Glenville State eyes 2-0 start at Concord
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GLENVILLE -- The Mountain East Conference opener for Glenville State has head coach Mike Kellar's Pioneers hitting the road for a 1 p.m. Saturday affair against Concord at Callaghan Stadium.
The G-men (1-0) are coming off a 44-15 victory last Thursday at Quincy University. The Mountain Lions of head man Dave Walker also enter the fray at 1-0 after knocking off host Emory & Henry, 27-20, on Saturday.
"Obviously, coming off a victory everyone feels good about themselves. When you coach you try to keep an even keel," admitted Kellar, who watched Towson transfer quarterback Jeff Miller throw for 341 yards and four touchdowns in the opener. For his efforts, Miller was named the MEC Offensive Player of the Week.
Alfred Menjor (74 yards) and Zakee Swann (71 yards) led the rushing attack while Javian Bellamy (3-119-1) had the biggest game at receiver.
"We're pretty good," coach Kellar said of the team's overall health but admitted "Jonathan Brown, who was going to be a great defensive end for us this year, tore his Achilles in the first quarter."
The 6-foot-2 product from Myrtle Beach Prep recorded a pair of tackles before the injury during his debut.
"He's a freshman and he's going to be a good player here," Kellar added. "It's going to hurt us.
"I hate it more for him than us, but I hate it for us. We'll get him back right and he'll still have his four years to play."
Coach Walker's squad used a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Kris Copeland, who also scored the game-winning six-pointer via a 1-yard plunge early in the fourth, to help secure their victory.
Copeland finished with 165 yards on kickoff returns and had 221 all-purpose stripes. He was honored as the MEC Special Teams Player of the Week.
Wideout Jared Bowie, who had 15 catches for 204 yards during last year's 17-10 setback to the Pioneers, finished with six grabs for 96 stripes and a score.
Jack Mangel threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns, but last year he set school records versus the G-men for completions (36) and attempts (51).
"They got a good team and they play Copeland at receiver and running back and their quarterback is as good as anybody in this league," said Kellar, whose team forced four turnovers against Quincy, which rushed for 257 yards.
"They got a good defense and are much improved from where they were a couple years back. We'll have our work cut out for us on Saturday. I'm not too concerned about the stats. They created turnovers, had big third-down stops and created short fields."
Marion Lawson led the G-men last week with a pair of sacks. Noah McBride broke up two passes, Sean Bowers made eight total stops while Brandon Penn, Max Boyd and Jacob Clark each forced a fumble. Boyd also had a sack. Penn was joined by Mark Shepherd in both recovering a fumble and making an interception.
"I think we played well, but I think both sides can play better," coach Kellar said of the trenches. "That's a good thing to look at the results and say the results were good, but there's room for improvement.
"Moving forward we got 10 league games. There's not a lot of secrets in football. At the end of the day it's blocking and tackling and it all starts up front."
Eight different receivers had receptions in the opener for the G-men, who will have to contend with running back Thurlow Wilkins as well as a Mountain Lions defense which recorded nine tackles for loss. Ty Maust had a team-high 10 tackles while Dajor Davenport had three tackles for loss and a sack on the CU defensive line.
"We played a lot of guys and there was a lot of balance within the offense," coach Kellar added. "The ball went where it needed to go for the most part. Our philosophy is to let the defense dictate where the ball goes.
"We got to play good in the kick game. They got some very good skill in their returners and we can't let those guys get loose. Defensively, we got to be able to cover the receivers and put pressure on the quarterback."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com