Big plays help Mountain Lions get past Griffins - Bluefield Daily Telegraph

ATHENS — Unpredictable. Unlikely. Irregular. Weird. Choose your adjective.

A game that included five fumbles, three interceptions, a safety and 11 fourth-down conversion attempts ended with Concord University defeating Seton Hill 18-9 on a windy Saturday afternoon at Callaghan Stadium-Shott Field.

Concord (4-3, 4-1 in West Virginia Conference games) never trailed the winless Griffins (0-7) but led by six points or less until tacking on 10 points in the fourth quarter.

"It's a win," said Concord head coach Garin Justice. "People can call it an ugly win, or a special-teams win, or a defensive struggle, but it's a win."

Zack Grossi was 23-for-36 passing for 267 yards, Ryan Stewart caught five balls for 126, and Chris Rodriguez ran for 147 on 27 attempts for Concord. Zach Gibbins and Jake Lilly each had 12 tackles to pace the Mountain Lions.

Stewart said, "It was a tough game throughout. We just kept pushing, kept fighting, digging."

Seton Hill generated 84 net yards on the ground. Quarterback Ryan Morris was 22-for-32, completing passes to nine receivers for 249 yards but incurring a pair of interceptions.

Griffins head coach Joel Dolinski said Morris "did a nice job. The two turnovers, I wasn't really happy with it ... two interceptions, trying to make something happen when it really wasn't there. But you can't really fault a kid for trying to make it happen."

"We try to focus on not turning it over, 'cause that'll kill you. So, that was tough."

Concord's all-conference running back Brian Kennedy started despite continuing problems with a high ankle sprain, but after only three ineffective carries he left the game.

The running game was in the hands of Rodriguez, who got the rock five times in a nine-play, 60-yard drive that ended with his 4-yard touchdown, breaking a scoreless tie in the last minute of the first quarter. The extra-point attempt was wide and CU led 6-0.

To end the next series, Griffins kicker Josh Cavalier booted a 27-yard field goal into a stiff wind to produce a 6-3 score. Neither side scored again in the half.

Concord safety Aaron Martinez picked off a pass in the final minute of the half and returned it 35 yards to thwart a Seton Hill foray.

"They were driving a little bit; they were in our zone," Martinez said. "I was just playing the ball."

Early in the second half, Concord reached the Seton Hill 3 but Rodriguez lost the ball and the Griffins' Brendan Monahan recovered.

The Mountain Lions turned the game around when Cavalier, attempting to punt for Seton Hill, mishandled a snap and Howard Jones smacked him out of the end zone for a safety.

Concord cornerback Riyadh Richardson said, "We came out a little slow, but the coaches got on us at halftime and we all came out strong."

In the first minute of the fourth quarter, Grossi faced a blitz and triggered a strong pass to Stewart, wide open behind the Griffins' coverage, and staring back into the sun. It went for a 64-yard touchdown.

"We needed a big play. We had to step up and do it," Stewart said. "Zack puts it right on the money. He's a great quarterback. He practices hard, he does everything right."

The Mountain Lions defense got the ball back on the next series. Seton Hill's Daniel Butler caught a short pass and coughed up the ball when hit by Richardson. Martinez recovered the pigskin.

The Concord offense could not cross the goal line on three attempts from the Seton Hill 1 yard line, and Brad Cox scored Concord's final points on a 19-yard field goal.

Seton Hill got its only touchdown with 6:16 left on a pass from Morris to Tyler McIntosh. In keeping with the unusual tenor of the day, Cavalier's extra-point attempt banged off the upright and the score remained 18-9.

Richardson intercepted the Griffins' final pass and returned it 27 yards.

Martinez said, "We try to focus on creating turnovers, and we always try to be opportunistic on the defensive side of the ball. We always feel like the ball is ours when it's in the air.

"Riyadh made a great play on that last play. That's what he does. He makes plays."

Richardson said, "They'd been running the stop-and-smash the whole game. The defensive line got good pressure. I broke on the ball, like my coach taught me; the coaches put me in the right place."

Noting the veterans on the Mountain Lions defense and the relative youth on offense, Justice said, "For us to win football games, we have to rely on those guys on the defensive side of the ball."

Senior linebacker Joe Greenway said, "It was definitely very important to keep [Seton Hill] to as low a score as possible, because we knew that if the offense didn't score ... that we would have to take it over and do our job."

They did.

— Contact Tom Bone at tbone@bdtonline.com

16 Oct, 2011

--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGJbePPHH5s_S5wFzl6pZWr5HlaYQ&url=http://bdtonline.com/localsports/x350484831/Big-plays-help-Mountain-Lions-get-past-Griffins
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com