The University of Charleston bounced back after opening the season with a loss last week, beating Concord 27-0 Thursday night at UC Stadium.
It was a balanced performance, highlighted by an offense that got the ball rolling quickly for the Golden Eagles and defensive and special-teams units that came up big on several different occasions to keep the Mountain Lions off the scoreboard.
"It was an excellent game from our guys tonight," Charleston coach Pat Kirkland said. "I'm proud of the way they responded tonight and they deserved to have a game like this."
For the second week in a row, UC quarterback Mason Olszewski was effective running the offense, but unlike last week's loss to West Virginia State, on Thursday night the junior signal-caller did most of his damage through the air.
Charleston (1-1) started the scoring on the opening drive of the game when Olszewski threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Adam Lindamood a few plays after connecting with Johnny Delahoussaey for a 44-yard pickup on third down to get UC into the red zone. That got an efficient performance started on the right foot for Olszewski, who finished with 168 yards on 16-of-21 passing while running for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
"He's a good leader and he's one of our captains, and there's a reason for that," Kirkland said. "He's got very good control of this offense and we give him a lot of freedom. He did a good job of executing."
The Golden Eagles added a couple more touchdowns in the first half to get out to a 20-0 lead before the break. Tevion Cappe ran one in from 11 yards out before Olszewski scored a 6-yard touchdown on an option run about midway through the second quarter.
And while the Charleston offense was doing a good job of grabbing the momentum and building the lead, the defense continued to smother the Concord offense and keep the Mountain Lions from taking any of that momentum away.
That showed in a big way early in the third quarter when Concord (0-2) appeared to have a chance to get on track.
The Mountain Lions stalled out on a drive and were forced to punt, and they recovered a fumble on the return at UC's 10-yard line. But Charleston held strong even though it was backed up deep in the red zone, forcing a three-and-out before blocking the field goal attempt to get the ball back.
It was the first shutout for Charleston since the Golden Eagles blanked Fairmont State 45-0 in November 2013.
On Thursday, UC allowed just 74 yards of total offense - and only 6 yards for the Mountain Lions in the second half.
"They made some huge stops. The defense was huge, that's about as good as you can get it done," Kirkland said. "They just stepped up and made plays and did it all day long."
UC continued to pound away and tried to wear the Mountain Lions down with their running game through the rest of the second half. Charleston added another score with 8:50 left in the game, marching down the field 91 yards over 13 plays and wrapping it up with another touchdown run from Olszewski.
"The way they finished was excellent, and it starts with our offensive line," Kirkland said. "We've got three good backs and a quarterback who can run it and I trust those guys a lot. Tonight they got the job done."
Cappe finished the day with 85 yards on 14 carries while Delahoussaey caught three passes for 73 yards.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.