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Record crowd sees ASU rip Jacksonville 56-7
Mark Mitchell Photo
Robert Welton sprints to his third touchdown of the day.
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Published: September 7, 2008
BOONE
If there were any lingering issues from Appalachian State's season-opening loss at LSU, none were apparent yesterday.
The Mountaineers rolled past Jacksonville 56-7 in front of a school-record crowd of 30,718 at newly expanded Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Robert Welton rushed for 161 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers in a game that was decided early. Devon Moore ran for 94 yards in the first half.
The Mountaineers totaled 540 yards, including 448 on the ground against the Dolphins, a non-scholarship program.
Defensively, Quavian Lewis, a junior defensive end playing in his first season with the Mountaineers after transferring from Vanderbilt, had three tackles for losses and a sack. Jason Jones, a backup defensive end, had two sacks. The Dolphins had 43 rushing yards.
It was a productive day for the Mountaineers in more ways than one. "We got to play our No. 2s at least half a ballgame," Coach Jerry Moore said.
Moore said that he was somewhat wary of a letdown after last week's game against LSU, given the intense preparation for that game and the amount of attention it received coupled with, he said, disappointment that his team didn't have a better performance in a 41-13 loss.
"This was a tough ballgame to prepare for," Moore said.
And, he said, there also was an added concern of playing an unknown opponent.
"Every player on their squad except for one is from Florida," Moore said. "And I'll rank Florida football right along there with Texas…. I think they play good football down there. So you always wonder about if there's a ringer in there."
The Mountaineers wore throwback uniforms -- black jerseys, gold pants and helmets with a stripe -- to commemorate Moore's 20th season as coach of the Mountaineers. Moore's first ASU team in 1989 wore the same style uniforms.
And the Steeler-esque color scheme was backed by a steel-curtain defensive performance that set the tone early.
Jacksonville posed a threat after Robson Noel intercepted a tipped Armanti Edwards pass, but Lewis and Dominique McDuffie of the Mountaineers stuffed a fourth-and-1 play near midfield.
The Mountaineers took over and scored in three plays -- getting a 44-yard touchdown run by Welton, who escaped two tackle attempts.
They went on to score on their next two possessions as well. Devon Moore's 39-yard run set up his 11-yard touchdown run, and Edwards capped a short drive with a 28-yard touchdown run that boosted the lead to 21-0 with 2:58 left in the first quarter.
Both drives were set up by defensive stops. McDuffie, a freshman cornerback, made one key stop on a third-down pass and the Dolphins had positive yardage on three of their next 11 plays. Robertson, Lanston Tanyi and Malcolm Bennett all had sacks during that span.
"We've seen some good defenses before, but they were everywhere it seemed like," quarterback Josh McGregor of the Dolphins said.
Lewis said: "Basically we were just trying to bounce back from last week and correct the mistakes we made."
The Mountaineers totaled 201 yards rushing in the first quarter. The Dolphins managed 28 total yards in the quarter.
A botched punt and penalty by the Dolphins early in the second quarter set up a 14-yard touchdown drive by the Mountaineers that extended the lead to 28-0 with 11:06 left in the half. Tavaris Washington caught a 6-yard scoring pass from Edwards, who sat out the rest of the first half in deference to freshman backup DeAndre Presley.
Edwards returned for the Mountaineers' opening series of the second half and led a 61-yard march that featured a 40-yard completion to CoCo Hillary and a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Welton.
The Dolphins averted a shutout on Elliott Finkley's 60-yard punt return in the third quarter, but Welton answered with a 72-yard touchdown run 18 seconds later.
"Every time I got the ball it was wide open," said Welton, a 5-11, 215-pound sophomore who racked up his yardage on 10 carries. "I didn't have to make a move until I got to the safeties, so I give all the credit to the offensive line."
Travis Dowda, a backup safety, had two interceptions and scored on a 33-yard interception return. Josh Jackson, the Mountaineers' No. 5 running back, capped the scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run.
The previous record for attendance at Kidd Brewer Stadium was 28,802, set last season against Lenoir-Rhyne in a game that followed the Mountaineers' season-opening upset of Michigan.
■ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.
Jacksonville 0 0 7 0 -- 7
Appalachian State 21 7 14 14 -- 56
First Quarter
ASU--Welton 44 run (Vitaris kick), 8:00.
ASU--Moore 11 run (Vitaris kick), 4:42.
ASU--Edwards 28 run (Vitaris kick), 2:58.
Second Quarter
ASU--Washington 6 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick), 11:06.
Third Quarter
ASU--Welton 2 run (Vitaris kick), 9:59.
Jckv--Finkley 60 punt return (Hostetler kick), 7:16.
ASU--Welton 72 run (Vitaris kick), 6:58.
Fourth Quarter
ASU--Dowda 33 interception return (Vitaris kick), 9:44.
ASU--Jackson 3 run (Vitaris kick), 4:10.
A--30,718.
TEAM STATISTICS
Jckv ASU
First downs 9 20
Rushes-yards 29-43 56-448
Passing 201 92
Comp-Att-Int 22-38-2 8-16-1
Return Yards 92 71
Punts-Avg. 10-37.5 5-42.6
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 10-93 2-10
Time of Possession 31:56 28:04
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Jacksonville, Small 11-56, Harris 2-18, Dawson 3-1, Rogers 1-(minus 2), McGregor 8-(minus 12), Stepelton 4-(minus 18). Appalachian State, Welton 10-161, Moore 9-94, Edwards 8-77, Baker 5-63, Jackson 8-29, Presley 13-18, Radford 3-6.
PASSING--Jacksonville, McGregor 21-34-0-198, Stepelton 1-4-2-3. Appalachian State, Presley 5-8-0-47, Edwards 3-8-1-45.
RECEIVING--Jacksonville, Rogers 5-43, Bell 4-35, Small 3-10, Kuck 2-41, Abdallah 2-10, Sumter 2-9, Tribble 1-35, Finkley 1-14, Dawson 1-3, Harris 1-1. Appalachian State, Jorden 3-20, Hillary 2-39, Elder 2-27, Washington 1-6.
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