Scott Helps Lead Dominant Defensive Effort in Football's Win Over Concord

FROSTBURG, Md. – A pair of lengthy weather delays were not enough to stop the Frostburg State Football team from a dominant second half performance in their 54-21 home victory over Concord on Saturday afternoon.
 
CU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving FSU the ball to start the game, where they could only manage a six-yard run from redshirt sophomore Owen Doyle before a three-and-out. After converting on 3^rd-and-4, the Mountain Lions' next play was broken up by an 11-yard sack from senior Yasir Holmes, helping force a punt.
 
Doyle had back-to-back carries that combined for 12 yards to get the Bobcats' opening first down, then redshirt sophomore Myles Fulton found classmate Jordan Marcucci across the middle for a 44-yard gain all the way down to the three-yard line. Doyle punched it in up the middle for the game's opening score, but a failed two-point conversion try kept it at 6-0. Two incomplete passes and a combined sack between graduate Rob Jackson and senior Delonta Butler forced another Concord punt, but FSU couldn't do much with its offense.
 
After converting a 2^nd-and-7 for a first down, junior Nick Presson put the Mountain Lions back 16 yards on Frostburg's third sack of the quarter, leading to another punt. Doyle and junior Sean Aaron each carried the ball twice for a combined 15 yards, with a five-yard pass-and-catch from Fulton to junior Amari N'namdi-Hall ending the quarter inside the Concord 10-yard line. Aaron needing just two carries to break through the goal line, as senior Brandon Keen's extra point made it a 13-0 game.
 
The score wouldn't stay that way long, as Jeremiah Valdry took the ball 92 yards to the house on the resulting kick-off, bringing CU back within 13-7. Frostburg went three-and-out, then the Mountain Lions drove their way downfield, getting helped out by a Bobcat penalty on 3^rd-and-18, to eventually score on a 12-yard catch to take their first lead at 14-13. Another penalty allowed the visitors to take the resulting kick-off from the 50, as they were successful in recovering an onside kick.
 
FSU hunkered down to force a punt, where Doyle and a Concord penalty helped move Frostburg up to the 49-yard line. Fulton lofted a pass down the sideline to junior Jeremiah Gibson for a 26-yard gain. Doyle and Fulton ran their way into the red zone, then on a 3^rd-and-8 from the 13, N'namdi-Hall caught a pass near the sideline, made a man miss, and fought his way to a first down at the three. Two rushes resulted in losing a yard before Fulton rolled out to his right and found redshirt sophomore Blake White just inside the pylon to convert on third down, with Keen putting the Bobcats back ahead 20-14. Each side had a drive to try and score, but neither managed much offensively, taking the game into the half with Frostburg up by six.
 
A small storm came through the area, forcing halftime to be delayed before the teams were able to come back on the field. FSU came out sharp defensively, as senior Leonard Scott had a tackle for loss and combined with Jackson on a sack to force a quick punt. Aided by a CU penalty on 3^rd-and-6, Fulton had a 12-yard run for another conversion before Doyle finished off the drive from 16 out for a 27-14 lead.
 
Senior Yasir Holmes led the next defensive charge, coming up with a tackle for loss followed by a QB hurry to keep the Mountain Lion offense quiet. A pass interference call helped Frostburg once again, as Doyle made an 18-yard gain and Fulton found Gibson for 35 yards before firing to sophomore Trashaun Timmons for a 16-yard score and a 34-14 advantage.
 
Concord was flagged twice on their first three plays to start their next drive, as senior Demetrius Salley, Jr. came around the edge to force a sack fumble, as the Mountain Lions punted out of their own endzone. Working on a short field, all that was managed could be an Aaron four-yard run, as Keen came on to nail a 42-yard field goal to go up 37-14.
 
Before CU's next drive could start, yet another weather interruption delayed the game for almost an hour. Coming back out of the locker room, Concord moved up on a 15-yard personal foul, but in turn were called for holding to start out 1^st-and-20. After a four-yard run, Scott picked up another sack, then earned himself a QB hurry to force a punt and take the game into the final frame.
 
On 3^rd-and-10 from their own 30, Fulton was able to find Doyle across the middle for a 15-yard gain, then after seemingly losing the drive on three straight incompletions, the Bobcat coaching staff dialed up a fake punt to junior Wylan Harich, who took the ball 50 yards down to the Mountain Lion five-yard line. After an incompletion, Doyle spun his way around the left side across the line for a 44-14 lead.
 
Concord made their way down the field, starting at their own 25 and making it up to the Frostburg 44 on a 3^rd-and-1, but senior Austin Amadi and sophomore William King broke into the backfield for yet another sack to force 4^th down. The resulting punt attempt turned into a high snap, then as the punter tried to recover the ball, was hit by redshirt sophomore Cruiz Paul-Umstead, causing a fumble which was scooped and scored by senior Kisaye Barnes to move ahead 51-14.
 
Redshirt sophomore Dom Tiaga was the next to take down a Mountain Lion QB, as the teams traded possessions with CU getting the ball at the FSU 49 after an unnecessary roughness call on a punt. After sophomore Malekye Hicks came up with the Bobcats' ninth sack of the day to get to 3^rd-and-16, back-up quarterback Kameron Howard found JQ Brown on a slant route, taking the ball 55 yards in for a 51-21 game.
 
The resulting onside kick attempt went out of bounds, giving Frostburg the ball at the Concord 44. A pass interference flag preceded sophomore KJ Smothers running a further 15 yards as FSU got into the red zone, but had to settle for a 36-yard Keen field goal to make things 54-21.
 
Senior Jeff McKenzie had one last highlight for the defense, stopping the Mountain Lions' last drive in its tracks with a forced fumble, falling on the ball himself to end the contest with a 33-point victory.
 
Doyle led the rushing attack with 99 yards and three TD's, while Fulton completed 13 passes for 188 yards and a pair of touchdown throws. Gibson led the receiving corps with 61 yards on a pair of catches, while Marcucci nabbed a game-high four catches for 56 yards. Scott dominated at the line of scrimmage, tallying 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss, as 10 different players recorded at least a half sack. The nine sacks tied the program's most at the Division II level, which was set against WV Wesleyan in 2019. Senior Keion Richardson made a team-high eight tackles, while Holmes added a pair of TFL's and a sack.
 
With the victory, Frostburg improves to 3-0 on the year, while Concord drops to 0-3. The Bobcats return to the field on Saturday, September 28 as they travel to Mercyhurst for a 1 p.m. game. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.