Kennedy, Mayo star in CU spring game

ATHENS — Brian Kennedy and Thomas Mayo have picked up where they left off on the football field in November.

Kennedy ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns and Mayo caught seven balls for 140 yards and the other two scores as Concord University brought its spring football practices to a close in the annual spring game on a windy Saturday evening in Athens.

The first team offense wound up on the winning end of a 21-7 score in a scrimmage that lasted a little over an hour at Callaghan Stadium-June O. Shott Field. Mayo was “loaned” to the second-team offense for a couple of series, and produced a 22-yard touchdown, weaving through defenders for the only score by the team designated as “visitor” on the scoreboard.

Kennedy got the scoring started on the sixth play of the day, breaking through the middle for a 38-yard touchdown. He repeated the effort from 53 yards out on the next series.

The first-team defense, sporting a much more varied front alignment, was able shut down the first-team offense twice once they were paired up on the field. Junior linebacker Joe Greenway said, “It’s a great package we’ve put in (on defense). Last year we gave up around 30 points a game. We want to decrease that a lot. We’re hoping to stop a lot of teams.

“Our offense is amazing. It puts up a lot of points. We’ve got to go out there and show what we can do,” Greenway said.

Quarterback Zack Grossi said, “There have been lots of improvements with Coach (Chris) Bowers. They worked hard. They got better, but they earned it.”

“They’re hustling to the ball,” Mayo said. “They’re getting better every day.”

Head coach Mike Kellar said, “At the beginning, our first offense was going against our two (second-team) defense, so that was a little deceiving. Our first defense actually stopped our twos very well.”

“Then, when we went three drives, ones against ones, and our first defense stopped us, two out of the three drives — which gives the defense some excitement.”

Linebacker Cameron Tarver and transfer Davon Marion generated considerable excitement for the defense, earning mention on several tackles, and forcing plays near the line of scrimmage.

Mayo countered with a dazzling effort, getting open routinely and fighting his way around would-be tacklers when they closed in.

On one toss from quarterback John Mason, Mayo out-fought a defensive back for a ball near the sideline, then turned up toward the goal line. The 76-yard apparent touchdown turned into a 56-yard gain due to a penalty on a downfield blocker after the catch.

Three plays later, Mason initiated the 22-yard pass-and-run play that Mayo scored on.

Those plays helped Mason, a newcomer to Concord, to have the best statistical day of the quarterbacks with 92 yards and a 5-for-6 passing effort. Evin Dusold was 6-for-7 for 61 yards.

Grossi showed little effect from the knee injury that ended his 2009 season after 2 1/2 games. The 6-2 sophomore completed 7 of 11 passes for 73 yards.

“Zack’s back,” Kellar said. “He’s about 231 (pounds), and we want him to be 218 when the season starts, (but) the injury’s over in my mind.”

“My knee feels good,” Grossi said. “It felt great to be back there with Thomas (Mayo) and B.K. (Kennedy) and all the other guys. It was so much fun. We had some occasions where the defense made some plays, some where the offense made some plays.”

Grossi was relieved to have a full complement of healthy offensive linemen in front of him on the first-team unit.

“We’ve had all five of our guys healthy,” he said. “They’ve been here for every practice, every scrimmage, everything. Obviously those are the guys who are going to open the holes for our runners and protect the quarterbacks.”

Four quarterbacks saw playing time, combining for 226 yards and no interceptions. Only seven passes were incomplete. But eight times the defense caught up to the signal-caller in the backfield. Tackles were not allowed, so the “sacks” were like a game of touch football.

Kellar said he has learned from the spring practice sessions, “We’ve got a chance to be very dynamic this year on offense, (and) our defense grew a lot this year.”

“We run better now,” Kellar said, hastening to add that Kennedy was more than capable of making plays. “Now, we are a lot deeper, with kids who can run,” the coach said. “We’ve stressed it a lot, and we’ve coached it up, but a lot of it is kids that can run faster.”

“At the end of the day, when they hit the ground running, they’ve got to be able to go fast.”

Mayo said, “I feel good about next year, from what we’ve accomplished today. ... We can do big things. I feel like we can lead the whole nation in offense — as well as defense.”

Grossi said, “We’ve improved this spring. We’ve tried to improve the little things. We preach taking care of the ball, and going out and having fun.”

— Contact Tom Bone

at tbone@bdtonline.com

Concord Spring Football Game

Home...............................................14 7 — 21

Visitors..............................................0 7 — 0

First Quarter

Home — Brian Kennedy 38 run (Brandon Strupp kick), 12:17

Home — Kennedy 53 run (Strupp kick), 4:32

Second Quarter

Visitors — Thomas Mayo 22 pass from John Mason (Strupp kick)

Home — Mayo 16 pass from Zack Grossi (Strupp kick)

———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Brian Kennedy 14-171, DaQuan Edwards 10-32, Keith Huff 1-16, Nathan Tanner 1-4, Evin Dusold 1-3, Thomas Mayo 1-3, Orlando Bryant 1-(minus 2), Team 9-(minus 41). Total 37-186 net yards.

PASSING — John Mason 5-6-92, Zack Grossi 7-11-73, Evin Dusold 6-7-61, Steven Hearons 0-1-0. Total 18-25-226.

RECEIVING — Thomas Mayo 7-140, James Boyd 3-33, Keith Huff 3-25, Jared Brown 1-12, Nathan Tanner 1-10, Brian Kennedy 1-8, DaQuan Edwards 1-2. Total 18-226.

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