ATHENS, W.Va. – The Frostburg State football team made history on Saturday afternoon with its first win at the NCAA Division II level as the Bobcats rolled past Concord, 52-14 in Mountain East Conference action.
Frostburg (1-1, 1-1) narrowly lost its season and DII opener on Sept. 5, but on Saturday, FSU left no doubt as to the final results as the Bobcats scored 31 unanswered points after the Mountain Lions (0-2, 0-2) pulled to within a touchdown in the second quarter.
FSU racked up 456 yards in total offense behind 230 on the ground. Junior tailback Gavin Lavat ran for 141 yards on 17 carries with a career-best three touchdowns.
Lavat scored the first three touchdowns for the Bobcats on the afternoon. His first two scores helped Frostburg build a 14-7 cushion while his third TD gave FSU a 21-14 lead at intermission.
The second half belonged to Frostburg as it scored points on five of its first six possessions. Graduate transfer Will Brunson completed 14-of-20 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown. He connected with first-year wide receiver Jawaun Werrell for a 26-yard touchdown early in the third that started the Bobcats' run of 31 unanswered points.
Frostburg was also solid on defense and special teams. Junior kicker Jeremy Harrison extended FSU's lead to 31-14 with 10:16 showing in the third with a 28-yard field goal and senior defensive back Michael Bell intercepted a pass late in the third quarter and raced 61 yards for a touchdown for a 38-14 advantage.
The Bobcats tacked on two more rushing touchdowns to close the afternoon's outburst. Junior running back Malcolm Facey scored from a yard out late in the third and junior Aizsha Horne found the end zone from eight yards out with 10:24 showing on the fourth quarter clock.
While the offense was lighting up the scoreboard, the Bobcat defense was keeping the Mountain Lions off balance. Four Concord drives finished with negative yardage and another three drives finished with less than five yards in offense. FSU forced the hosts to punt six times and forced a turnover on downs on three occasions. The Bobcats finished with 11 tackles for loss and five sacks.
Harrison connected on seven of his extra point attempts and averaged 61.1 yards per kickoff on nine kicks with four touchbacks.
Junior Lincoln Ikwubuo was Brunson's favorite target as he snared six passes for 66 yards. Defensively, senior Matt Meier and junior Carl Igweh each finished with six tackles. Igweh added 3.5 TFLs and one sack, while Meier had 1.5 TFLs.
The Bobcats host West Liberty this Thursday at Bobcat Stadium at 7:00 pm.
Notes:
The 52 points are the most for Frostburg on the road since it defeated William Paterson early in 2017 … It is the sixth-straight road victory ... It is also the first win in the state of West Virginia for FSU since 1999 … The Bobcats are now 12-5 in the month of September over the last five seasons.
