Athens, W. Va. - In their final road game of the 2024 season, the Wheeling University Football team (5-5, 4-4) traveled down to Athens, West Virginia to battle Concord. It was a day led by the offense as they scored a season-high 50 points in a 50-30 win over the Mountain Lions. The Cardinal offense totaled 530 yards on the day with all six passing touchdowns came through the air as the Cardinals moved to 5-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play on the season.
The scoring started on the Cardinal's second drive of the day as the Cardinals began on their own 36 yard line. After being stopped at the 50-yard line on their first drive, Landon Lutz drove his team down to the Concord 15-yard line. He would drop back to pass and threw the first of six touchdowns on the day when he collected with Tre Holloway to put Wheeling up 7-0. It began what was a career day for Lutz, who finished 20-26, throwing for 257 yards and six touchdowns on the day. The 247 yards were the second highest total for the redshirt sophomore, and his six touchdowns were the most he has thrown over his two seasons, he would complete 76.9% of his passes on the day as he paced a strong offensive day for the Cardinals.
After another stop by the Cardinal defense, Lutz and the offense went right back to work, driving 70 yards in 12 plays to set up 1st and 10 at the Concord 10-yard line. Lutz would once again find the endzone, connecting with Dasyn Hores for the team's second touchdown of the day. Wheeling would line-up for what looked like an extra point, but Trey Brady would take the snap and find his way into the endzone for the two-point conversion that made it a 15-0 game. That would be the score as the first quarter came to an end and the Cardinal defense continued their roll into the second half. They held Concord inside of their own 20 yard line on the next possession and Wheeling would get the ball back on their own 32-yard line.
On the third play of the drive, Lutz would break away on a quarterback keeper for 55 yards and a Cardinal touchdown, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Four plays later, the Cardinals would be forced to punt, but a roughing the kicker penalty would give the Cardinals new life. They took advantage, driving down to the Concord 13-yard line, and Lutz would throw his third touchdown pass of the game, this time to Chris Charles and a Joao Lima extra point made it a 22-0 game. Concord would get their first score of the day after blocking a punt and setting the ball up at the Wheeling 20-yard line. Jeremiah Valdry would pull in a 20-yard catch and Concord made it a 22-7 game. It would start a flurry of scoring between the two teams, with a combined 21 points scored in the final four minutes of play.
After the Concord score, the Cardinals got the ball back with 6:03 to play before half and drove down to the Concord 15-yards line. Lutz would drop back to pass once again, and connected with Dawaun Green on a screen pass, and he took it the rest of the way for the score as the Cardinals took a 29-7 lead. The Cardinal defense would force a three-and-out on the next play and Concord's Josh Hutley sent the punt inside the Wheeling 10-yard line. Nasir Rhem would be back to return and muffed the ball and it bounced into the endzone. Rhem would jump on the ball in the endzone and would be touched down for the safety that made it a 29-9 game. After taking the ensuing drop kick, Concord would be set up at the Wheeling 47-yard line. They would need just one play to get on the scoreboard as Kameron Howard connected with Eric Hart and made it 29-16 Cardinals as they headed into the locker room.
Concord would receive the second half kick and the Cardinals defense came up with the stop. Wheeling got the ball back with 12:47 to go in the quarter and put together a five-minute drive. Lutz and Charles would connect for the second time on the day, this time from seven yards out, and the Cardinals went ahead 36-16. The Cardinals would get the ball back on the ensuing kick-off as a fumble by Concords Valentine put the ball on the ground. Justin McIlwain would pick the ball up and run it the rest of the way for a Cardinal touchdown and Wheeling extended their lead to 43-16. Wheeling's defense would get another turnover on the next play, as Jojo Holmes forced a fumble on a sack and Jack Parry would jump on the ball to put it back on the Cardinal's side.
They were set up at the Mountain Lion's 34 yard line and Dawaun Green and Steven Mitchell would get the Cardinals inside the five yard line. Lutz would drop back to pass from five yards out and connected with Tre Holloway for the sixth touchdown on the day. Joao Lima would step in and kicked through the ensuing extra point and Wheeling would go up 50-16. That would be the score at the end of the third quarter and the Cardinals would go to their bench the depth pieces for the rest of the game. Concord tried to mount a comeback effort, scoring 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals were able to hold on for the 50-30 win.
While Lutz had a career day passing, he was also able to spread the ball around, connecting with seven different receivers pulling in catches on the day. Dasyn Hores would lead the way, finishing with five catches for a career-high 110 yards and one touchdown. Chris Charles and Tre Holloway each pulled in two touchdowns, with Charles finishing with three catches for 34 yards and Tre Holloway pulling in three catches for 28 yards. The final Cardinal receiving touchdown came from Dawaun Green, who pulled in one catch for 15 yards and a touchdown. Steven Mitchell would lead the Cardinal's ground game, carrying the ball 20 times for 133 yards on the day. The team would rush for 273 yards on the day, finishing eight yards away from the single-game rushing record. On the defensive side, it was another big day for Jack Parry, who finished with 10 total tackles, eight solo and two assisted, including 2.0 tackles for loss.
The Wheeling University Football team returns to action on Saturday, November 16th, when they take on West Liberty with kick-off at 6 PM.
