Staff, wire reports
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON —
A conference championship comes with championship performances from players and coaches.
Concord University got plenty of both this season.
Not only did 14 Mountain Lions earned All-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) honors, but first year head coach Garin Justice was selected as Coach of the Year in an announcement made on Tuesday in voting done by the league coaches.
Justice led the Mountain Lions to its first WVIAC championship since 1990, and will lead Concord into its first Division II playoff appearance on Saturday at Kutztown State in Pennsylvania.
A former standout offensive lineman at West Virginia University, Justice replaced Mike Kellar, who made an unexpected departure after last season.
After losing the first two games of the season, Justice helped the Mountain Lions earn a spot in the NCAA playoffs as the No. 6 seed. His team reeled off seven wins in the last eight games, including a 48-40 win in the season finale against nationally ranked West Virginia Wesleyan.
In the preseason poll, the Mountain Lions were selected to finish fifth in the WVIAC. Concord defeated two ranked teams during the season, including a win over then-No. 3 Shepherd on Oct. 1, and the 19th ranked Bobcats last week.
While Justice was pleased with the honors, he deflected the credit elsewhere.
“I appreciate the honor, but it has to do with the whole staff,” said Justice, in a press release from Concord. “We have a great group of coaches here and they’ve done a tremendous job.
“The players have been outstanding too. They’ve worked so hard this year and deserve all the recognition.”
They got plenty of it.
Among the 14 Concord players honored by the WVIAC, seven were first team honorees, including five defensive performers, led by senior linebacker Joe Greenway, who was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year.
Greenway finished fifth in the league with 88 tackles (8.9 per game), along with 13 tackles for loss, five interceptions and recovered a pair of fumbles.
Other Concord defensive first team honorees included Bluefield product Jake Lilly, a linebacker, who led the WVIAC with 10.9 tackles per game. Defensive backs Riyahd Richardson and Aaron Martinez and defensive lineman Josh Miller were also first team selections.
Concord first team offensive selections went to running back Brian Kennedy, who ran for 303 yards in the Mountain Lions’ WVIAC title-clinching win last Saturday over West Virginia Wesleyan, and senior center Brandon Link.
Second team honors went to Concord quarterback Zack Grossi and offensive lineman Mitch Hairston.
Defensive back Carlton Downs and linebacker Zach Gibbins earned special honorable mention. Defensive end Silas Agyemang, tight end Rashid Baker and wide receiver Ryan Stewart were honorable mention selections.
Other league honors went to West Virginia Wesleyan senior quarterback Adam Neugebauer, who was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year. He threw for 4,111 yards and 40 touchdowns for the 9-2 Bobcats.
T.J. Benners, a product of Princeton and a senior at West Virginia Wesleyan, earned second team honors at wide receiver.
Concord (7-3), which made seven NAIA postseason appearances from 1977-92, will make its Division II debut on Saturday in the Super Region I playoffs at third-seeded Kutztown State (10-1), which won its first-ever Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title this season.
The Mountain Lions were 0-11 in 2008. Three years later, and Concord is playoff bound.
“It's a testimony to the type of players in our program,” said Justice, on the Concord University website. “They stuck with it. They committed to themselves.
“They never gave up on Concord, and now they can call themselves conference champions. We're very excited for this opportunity.”
Kickoff on Saturday is slated for noon.
