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Appalachian State gets 9th straight win
Robert Franklin Photo
Quarterback Zack Jaynes of Western is tackled for a safety.
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Published: November 22, 2009
BOONE
Appalachian State's high-scoring offense cooled significantly yesterday, but it got the result it wanted.
The Mountaineers beat Western Carolina 19-14 in front of a season-best crowd of 30,098 at Kidd Brewer Stadium and completed a Southern Conference sweep.
They closed the regular season with their ninth straight victory, improving to 9-2 overall and 8-0 in the SoCon, and will await today's 3 p.m. announcement of who they'll play next Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and hope they'll get a top-four seed in the 16-team field.
"The No. 1 thing is we're glad we kept our record intact as far as being undefeated in the conference," Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said. "I didn't think we played anywhere near as crisp as we could have or I expected us to…. Western did an excellent job.
"I thought we did all we can do. We'll go into that deal tomorrow at 3 o'clock and find out."
Armanti Edwards, the Mountaineers' star quarterback, did not play yesterday. He is recovering from a knee injury sustained against Elon on Nov. 14. Moore said that Edwards could have played if really needed, and that he expects that he will be ready to play next Saturday although there is still some healing still to do.
"There's no tear. His knee is in better condition right now than it was last year when we played Richmond," Moore said. "And he played the whole ballgame against Richmond…. He's going to be OK. It's just a matter of how quickly it's going to completely heal. If push had come to shove, we could have played him."
The plan was for Edwards to take a snap or two yesterday, on Senior Day, and then come out.
"He and I had a miscommunication during pregame," Moore said. "I had said something to him and he said something like, ‘I'll sit this one out.' When he said that, I thought he was referring to not taking the two or three snaps or one snap that we talked about.
"When we came out of the locker room for the ballgame we just sent (Travaris) Cadet out there…. I messed that up….When he said he was going to sit it out he was referring to after those plays."
Cadet got his first start, and the Mountaineers relied on their running game to muster enough offense. They ran the ball 51 times, and passed 16. Of their 356 yards, 255 were rushing. Devon Moore carried 25 times for a career-high 191 yards and two touchdowns.
"Not having Armanti and his throwing ability and his accuracy and knowing that he's throwing kind of set the offense back a bit," Devon Moore said. "If you run the ball that much, obviously somebody is going to pick up on it and start bringing more people up to the line of scrimmage. Toward the end of the game they really started trying to bring more than eight people in the box."
The Catamounts, who got 105 yards rushing from Michael Johnson, nearly half their offensive total, made a game of it and led 7-3 at halftime. The Mountaineers began the second half with a 73-yard drive and took the lead for good on Devon Moore's 25-yard run.
"It doesn't matter who they have playing quarterback you have to be able to stop the run," said Coach Dennis Wagner of the Catamounts, who ended the season 2-9 overall and 1-7 in the SoCon. "They took the ball right down the field and scored to start the second half and took control and momentum and that was a big factor in the football game."
The Mountaineers' defense kept the heat on quarterback Zack Jaynes, enough to preserve the victory. The Mountaineers had five sacks, including one for a safety, for the second straight game.
"Our defensive backs and linebackers had really good coverage," said defensive end Lanston Tanyi, who had 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks. "About all the sacks this game and the Elon game were coverage sacks…. We're getting good pressure."
Wagner said: "We gave up too many sacks. They pushed us around up front and that's one of those things where we have to get bigger and stronger."
Cadet, a sophomore who said he knew Friday that he would play the majority of the game, has practiced mostly as a receiver the past month. He completed 8 of 16 passes for 101 yards, and said he was disappointed that the offense wasn't more productive.
"The running game was going good, the passing game didn't go so well," Cadet said. "I was off a little today but we just went with what worked."
Jerry Moore said: "He felt like he had really let everybody down because it wasn't a blowout kind of game. I told him we went out there to win the game and we did and that's the bottom line."
The 19 points were the fewest scored by the Mountaineers in a victory since a 13-10 win over Furman in 2003.
"We needed the win, we won the SoCon outright, but we were really hoping to go into the playoffs with a big win," Devon Moore said. "But we'll take a win however we get it."
727-7320
Western Carolina 7 0 0 7 -- 14
Appalachian State 3 0 7 9 -- 19
First Quarter
ASU--FG Vitaris 32, 5:45.
WCU--Wilson 1 pass from Jaynes (Bostic kick), 2:42.
Third Quarter
ASU--D.Moore 25 run (Vitaris kick), 13:06.
Fourth Quarter
ASU--Safety, 14:45.
ASU--D.Moore 1 run (Vitaris kick), 12:57.
WCU--M.Johnson 2 run (Bostic kick), :39.
A--30,098.
TEAM STATISTICS
WCU ASU
First downs 14 17
Rushes-yards 31-70 51-255
Passing 166 101
Comp-Att-Int 20-33-0 8-16-0
Return Yards 0 10
Punts-Avg. 8-39.9 7-39.3
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 5-57
Time of Possession 29:32 30:28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Western Carolina, M.Johnson 24-105, Richardson 1-15, Jaynes 6-(minus 50). Appalachian State, D.Moore 25-191, Cadet 17-58, C.Baker 1-7, Radford 6-5, B.Frazier 1-1, Team 1-(minus 7).
PASSING--Western Carolina, Jaynes 20-33-0-166. Appalachian State, Cadet 8-16-0-101.
RECEIVING--Western Carolina, McLendon 5-43, Wilson 5-30, Richardson 3-28, Everett 2-41, Mitchell 2-12, Pittman 2-12, M.Johnson 1-0. Appalachian State, Cline 4-35, Quick 2-18, Presley 1-43, D.Moore 1-5.
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