Concord University Football

ATHENS If your football team gets a first-half lead against West Virginia States Yellow Jackets, it had better look in the rear-view mirror.

A juggernaut may be catching up with them.

Concord head football coach Brian Ferguson is well aware of States second-half comebacks.

In his weekly press conference, he shared a memory from two Octobers ago.

The reason why we dont have a (conference championship) ring on our finger right now was because we put up 30-some points in the first half against State in 22 and they came back in the second half and played really, really well, and ended up beating us, Ferguson said on Thursday.

The Mountain Lions entered that game with a 6-1 record and led 31-19 at halftime, but the Yellow Jackets stung CU with a 56-38 defeat.

Concord will return to the site of that battle, Dickerson Stadium in Institute, on Saturday to face a powerful State offense that is averaging 40.4 points per game.

The Jackets staged another big comeback last week.

Trailing Fairmont State 31-10 going into the fourth quarter on the road, State erupted for 35 points to take a 45-34 victory and improve to 4-1 this season.

The Mountain Lions dropped to 0-4 with a 31-10 loss at West Liberty last Saturday.

Ferguson said about his troops, Theyre not down on themselves.

Theyve done a great job of just coming out, every day of practice this week, and have strived to get better and better.

As these young players that were playing start to improve, and start to understand the speed of college football, and start to understand what it takes to be a good football program, then those wins will start to come.

Two runners for State are among the top 10 rushers in the Mountain East Conference.

Joel Felder and Justin Pessoa have combined for an average of 170.6 rush yards per game this season.

Felder is also the team leader in receptions.

Quarterback Isaiah Bess has thrown a league-best 1,245 yards with 11 touchdown passes.

Bess and State defensive back Nick Blake, who had a late 38-yard pick-six last Saturday, were named on Monday as the MEC offensive and defensive players of the week.

States got a great offense, Ferguson said.

Theyve got a running back thats pretty good.

They like to throw the ball around.

Theyre very, very explosive on the offensive side of the ball.

...

Weve got to hit the quarterback early and often.

The Concord defense has a pair of sophomores who are among the top five tacklers in the MEC.

Linebacker Ryker Brown leads the conference with 42 tackles, and is ranked in the top 40 in NCAA Division II football with an average of 8.4 tackles per game.

Defensive back Kendall Bournes has been in on 36 stops, averaging 7.2 tackles per game.

Concords offense accumulated a season-high 18 first downs last weekend at West Liberty, while State is allowing just under 20 first downs per game.

All three of CUs quarterbacks saw playing time at West Liberty.

Veteran Blayne Ferguson is the most expert at the offensive controls, but has been limited recently due to injuries.

Freshman Tristan Gabrels and junior Kam Howard each took game snaps last Saturday.

I think Kams a little bit ahead of Tristan, Brian Ferguson said.

Well probably play two quarterbacks ...

because we want to see what these younger guys can do.

West Virginia State, which will be looking for its eighth straight football win over CU, is allowing 35.4 points per game and the defense is yielding 278.4 passing yards to opponents the most in the MEC.

The Yellow Jackets average of 459.4 offensive yards per game is 10th best in Division II football.

Their offensive efficiency in the red zone is tops in the Mountain East.

The punters for both teams, Concords Josh Hutley and States Brennen Schmitt, rank in the top 25 nationally in punting average.

Brian Ferguson said, Weve got to make sure that, one, we dont turn the ball over.

And, two, weve got to make sure that we limit (our) penalties.

And then, three, weve got to make sure that were running around, playing fast and physical, and (were) matching the intensity of our opponent.

Were going to ask our 11 guys to do their job, and win their one-on-one battles.

And when that play is over, were going to move on to the next play, and were going to try to win one snap at a time.

Fall break at Concord on Thursday and Friday meant that there were no classes to go to, but the football players reported to practice around sunup Thursday to continue preparations for the last half of the 2024 season.

Its been a good week of practice for us as we prepare for State, Brian Ferguson said.

Were going to worry about one day at a time.

Those past five games is behind us; we cant get those back.

Yesterday is gone; we cant get that back.

Were not going to worry about tomorrow, the coach noted.

What were going to do is, were going to plant our feet in today.

And were going to try to win the day.

Were going to celebrate our gains, one day at a time.

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