(courtesy of Michael N. Graff, Fayetteville Observer)

BOONE - A few blocks north of The Rock, where a flood of black and gold swells against the unopened stadium gate two hours before kickoff, Wayne Hicks prepares to unwind.

 

Black Saturday brings big business and heavy traffic into Boone Drug, the multi-service relic downtown and Hicks' employer for eight years. The grease sizzles on the hot stoves throughout the morning and early afternoon, and the pharmacy is open all day.

 

Boone might be a little mountain town. But on a fall Saturday, Main Street appeal has a big-city feel.

 

Try stuffing New York City into a Coke bottle.

 

It's Appalachian State football game day - nicknamed Black Saturday because of the school's colors. It's the day of the week Boone becomes more than a whitewater-surrounded town of 14,000.

 

This is the capital of Division I-AA football, where 20,000-plus fans regularly pack The Rock to see defending national champions and the top seed in this year's playoffs.

 

People here take pride in knowing they have the Southern Cal of next-tier college football only a few crosswalks from their storefront. They also take advantage of it, opening early and closing late on game days.

 

Folks like Hicks look forward to the three hours during the game. They're the only restful moments of the day.

 

"Football days are always busy. It's hectic and crazy," said Hicks, a lifelong resident whose father is famous local storyteller Orville Hicks. "After they leave, we all clean up and take a break. It's usually pretty empty in here during the game."

 

Support has never been stronger for football in the High Country.

 

Only a year ago, Appalachian State won its first football national championship, beating Northern Iowa 21-16 to send people shouting from the

mountaintop.

 

This year, anything less than a repeat would be a disappointment. The Mountaineers are 12-1, with the only loss coming to Division I-A North Carolina State in the season-opener. This Saturday, they host a national semifinal against Youngstown State in a game televised on ESPN - the third straight week the sports television juggernaut has broadcast an Appalachian State game on one of its networks.

 

The Mountaineers have perhaps the most menacing defensive player in I-AA in Jack Britt High School graduate Marques Murrell, and the most threatening offense with swift-footed Armanti Edwards at quarterback and touchdown

machine Kevin Richardson at tailback.

 

So it hasn't been without reason that Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock has been promoting a "Go for 2" message this year on the road. A former professor at the university and a wildly enthusiastic fan, Peacock has carried last year's championship trophy with him almost everywhere during the last 12 months.

 

"It's a good friend," Peacock said, minutes after giving a chest-bump to an Appalachian State band member before last week's win over Montana State. "The point of it is to share the pride."

 

Central is coach Jerry Moore, a 67-year-old who still bears the twang of his native Texas and the all-time winningest coach in the Southern Conference.

 

Moore had speaking engagements nearly every evening this summer. He made them all.

 

Fired from Texas Tech in 1985, Moore has gained celebrity status here since taking the Appalachian State job in 1989.

 

"I'm a transplant," Moore said. "This is a great environment to live in. It's a caring community. People have grown up in the mountains and there are generations of them. On the reverse of that, you've got the university people. But the bottom line is the caring about each other. It's been a scratch each other's back type of thing."

 

The townspeople and the numerous outdoors adventures - along with the program's success - make Appalachian State sell to recruits, Moore said.

 

Murrell, a senior defensive end, said the players are treated differently around campus now.

 

"My freshman year, people just looked at us as a wild bunch," Murrell said. "Now it's like, 'Come on in.'"

 

Moore is bringing more than football players to Appalachian State.

 

The university admissions office has seen a spike in applications. This year's fall application figure is up 15 to 20 percent from last year, according to Patrick Setzer, the senior associate director of admissions.

 

And with every television appearance and football victory, the interest only increases for the bustling school with an enrollment nearing 15,000.

 

"Our tours go through the student union and the bookstore," Setzer said. "We have (national championship) displays everywhere. It's easy for the ambassadors to highlight that."

 

In North Carolina, where basketball national championships have become expected, Moore and the Mountaineers own the state's only football national title. And in two weekends, they might have two. Promotion is hardly difficult.

 

"When I got here 16 months ago, you'd see kids walking on campus and you'd see an Appalachian shirt, but you'd also see a Carolina shirt or a Duke shirt," said Athletic Director Charlie Cobb, a former offensive lineman at N.C. State. "You don't see that anymore. You see Appalachian shirts."

 

Since last year's title run, sales in the university bookstore have skyrocketed. National championship gear and clothing has represented 40 percent of the store's non-book business during the last 12 months.

 

Merchandise manager Lorraine Childers already has had to place orders for 2006 T-shirts and hats for the players to wear on the field in the event of another title.

 

"The amount of pride is visible, from students, alumni and the community," Childers said. "It's been a driving force to bring this community together."

 

While people from afar spin through Boone with the seasons, the faces downtown rarely change; they only age. As always, they're here to serve a visitor, to help the lost soul who made a wrong turn on the Appalachian Trail, to cure a college kid's first hangover with a double-cheeseburger and a smile. Folks in Boone are friendly by nature and out of necessity, servants to the passersby who have made this six-square-mile town along the Eastern Continental Divide one of the state's top tourist destinations because of its rafting and camping adventures.

 

They were in football heaven last weekend, with Appalachian State playing Saturday and the Watauga High School football team in the semifinals of the state playoffs on Friday.

 

Signs throughout town read "Let's go 'Neers," a catch-all well-wish for the Mountaineers of Appalachian State and the Pioneers of Watauga.

 

"We're a football area," Mayor Loretta Clawson said. "It's definitely at the front right now."

 

With 6,000 people in attendance, Watauga High lost to West Charlotte on Friday night, falling short of its first state title appearance since 1978.

 

But Saturday morning broke with new life - a Christmas parade on King Street and tailgating in the parking lots. All before another win, naturally. During the parade, a truckload of girl scouts rode through. The town's tiniest girls chanted in high-pitched unison, "A-S-U, A-S-U, A-S-U."

 

"Everybody in town supports them," said Town Manager Greg Young, a 1974 graduate of Appalachian State. "It's like a holiday every Saturday."