Concord held off Lexington 15-13 Friday night in a wild contest at Phillpott Memorial Stadium.

The Spiders took the opening kickoff, but the Lexington defense forced a punt. Kicker Robert Salsish booted a 59 yard punt that was downed at the Lexington 1 yard line.

Pinned deep in their own territory the Yellowjackets nearly turned the ball over but recovered the fumble in the endzone for a Spider safety.

Concord returned the ensuing kickoff to the Lexington 46 yeard line. Three plays later B.J. Beecher found Terrence Highsmith for a 26 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked putting Concord up 8-0.

The teams would trades turnovers on their next drives, Concord recovered a fumble and Lexington picked off a Beecher pass.

Lexington quarterback Al Challenger put the Yellowjackets on the board with a 20 yard 4th down touchdown pass after eluding 2 Concord defenders in the backfield.

Neither team would threaten in the 2nd quarter.

The defenses took control of the 3rd quarter as well.

Concord started the 4th quarter deep in the own territory.

After struggling to move the ball in the 3rd quarter Concord methodically drove the length of the field, taking much of the time in the 4th quarter. The drive featured 5 Beecher passes for most of the yardage. The Spiders also went to their version of the Wildcat formation with Dominique Posey handling the ball.

Posey would sneak out of the backfield for a wide open 18 yard touchdown pass from Beecher with 5:37 remaining in the game. Salsish's extra point would put the Spiders up 15-7.

Spider defender Ben Kelnhoffer ended the next Lexington drive with a sack. However Lexington had another opportunity right away after a Spider fumble.

After a pass interference penalty Lexington scored in just two plays. Trailing by 2 Lexington lined up for the tying 2 point conversion but Challenger fumbled the snap and was swarmed by Spider defenders.

Lexington attempted an onside kick but Spider linebacker Jalen Brown recovered.

Concord was able to run the clock down to almost 30 seconds before turning the ball over on downs.

Lexington attemped 4 deep passes to end the game.

After a rough start B.J. Beecher settled in to finish 12-22 for 143 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

The Spiders finished with 31 yards rushing.

Terrence Highsmith and Eli Bost led the Spiders with 4 receptions each.

It was a strong effort by the Spider defense. Jalen Brown and Taj Williams led the defense with 6 tackles each. Dominique Posey recovered a fumble. Ben Kelnhoffer added a sack after chasing Lexington quarterback Al Challenger for much of the night. Challenger finished 8 of 20 for 97 yards.

Concord's home opener is next Friday, the Spiders will host non-conference foe East Rowan.

Stats courtesy Scott Dyer and Billy Lyerly.

Photos from Dale Barbee coming soon.