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GLENVILLE -- Concord University will try to keep Glenville State University winless in the Mountain East Conference when the Mountain Lions welcome in the Pioneers for a 2 p.m. Saturday homecoming kick inside Callaghan Stadium.
After opening MEC play in mid-September with a 41-38 home loss to Charleston and then a 43-42 setback at West Liberty, the Mountain Lions knocked off Frostburg State, 41-31, before rolling to a 73-49 victory last week at W.Va. State for second-year head coach Cody Edwards.
CU (4-2, 2-2), which is seeking a three-game win streak and allows 36.8 points a game, boasts the No. 8 scoring offense in Division II at 43.5 ppg while sitting tied for eighth nationally with Charleston in red zone offense (95.7%, 22 of 23).
Devin Kargman keys the attack and is 20th in the country in total offense while sitting 10th in passing yards and touchdowns.
Although Cordale Russell has four scores on 19 receptions for 521 yards, Dom Collins (36-741-9) is tied for second in touchdown grabs and tied for fifth in receiving yards.
“Really, really talented roster. Offensively, extremely explosive at the skill positions,” said GSU (1-5, 0-3) first-year head coach Jake Casteel, whose program has lost four straight. “The quarterback’s a good player. They got one of the better players in the country in Dom Collins, who is a West Virginia kid and a really, really good football player.
“Really fast, really explosive. Defensively, they do a really good job of creating havoc, getting sacks, big plays, forcing turnovers. They cause some chaos on defense. We got to be able to handle that offensively.”
Glenville State, which is led defensively by Knowel Smith’s 43 tackles, Jacob Clark’s 2.5 sacks and Ty Wickliffe’s two interceptions, will be tasked with slowing down a Concord rushing attack that features Greg Burrell (75-335-5), Jayden Williams (43-287-5), Maurice Jones (48-276-3) and Curtis Clark (21-161-1).
“He’s a big guy. He’s 6-3, 225 pounds. He’s a pocket guy, but he is really smooth,” Casteel said of Kargman. “He knows where to go with the ball and as the year’s gone on, the timing with the receivers has gotten better, and they do a bunch of choice route and option route stuff.
“They have really smoothed a lot of that out and they got really good timing between him and all their receivers are doing a good job with that. Their running backs, they got four guys with a lot of carries. Burrell leads it, but they are extremely talented. We got to be able to gang tackle them. They do a very good job of letting their playmakers make plays. They are from top to bottom extremely talented.”
The Pioneers were tied 7-7 with Frostburg State last week in the first quarter, but the Bobcats went on for a 56-7 win.
“Really tough game. We didn’t coach well. Didn’t play well. Just pretty bad overall in all three phases. I’m taking the blame for that,” Casteel said. “We got to practice better, prepare them better, have a better game plan and get kids in better spots.
“Credit to Frostburg. They had a good plan. We couldn’t stop the bleeding. We never really found our footing on defense. Offense, we were moving the ball early and defense we couldn’t stop anybody, so it’s hard to get in rhythm.”
JD Sherrod (53-193-3) leads the team with a 3.6 yards per carry average and has completed 60 of 127 passes for 852 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. GSU, which has been led in receiving by Caden Harris (36-344-0), Kyree Bunny (14-295-4) and Joziah Gonzalez (15-242-1), also has 230 yards rushing on 66 attempts from Zavione Wood.
“That’s probably, I would say, the toughest part of coaching is ‘OK, you take a butt kicking and you got to turn Sunday and look at the team and move them on.’ That’s kind of the art of it,” Casteel added on his weekly GoMart coaches show. “You know, for me, it’s like I told them I’m not letting anything slide.
“The standard’s going to remain the standard no matter what our record is. They’re bought in. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. We just got to keep our head down and keep working and we will pull through this and it’s going to feel really good when we do. We just got to stay together.”
The Mountain Lions, who have watched Christian Torres kick a 50-yard field goal and convert 8 of 9 chances, have received 4.5 sacks from Shambre Jackson.
“They’re going to bring a lot of pressure,” Casteel said. “They’ll blitz both their corners, which is unique, but they do a lot of different things just to keep you on your toes and create big plays.
“They’ve done a good job of that and they’ve gotten got at times and then they get you at times, so you kind of got to roll with the punches and it really comes down to doing your job.”
Despite the losing streak, Casteel is confident in his squad going into Concord, which has a plus-five turnover margin (T28th).
“Number one we have got to control their explosive playmakers on offense and that’s on the coaches and me mainly to come up with a plan to do that, and we cannot let them start running the ball, which has been one of our strengths for the most part,” Casteel stressed.
“Offensively, we got to protect the quarterback number one. We got to be able to decipher all their different looks, their pressure and be able to run the ball into it and be able to protect JD so he can get the ball off.”
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com