Published: August 28, 2008 11:44 pm            

Concord experiences ‘ugly’ loss to Carson-Newman

ATHENS — There’s ugly, and then there’s really ugly.

The Concord Mountain Lions opened up their football season Thursday night with a grotesque 77-14 loss to the sixth-ranked team in NCAA Division II, the Eagles of Carson-Newman University.

The Eagles rang up 722 yards of total offense, with 523 rushing yards. Concord got 109 total yards on the ground and another 109 in the air, much of it coming after second-team players for the visitors took the field. The Mountain Lions were 3-of-18 trying to convert third downs.

Greg Quick said, “The one thing we were fearful of, going into this game, was adjusting to their game speed. … They’ve got a heck of a football team. They’re going to win a lot of games.”

It might have been worse but for Concord punter Zach Boyd, who averaged 47.5 yards on 11 punts, nailing three inside the opponent’s 20 yard line. Before the first quarter was halfway over, the Eagles were ahead 28-0, scoring touchdowns on “drives” that took 1, 2, 1 and 3 plays respectively.

Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks said, “We knew very little about our opponent, so we wanted to do our basic offense (and) try to be fundamentally sound, and I think we were pretty successful in that plan — except one or two (things). We haven’t caught a punt yet, and we turned the ball over there, early, bad.”

He said, “We got a chance to play a lot of kids. We really have a lot of respect for Coach Quick and his program. … It was a good outing for us. We’re proud of our kids, and excited.”

The Mountain Lions, after starting out with four lackluster offensive series, got a break when senior Joe Thomas intercepted reserve quarterback Joel Staham and set his offense up at the 12 yard line. James Wilson took a direct snap out of an empty backfield to score on a 2-yard run for Concord’s first points.

Behind 56-7 at halftime, Concord crafted its only decent drive of the game to open the second half. The home squad went 75 yards on 10 plays as fog drifted across the turf of June O. Shott Field.

Wilson got his second touchdown by waving the ball across the goal line before being knocked backward. The Eagles’ third-string quarterback, Douglas Belk, answered with an 84-yard touchdown run. Wendy Desamour’s second rushing TD of the game was the only scoring play of the fourth quarter.

Concord freshman Brian Kennedy averaged 7.1 yards per rush, ending with 92 yards on 13 carries. Thomas Frazier completed 15 of 31 passes to four receivers, with several balls dropped by open targets.

Mo Walters returned seven kicks for 127 yards.

Belk and Ricky Harris topped the century mark rushing for Carson-Newman. Starting QB Alex Good threw one pass, a 67-yard touchdown, and rested most of the game. Buck Wakefield gave the Eagles a fast start with an 80-yard return of the opening kickoff and an 11-yard TD run six seconds later on the game clock.

Carson-Newman is trying to make a statement after going 10-1 last season but being left out of the playoffs. Concord is still trying to find a winning combination.

Quick said, “We’re no different a football team than when we came in tonight. We’re embarrassed a little bit. … But it’s one game. It’s a journey (and) we hang together. And as a team and a family, they held together.

“We’re definitely not happy with the outcome. We’re hurting inside because we didn’t walk out of that gate victorious. But we will walk through that gate victorious. We’ve got Lenoir-Rhyne next week. The Mountain Lions are going to come out of that cage.”

Concord takes to the road for a matchup with Lenoir-Rhyne, another South Atlantic Conference team, a week from Saturday in Hickory, N.C.

Sparks said, “We’ve got to get ready for week 2. They say you improve a lot from week 1 to week 2, and I hope that’s right, ’cause we’ll have our hands full.”

The Eagles host North Alabama, the No. 4 team in a major preseason poll, next Thursday night.

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com

        

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