 yards in his career.

Concord will return to Callaghan Stadium next Saturday to put its perfect 7-0 mark on the line versus Charleston for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.