Published: November 07, 2009 12:45 am      

Concord seniors to finish college careers

ATHENS — This afternoon, the final play of the Concord University football season on the West Liberty University campus will represent a threshold for six CU seniors, ending their collegiate careers.

Defensive lineman Duke Adu said, “For 22 years, I’ve experienced a lot of things. ... I think about it, and what the love of football gives you is the opportunity to keep your childhood.

“This, basically, is the threshold into manhood. And when that last whistle blows, I’m not going to feel sad. I’m going to reminisce about the good times.”

Adu, Dan Stone and Tyrell Lynch will all be playing their final game on the Concord D-line.

Stone said, “It was awesome. It’s real cool, man. We know what each other’s going to do, we know how they’re going to play, and we can just feed off that.”

Lynch said, “We get (the work) in, we work as hard as we can, every day in practice, but we also kick back, get a laugh, laugh at each other. We fuss, fight, we have a good time out there.”

Still fighting off a painful ankle sprain, Adu said, “We are friends. It’s just like, anytime someone goes through a life-changing situation with another person, it builds a special bond.

“Our friendships are somewhat like a diamond. When all of the pressures of the world have compacted upon our shoulders, we’ve banded together. We held hands, we built a chain, and never let go. All three of us, we love the game of football. The love for the game is the driving force, to continue playing.”

“It’s been a great experience,” said running back Dennis Cole, who transferred to Athens for his senior season. “I can’t really explain it. I feel really blessed to be down here with such a great group of guys. They work so hard. They really bring the fun and passion back into college football.”

Cole said, “They quickly became a family to me.”

Senior fullback Matt Greenway said, “You’ve got to be extremely dedicated to go all four years with football, because it’s so time consuming. You’ve got to have a real love for the game to stick it out.”

Senior Bobby Thompson was one of the few offensive linemen on the roster, which presented its own pressures to play every week.

“It took a lot of strain on my part, a lot of grit,” he said. “You’ve got to grind it out. We knew there were not a lot of us, so we knew that none of us could go down or be lost to injury.

“We had to take good care of our bodies, and be disciplined, and be sure that we got all the extra study time in.

“And be sure that we were on top of our game, because that’s all we had, was each other, and we had to rely on each other to get through the season.”

Concord head coach Mike Kellar calls West Liberty (9-1) “one of the best offensive football teams in the nation.”

“You’re not going to stop them,” he said. “If you could go out there and slow them down, take them a little bit off their game, and then make some plays in the kicking game and with your offensive football team, then you’ve got a chance to go up and pull the upset on them.”

Greenway said that his thoughts today will be centered on beating the Hilltoppers, which would give Concord a 7-4 record and five conference wins for the first time since 1992.

“We’re going into this game knowing that West Lib has already won the conference, but we can still come out and earn some respect from them,” he said. “I know they’re probably going to take us lightly, but we’re going to come out swinging.”

Asked about his thoughts after the final play, Thompson said, “It hasn’t quite hit me yet, that it’ll be over. ...

“I don’t want football to be out of my system. I think I might want to coach or do something. But when my playing days are done, after that last snap, it’ll be an emotional rush for me. I don’t know quite what I’ll do yet.”

Adu had the last word. “When the last whistle blows, it’s going to represent crossing the threshold into manhood — because everything is for a season. And whatever life throws at us after football, I pray that we embrace it, full-steam.”

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com