Eagles Handed SoCon Loss at Appalachian State
10/25/2009 12:19:00 AM | Football
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State got off to an early lead and never looked back as Georgia Southern suffered a 52-16 Southern Conference loss at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Saturday. The Eagles dropped to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon.
The 52 points were the second-most allowed by the Eagles in the series (59-0 loss in 1939). The 712 yards of total offense gained by eighth-ranked App State are the most yards given up by Georgia Southern in program history.
The Eagles were held to 3-and-out on their opening drive. ASU (5-3, 4-0) took over on its own 23 and marched down the field in 10 plays, capping the touchdown drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Armanti Edwards to Matt Cline.
ASU's defense held the Eagles again on third down and forced a punt. Charlie Edwards launched a career-long 68-yard punt, pinning the Mountaineers on their own seven. During that drive Edwards completed a pass to Brad Hardee, but on the play he fumbled. Sophomore Derek Heyden scooped up the loose ball and raced 38 yards for his first collegiate touchdown. Adrian Mora's extra point with five minutes left in the first quarter tied the score.
On the ensuing drive, Edwards hit a wide open CoCo Hillary for a 53-yard touchdown score. Early in the second quarter Devon Moore scored from four yards out making it 21-7.
Sophomore Hudson Presume forced a fumble in the second quarter which was recovered by Markeith Wylie. On the play Presume was injured and taken off the field on a stretcher. He went to the local hospital for observation and was later released after tests came back negative.
Adam Urbano took a handoff on the Eagles' next play but fumbled and ASU recovered on the Eagles' 27. The Mountaineers needed just four plays for Moore to score a 5-yard touchdown extending the lead to 28-7.
Georgia Southern drove down the field later in the quarter and got into the redzone on an 11-play scoring drive. Mora connected from 31 yards out making it 28-10.
ASU scored right before halftime when Edwards connected with Hillary for a 9-yard touchdown. Edwards completed 23-of-29 passes for 304 yards in the first half as ASU held a 413-96 edge in total offense.
Early in the third Moore recorded his third rushing TD of the game, scoring from 10 yards out to give the Mountaineers a 42-10 lead.
The Eagles staged a 15-play drive midway through the third, capped by Adam Urbano's 2-yard touchdown run. The attempted two-point conversion pass failed, making it 42-16.
Jason Vitaris added a 43-yard field goal with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Sophomore Tavaris Williams stopped an Appalachian scoring attempt, intercepting Travaris Cadet in the endzone. He returned his first collegiate interception out of the endzone for 29 yards.
In the fourth Cadet scored a 15-yard touchdown run for the final margin.
The Eagles dropped to 1-4 on the road this year, a season after the Eagles won all their road conference games.
"We didn't play aggressively on either side of the ball at the start of the game. Appalachian is the same as they've always been. Nothing's changed and I've said that all year that this is a great football team. Today, they came out fired up and took it to us early on and never looked back," said head coach Chris Hatcher. "We came up here planning to win this game but we couldn't run the ball, and when you can't do that it makes everything else much more difficult. When you play a team like Appalachian if you're not hitting on all phases of the game you get exposed pretty quickly."
Chapple completed 20-of-34 passes for 156 yards and an interception. With 174 pass completions this year he broke Antonio Henton's record of 156 set last year. He also moved into the season 'Top 10' in passing yards, now 1,344 yards good for seventh place.
Patrick Barker caught a season-high six passes for 25 yards. J.J. Wilcox and Mitchell Williford caught four passes each.
Williams entered the game with a career-high five tackles and more than doubled that, sharing game-high honors with 11 stops. Dion DuBose matched Williams with 11 tackles while Laron Scott set a season-high making 10 tackles.
Edwards completed 26-of-34 passes for 320 yards and three scores, leaving the game in the third quarter. Cadet rushed for a game-high 131 yards on 11 carries and completed 4-of-7 passes for 64 yards.
Hillary recorded 104 yards and two scores on seven receptions. Cline finished with 102 yards on 10 catches. Cortez Gilbert led the defense with nine tackles as the Mountaineers recorded six quarterback sacks in the game.
The Eagles return to action in two weeks (Nov. 7), traveling to Samford. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
GAME NOTES: Freshman wide receiver Johnathan Bryant earned his first start of the season... The Eagles were 0-3 this year when opponents scored first... Edwards' 68-yard punt in the first quarter continued a streak where three of his last four punts were 60-plus yards. He averaged 44.2 yards on eight punts and landed three inside the 20-yard line... Heyden's fumble return was the third defensive score for the Eagles this season (two fumble return, one INT)... At the end of the first quarter, Edwards became just the second player in Division I history with 8,000 passing yards/4,000 rushing yards in career (Brad Smith of Missouri)... Wylie's fumble recovery was his third on the year, tying him for fourth place among the GS season leaders... Jamere Valentine (2 receptions/41 yards) moved into a tie for fifth place with 36 receptions this year. Urbano moved into the season 'Top 10' leaders for receptions in the game, thanks to his two receptions giving him 30. He is now tied for 10th place. Barker just missed on joining the group, currently with 29 receptions and counting.
