Apps pound Paladins

GREENVILLE, S.C.

Furman gave Appalachian State great field position three of the first four times it had the ball yesterday. The Mountaineers didn't need the help.

ASU, flexing its offensive muscle yet again, rolled to a 52-27 victory over Furman.

The offense was scary good on a rainy Halloween day, totaling 554 yards and expanding its average over the past four games to 51 points and 630 yards a game.

Most of the damage was done in the air, again, although quarterback Armanti Edwards rushed for 106 yards and four touchdowns.

Edwards, who became the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for 9,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards, completed 25 of 36 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Cline caught eight passes for a career-best 122 yards for the Mountaineers, who improved to 6-2 overall and 5-0 in the Southern Conference.

"The defense has to choose which one they want to stop (run or pass)," Edwards said. "We tried to run the zone reads with Devon (Moore) and they shut that down pretty good, but they kept leaving holes for our receivers so we took advantage."

Cline said: "We threw a lot, trying to take advantage of some mismatches. And with our receivers, it's hard for a defense to just key on one guy."

Coach Bobby Lamb, whose Paladins fell to 4-4 and 3-3, said: "Armanti Edwards is the ultimate escape artist. He doesn't get enough credit for his passing. Today he put some balls right on the dime when we had good coverage. I've said it for four years.... he's an incredible football player."

The Mountaineers scored on five of their first six possessions, and went on to lead 42-13 at halftime.

"Coming down here, you never know," Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said. "You always expect it to be a tough, tight hard-fought, within-a-touchdown-or-field-goal ballgame. This is only about the second time it's been this way. Our offense moved the ball well all day."

A failed onside-kick attempt on the opening kickoff by the Paladins set up an early go-ahead drive by the Mountaineers, who had to go 38 yards for a 16-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Ben Jorden.

"We knew coming in Appalachian State was going to put up some points, and we knew we had to get off a good start offensively but didn't do it," Lamb said. "We didn't execute the on-side kick and then fumbled on our second offensive play. You can't fail like that against an outstanding team like that and keep it close."

The Paladins spent much of the early stages missing opportunities, first after a trio of penalties on the Mountaineers that put the Paladins at the Mountaineers' 25 on their opening series. A fumble ended that threat.

The Mountaineers, after their only first-half field-position challenge, then marched 86 yards for a 3-yard run by Edwards and 14-0 lead.

An interception by the Mountaineers' D.J. McDuffie ended a second Paladins threat. The Mountaineers went up 21-0 soon after, when Edwards capped a 47-yard drive with a 4-yard run.

Furman finally broke through, completing two drives and getting a 4-yard touchdown run by Tersoo Uhaa, who rushed for 114 yards, and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Sorrells to Colin Anderson.

But the Mountaineers capped a 318-yard first half with two more touchdowns -- on a 1-yard run by Edwards and 4-yard run by Devon Moore.

A highlight-reel 45-yard pass from Edwards to Cline on the Mountaineers' opening series of the second half led to another touchdown, a 5-yard run by Edwards.

Furman kept pace from that point -- getting 72-yard touchdown passes from Sorrells to Adam Mims and a 25-yard run by Chris Forcier -- but the Mountaineers tacked on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to CoCo Hillary and a 25-yard field goal by Jason Vitaris.

Moore said that his team got back "in the same rut," but did say that Furman did a few unexpected things.

"They went back and ran a lot of old Furman stuff," Moore said. "But that doesn't excuse tackling and it doesn't excuse assignments. We left ourselves vulnerable defensively."

"We did good, not great, because at the end of the game we seemed to let up and they started moving the ball on us," McDuffie said. "We tightened it back up, but we should be doing that the entire game. Today it didn't hurt us because the offense put up so many points but we can't relax like we did."

tbowman@wsjournal.com.
727-7320

Appalachian 14 21 17 0 -- 52
Furman 0 13 14 0 -- 27

First Quarter

ASU--Jorden 16 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick), 12:36.

ASU--Edwards 3 run (Vitaris kick), 5:19.

Second Quarter

ASU--Edwards 4 run (Vitaris kick), 13:45.

Furman--Uhaa 4 run (Cesari kick), 9:39.

ASU--Edwards 1 run (Vitaris kick), 5:43.

Furman--C.Anderson 33 pass from Sorrells (run failed), 4:27.

ASU--D.Moore 4 run (Vitaris kick), 2:55.

Third Quarter

ASU--Edwards 5 run (Vitaris kick), 11:11.

Furman--Mims 72 pass from Sorrells (Cesari kick), 10:07.

ASU--Hillary 21 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick), 8:57.

Furman--Forcier 25 run (Cesari kick), 5:33.

ASU--FG Vitaris 25, 1:29.

A--11,211.

TEAM STATISTICS

ASU Furman

First downs 27 18

Rushes-yards 39-178 34-185

Passing 376 165

Comp-Att-Int 26-38-0 10-21-1

Return Yards 47 25

Punts-Avg. 3-47.0 5-41.6

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 6-60 7-53

Time of Possession 33:59 26:01

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Appalachian State, Edwards 13-106, D.Moore 11-37, C.Baker 6-19, Cadet 7-16, Chisholm 1-0, Cline 1-0. Furman, Uhaa 19-114, Forcier 6-41, Mims 2-21, Cunningham 2-14, Maples 1-7, Lenard 1-3, Sorrells 3-(minus 15).

PASSING--Appalachian State, Edwards 25-36-0-355, Cadet 1-2-0-21. Furman, Sorrells 10-17-1-165, Forcier 0-4-0-0.

RECEIVING--Appalachian State, Cline 8-122, Hillary 6-83, Quick 4-70, Jorden 3-40, Elder 3-35, Presley 1-21, D.Moore 1-5. Furman, Mims 5-102, Webb 2-27, C.Anderson 1-33, Cunningham 1-4, Uhaa 1-(minus 1).