Football Southern Conference

Mountaineers Punch Ticket For Second-Straight Ride to Chattanooga

BOONE, N.C. ? Led by 100 yards performances from running back Kevin Richardson and quarterback Armanti Edwards, No. 1 Appalachian State University racked up 353 yards on the ground and secured its second-straight berth in the NCAA Division I national championship game with a resounding 49-24 victory over fourth-seeded Youngstown State on Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

With its school-record 13th win of the season, Appalachian (13-1) is set to square off with No. 3 Massachusetts (13-1) on Friday (Dec. 9) at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.

With 145 and 110 rushing yards, respectively, Richardson and Edwards both topped the 100-yard mark for the third-consecutive week. Prior to the duo accomplishing the feat for the first time on Nov. 25 versus No. 13 Coastal Carolina, ASU hadn’t had two 100-yard rushers in the same game since 2003.

Behind Edwards and Richardson, the Mountaineers dominated from the outset. Richardson, the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year, notched 141 of his 145 yards and Edwards, the league’s Freshman of the Year, totaled 178 yards of offense on nine rushes and 7-of-7 passing to spark the Apps to 343 yards before the break and a 28-14 halftime lead. The duo accounted for all four Mountaineer touchdowns in the first half ? Edwards on an 18-yard pass to Hans Batichon and a six-yard run and Richardson on runs of one and 18 yards.

Things continued to go downhill for Youngstown State (11-3) after halftime. Thanks to Marques Murrell’s second sack of the afternoon, YSU was forced to punt from its own end zone on its first possession of the second half. The snap on the fourth-and-23 was low and YSU punter Joe Bishop was only able to get off an eight-yard punt. One play later, Edwards scored from 10 yards out and the rout was on.

Appalachian scored twice more in the final period on a 25-yard touchdown run by true freshman Devon Moore and Edwards’ career-high third rushing touchdown of the game, an eight-yarder that stretched the lead to 49-17. YSU added a late touchdown to account for the final margin.

In addition to the 110 on the ground, Edwards completed 10-of-12 passes for 164 yards. The performance gave the Greenwood, S.C. native 2,105 passing yards and 1,072 rushing yards for the season, making him just the second freshman and fifth player overall in NCAA Division I history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season. Missouri’s Brad Smith (2002) was the only other freshman to ever accomplish the feat. Most recently, Texas’ Vince Young achieved both milestones a year ago.

Not to be overlooked by ASU’s playoff-record 517 yards of offense was the performance turned in by the Mountaineer defense. The Apps held the Penguins without a first down until early in the second quarter and held YSU’s Marcus Mason, the nation’s second-leading rusher coming in with 1,726 yards coming in, to 121 yards, 38 below his average. Fifty-eight of the Walter Payton Award finalist’s 121 yards came after Appalachian had opened up a three-touchdown lead.

Murrell led the defensive effort with two sacks, a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry and a pass break-up. Safety Jeremy Wiggins led the team with 10 tackles and broke up a pair of passes. Fellow safety Corey Lynch chipped in with nine stops, two pass break-ups and his second interception in as many weeks since returning from a severe elbow injury.

The win was Appalachian’s 27th-straight at home, sending its senior class out without a loss in four years at The Rock. ASU’s last home loss came in the first round of the 2002 playoffs, a 14-13 setback to Maine. Its 27-game home winning streak is the longest in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS ? formerly I-AA) and second-best in all of Division I, behind only Southern California (32 games).

Ticket information for next week’s national championship game is available here.

NOTES: Saturday’s attendance of 18,040 at 16,650-seat Kidd Brewer Stadium was an ASU postseason record (prev. 15,307 ? 2005 semifinal vs. Furman) ... besides Edwards, Smith and Young, the Division I players to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in the same season were Morehead State’s David Dinkins (1999) and Clemson’s Woodrow Dantzler (2001) ... ASU moved to 2-2 all-time in the national semifinal round ... Appalachian is looking to become the first back-to-back national champion since SoCon-rival Georgia Southern won consecutive titles in 1999 and 2000 ... Lynch’s interception gives him 23 takeaways in 41 career games ... With 12.5 sacks on the season and 35.5 for his career, Murrell is just a half-sack shy of matching his own single-season school record (13 in 2005) and one behind ASU’s career mark of 35.5 (Josh Jeffries, 1999-2002) ... ASU just missed on having three 100-yard rushers, as Moore finished with a career-high 86.

Appalachian State vs. Youngstown State
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Press Conference Quotes

Youngstown State
Head Coach John Heacock
On Appalachian’s offense:
You’ve got to give credit to Appalachian, they’re a good football team. We knew what we were getting into. We came in here with what we thought was a solid plan and it just wasn’t enough. You’ve got to give them credit. Our guys had a great season, we’ve played really hard. They (ASU) made some plays and we couldn’t get them slowed down.

We got exactly what we thought we were going to get. They just beat us doing exactly what they do.

On ASU offensive line:
I think that’s the group that’s most impressive from a year ago. That group is the most schooled up and they blocked us up front. They’re a heck of a football team. They’re the defending national champs, and they’re going to go play for it again. Coach Moore and his staff do a great job.

On YSU’s seniors:
There have been a large group of seniors that has been here five years, have seen things that aren’t as much fun. This year we had a tremendous run and they’re the reason for it. They stuck in there with us and stuck in there with me as the head coach when it wasn’t so easy. Because of that they were able to have some success this season and they deserve all the credit they’ve gotten for that. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m disappointed, but certainly not ashamed. We’re a good football team and we got beat by a good football team tonight.

On turnovers:
Anytime you have a turnover it’s going to be critical. Against a good football team, you’re in trouble.

On how this year’s ASU team compares to other great teams of the past:
They’re a great team. I don’t know how to compare them. This is the best team we’ve played all season, it’s not even close. They’re a great football team. I’d rank them high up there.

#52 Ryan Jewel (Center)
On being a senior:
You learn a lot of life lessons from football. You go through your ups and your downs, you just learn to stay disciplined, stay as a family. I just hope that we seniors made enough of an impression on the younger plays for them to learn what to do to be successful.

#1 Jason Perry (Cornerback)
On playing hard the entire game:
We’ve been all that way all year, we’ve come back in big games. We knew it was possible. As a leader I just wanted to keep playing hard. I take my hat of to App State. They’re a good team and I guess they wanted it more than we did.

On being a senior: