Appalachian State 35, Western Carolina 7
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University earned its first Southern Conference championship since 1999, its first NCAA I-AA playoff berth since 2002 and brought the Old Mountain Jug back to Boone after a one-year hiatus with a 35-7 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
A school-record crowd of 25,584 saw No. 8 Appalachian claim its 19th win in the past 21 meetings with its archrival. The Mountaineers out-gained the Catamounts 413-210 and grinded out scoring drives of 98 and 99 yards.
Appalachian racked up 235 of the 413 yards on the ground. Running back Kevin Richardson turned in his fourth 100-yard performance of the season with 102 yards and a pair of touchdowns and quarterback Richie Williams added 84 yards to lead the ground attack.
Williams also enjoyed an efficient afternoon as a passer, completing 10-of-15 for 164 yards and two touchdowns. His two scoring strikes gave him 51 for his career to break Joe Burchette’s school record of 50 set from 1999-2002. The Water Payton Award candidate now holds all but one career passing record at Appalachian. The school’s career, single-season and single-game leader in total offense, passing yards, completion percentage and touchdown passes needs just nine more completions to become ASU’s all-time leader in that category.
Appalachian looked a lot like the Mountaineer teams that won three conference titles in the 1990s on its first possession, as it ran the ball all on all six plays of a 72-yard touchdown drive that gave it a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. Williams set the tone on the very first play with a career-long 42-yard run and running back Richardson punctuated the impressive series with a two-yard touchdown.
ASU continued to pound away at WCU on the ground throughout the first quarter. In fact, the Apps didn’t even attempt a pass in the period, a marked departure from a balanced offense that has averaged more than half of its 431 yards per game this season through the air.
However, it was a classic example of the run setting up the pass, as Williams’ first pass attempt ? which came a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter ? went for 47 yards to William Mayfield. The long gain set up a 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Daniel Bettis that gave Appalachian a 14-0 lead.
On its very next possession, Appalachian marched 99 yards in 18 plays and stretched its advantage to 21-0 on an acrobatic eight-yard touchdown catch by Mayfield in the corner of the end zone. The Mountaineers took 8:40 off the clock on the drive alone, which was longer than they had possessed the ball in any second period all season.
Richardson added his second touchdown run of the afternoon from three yards out with 1:49 to go in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 28-0 after an eight-play, 98-yard drive.
Linebacker Monte Smith capped ASU’s impressive all-around effort with a 22-yard interception return for a touchdown, Appalachian’s fourth defensive touchdown of the season.
Western Carolina (5-4, 4-3 SoCon) spoiled the Apps’ shutout bid when backup quarterback Josh Lee threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Michael Hines.
Defensive linemen Marques Murrell and Joe Suiter led the Mountaineers defensively with 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks apiece. Murrell two sacks gave him a conference-leading 9.5 for the season.
Appalachian earned the SoCon’s automatic bid to the I-AA playoffs by holding the advantage in any tiebreakers involving a two-way tie with Georgia Southern (8-3, 5-2 SoCon) or a three-way tie with GSU and Furman (8-2, 4-2 SoCon).
The Mountaineers will look for their first outright league title since 1995 when they travel to last-place Elon (3-7, 0-6 SoCon) next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Rhodes Stadium in Elon, N.C.
NOTES: ASU athletics director Charlie Cobb, Chancellor Dr. Kenneth E. Peacock and athletics facilities campaign chairperson Ed Broyhill were on the field to officially unveil Appalachian’s new facilities enhancement campaign at halftime of the contest ... the $32 million project includes a new Kidd Brewer Stadium complex on the east side of the stadium, an indoor practice facility and new stadiums for Mountaineer baseball, soccer and softball... the game ball was parachuted into Kidd Brewer by members of the Green Beret Parachute Team from Ft. Bragg, N.C. ... the crowd of 25,584 surpassed the previous ASU record of 25,301 set on Oct. 15, 1988 versus Furman ... ASU’s school-record average of 23,169 fans per game is good for second in the nation, only 363 fans per game behind Montana.
The Citadel 21, Elon 0
Charleston, SC? The Citadel defense limited Elon to 230 total yards and snapped a five-game losing streak in shutting out the Phoenix, 21-0, in the season’s home finale at Johnson Hagood Stadium Saturday afternoon.
It was the Bulldogs’ (3-7 overall, 2-5 Southern Conference) first shutout since the home finale in 2004 when they kept Western Carolina off the scoreboard in a 17-0 victory. The Bulldogs also improve to 33-20 in Homecoming games.
The Phoenix (3-7, 0-6) were shutout for the first time in 14 contests. The last time Elon had been held scoreless was on Oct. 23, 2004, against Furman.
After a scoreless first period, the Bulldogs got their offense going on the first play of the second quarter when a 19-yard pass from freshman quarterback Ben Carnell to wide receiver Kinta Palmer put The Citadel at their own 34. Two plays later, another long pass play of 22 yards from Carnell to wide receiver Ta’Mar Jernigan placed the Bulldogs on Elon’s 31.
Carnell completed an eight play, 80-yard scoring drive with a 20-yard pass to tight end Aaron Kelly to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 with 12:23 left in the second quarter.
On their very next possession, Carnell, who was making his first career start, continued his aerial assault with a 34-yard completion to wide receiver Mark Wigal at the Phoenix 32. The Citadel added to their lead with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Carnell to Jernigan. After a five play, 70-yard scoring drive, the Bulldogs had a 14-0 lead with 6:47 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs caught a break late in the third quarter as a punt by Mark Kaspar bounded off Elon’s Dwayne Ijames, and Nick Fender recovered for The Citadel at the Phoenix four-yard line. On the first play of the final period, running back Nuru Goodrum, who finished with 97 yards rushing on the day, took advantage of the good field position as he plowed to pay dirt from two yards out to increase the Bulldog advantage to 21-0 with 14:56 left in the contest.
In what turned out to be their best scoring opportunity of the game, Elon took a gamble on their first offensive possession. After advancing the ball to the Citadel 28, the Phoenix elected to go for it on 4th- and-four. The Bulldogs’ defense held, however, as quarterback Kye Hamilton’s pass that was intended for wide receiver Casey Hall fell incomplete.
Carnell went 14-20 for 152 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on the day. Palmer and Jernigan were his favorite targets as they each caught three passes apiece.
The Citadel plays at VMI on Saturday in Lexington, VA, for the Military Classic of the South while Elon hosts Appalachian State.
Furman 34, Wofford 21
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ingle Martin passed for 180 yards and a touchdown to lead NCAA I-AA sixth-ranked Furman to a 34-21 Southern Conference victory over Wofford Saturday at Paladin Stadium.
Martin, a senior from Nashville, Tenn., and Walter Payton Award candidate, completed 16-of-24 passes, rushed for 26 yards, and had a 55-yard punt to key Furman (8-2, 4-2 SoCon) to its sixth straight home victory in 2005 and fifth triumph in its last six clashes with Wofford. The Paladins will attempt to nail down an NCAA I-AA playoff bid next week in the regular season finale at Chattanooga. Wofford (5-5, 3-4 SoCon) closes out its season next Saturday at Gardner-Webb.
“I’m very proud of the way we took control early, especially after last week’s very difficult loss (at Georgia Southern)” said Furman head coach Bobby Lamb. “I thought our seniors stepped up and other than their one drive there in the first quarter when we blocked the field goal, we dominated the half and did what we needed to do offensively.”
“I thought Furman did a good job defending us, but we some opportunities.
We wanted to play keep away from them, and I think we had a 13-play drive and a 14-play drive but then a couple of three-and-outs. Our deal is we weren’t productive, and you have to get points out of possessions, and we didn’t until the second half.”
Furman took the opening kickoff and covered 80 yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead on Daric Carter’s 3-yard run less than fouro minutes into the contest.
On the ensuing possession, Wofford moved 55 yards in 13 plays to the Furman 20, but William Freeman blocked Nick Robinson’s 38-yard field goal attempt, and the ball was returned 20 yards by Tristian Owusu-Yaw to the Furman 41. A face mask penalty on Wofford gave Furman the ball at the Terrier 44, and the Paladins covered the distance in eight plays for a Jerome Felton 1-yard touchdown plunge and 14-0 lead with 1:47 remaining in the first quarter.
Furman increased its advantage to 21-0 in the second period on Carter’s second 3-yard touchdown run of the contest.
A pair of Scott Beckler third quarter field goals covering 43 and 22 yards stretched Furman’s lead to 27-0 before Wofford got on the board with an Adrian Young 1-yard scoring run with 0:34 to go in the third quarter.
The Paladins’ pushed their advantage to 34-7 on Martin’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Sprague midway through the fourth period.
Furman rolled up 428 yards in total offense, including 243 rushing and 185 passing. Wofford finished with 383 total yards, including 157 yards in their final two possessions against Paladin defensive reserves.
Brandon Mays paced the Paladin ground game with 91 yards, and Carter finished with 68 yards and two scores. Josh Collier topped all rushers with a career high 101 yards and a touchdown.
Andrew Jones led Furman’s defense with nine tackles, and Rico Scott and Gary Nelson finished with eight tackles apiece. Defensive end Wallace Artis record three pass deflections.
Wofford’s Jim Thurman led all tacklers with 11 stops.
Furman’s regular season finale at Chattanooga next Saturday is slated for 3:30 p.m. and will be televised by CSS. Kickoff for the Wofford vs.
Gardner-Webb game is set for Noon.
Georgia Southern 63, Morehead State 17
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Georgia Southern’s football team wanted to make a statement about receiving an invitation to the NCAA I-AA playoffs. The defense forced four turnovers while Jayson Foster accounted for four touchdowns as the Eagles defeated Morehead State 63-17 Saturday afternoon at Paulson Stadium.
Southern (8-3 overall) closes out the regular season having won four straight and seven of their last eight.
Jermaine Austin, one of 14 seniors playing in their final regular season home game, took the first handoff 22 yards up near midfield. A personal foul penalty on MSU put the Eagles across the 50. Later in the drive though Foster was intercepted by Kwesi Williams on the 13 and he returned it to midfield. That was his first interception thrown since game three at Wofford.
The Eagles returned the favor on the next drive. A.J. Bryant intercepted Brian Yost and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown. That marked the second time in his career he scored off an interception return. During that return, the senior free safety broke the GSU record for career interception return yards, now with 253. The previous record was 182 by Hugo Rossignol (1983-85).
The offense kept rolling, scoring a touchdown on their next five drives. Foster extended the lead to 14-0 following his 11-yard touchdown run. Foster, the only player in I-AA to score a rushing touchdown every game this year, in the process tied a Southern Conference record scoring in 11 consecutive games.
Adam Jones put Morehead State on the board late in the first quarter, nailing a 39-yard field goal.
Two plays after GSU got the ball back, Foster connected with Teddy Craft on a 46-yard TD pass. On the next drive, Foster and Craft hooked up again, this time for 25 yards to extend the lead to 28-3. Craft’s 11th career TD reception moved him into a tie for third place among the Eagle career leaders (Tony Belser).
Facing 4th-and-2 from Morehead’s 14, Foster broke out on the right side and scored. After forcing a 3-and-out, Tim Camp blocked Mason Webb’s punt. Two plays later Austin went untouched from 13 yards out making it 42-3.
Morehead marched down the field to start the second half, covering 80 yards in seven plays. Yost found Eli Parkes for an 11-yard TD pass.
Senior Steve Steele took a pitch from Darius Smiley and broke down the left sidelines for a 50-yard TD run, his second career rushing TD.
Camp accomplished a feat not done in 81 games. Not only did he block his second punt of the game, the freshman wide receiver scooped up the loose ball on the six and scored his first collegiate touchdown. The last time Georgia Southern blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown dated back to November 1999 at Jacksonville State.
After the Eagles recovered another fumble, caused by David Willingham and recovered by Dusty Reddick, Smiley scored his first TD of the game just two plays later making it 63-10.
Yost connected with Jabari McGee on a 25-yard TD to close out the scoring.
“The guys did a nice job today. Foster’s deflected interception was unfortunate. Our seniors got a lot of playing time, some guys you don’t normally see got to get in there and get some grass stains and some black-and-blue marks,” said head coach Mike Sewak. “Since you can only have a 56-man roster for the playoffs, I wanted to get a look at a lot of different guys.”
The Eagles needed just 119 yards of offense from Foster in just over a quarter, but the sophomore quarterback equaled a career-high with four touchdowns accounted for. Austin got his 32nd career 100-yard game, totaling 118 yards on just 13 carries.
Melvin Greer rushed for a personal-high 91 yards. John Mohring paced the defense with seven tackles, giving him 103 on the season.
Dedrick Bynam not only recovered two of Morehead State’s three fumbles but also had six tackles of which two were for a loss. T.J. Watkins had two sacks as well.
Southern out-gained Morehead 455-120 on the ground and 526-328 overall.
McGee recorded team-highs of 58 rushing yards and another 65 receiving. Yost was 17-of-36 for 208 yards and two scores.
With its bye week next Saturday, Georgia Southern will now await its playoff fate. The NCAA I-AA Playoff announcement show will be on Sunday, November 20.
“I think we are deserving of a playoff spot, but you can’t ever tell what’s going to happen. I would think that being the No. 10 team in the country is enough to get you in the playoffs. Once you’re in, it’s a one-game season,” said Sewak.