ASU rallies for 4th victory

SPARTANBURG, S.C.

Another close call, but another victory for Appalachian State.

The Mountaineers, who have trailed in the second half in four of six games this season, had to rally from a two-touchdown deficit yesterday to put away Wofford 44-34 at Gibbs Stadium.

The Terriers led 34-20 before the Mountaineers' defense responded by closing with six straight stops.

Senior Mark LeGree, who led the nation and set a school record with 10 interceptions last year, helped turn the Mountaineers' fortunes with his first interception in six games this season. That timely turnover ended a Wofford drive into ASU territory in the third quarter that could have provided a three-touchdown lead and potential knockout blow.

"Unfortunately, I made a poor decision and I threw it up for grabs," said quarterback Mitch Allen, who said that play put the Mountaineers in the game.

LeGree, who finished with two interceptions before the day was done, said: "I've been waiting all season to finally make plays on this team and it was great that it happened then. You love it when you get a pick and then the offense scores. It's a game changer."

The Mountaineers (4-2 overall, 3-0 Southern Conference) went on to get a 47-yard touchdown run by Devon Moore, closing the deficit to 34-27.

A key third-down stop on the next series, by Jacque Roman and Anthony Williams, led to a 49-yard field goal by Jason Vitaris. The Terriers, still leading, then drove to the Mountaineers' 26-yard line before Jabari Fletcher forced a fourth-down fumble.

The Apps cashed in, finally taking the lead at 37-34 with 10 minutes left, when Moore, who finished with 180 yards rushing, scored on a 1-yard run.

Another defensive stop, and the Mountaineers found some cushion when Brian Quick beat a defender down the left sideline and hauled in a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Armanti Edwards.

"I just passed the defensive back, he slipped and fell," said Quick, who said the defender bit on a pump fake by Edwards. "I started to look back but Armanti told me to keep running. There's a lot of plays that I mess up on."

That wasn't one of them, and it gave the Mountaineers a 44-34 lead with 6:48 left.

Edwards totaled 415 yards passing and two touchdowns on 27 completions in 34 attempts. Quick had eight catches for 180 yards.

"We thought we could throw it against them," Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said. "And we couldn't consistently run the option on them very well…. We're doing some good things in the throwing game right now."

The Terriers (1-5, 0-3) scored 34 points in the first 32:28. They didn't score in the final 27:32.

Jerry Moore said of his team's early defensive play: "It gets redundant saying this, but so much of it playing teams like this is assignment football, getting people in the right spots. But the thing about this game is the hanging in there, the resiliency that our football team has."

The Terriers rushed for 384 yards. The Mountaineers finished with 196 yards on the ground.

"We know playing against this team every year we've got to put points on the board," Edwards said. "We know they'll either hit a big play or just chip it down the field. We just kept our heads up and did our job."

Allen said: "We've been struggling, and we needed a good first half like we had to get rolling. It hurts that we couldn't finish it."

Appalachian State trailed at halftime for the fourth time this season, and needed a last-second touchdown run by Edwards to trim what would have been a two-touchdown halftime deficit.

Wofford used three big strikes -- a 74-yard touchdown run by Derek Boyce on the Terriers' first play, a 64-yard touchdown run by Mike Rucker and a 66-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Brenton Bersin on a third-and-1 play -- and then a time-consuming, 78-yard touchdown march to take a 27-13 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half.

The Mountaineers settled for two field goals on three drives inside the 25-yard line, but did get a 27-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Quick and an impressive first-half ending drive, which was capped by Edwards scrambling up the middle, being stopped short of the goal line but stretching the ball across with no time left.

But the Terriers got the points back on the opening drive of the second half, marching 60 yards for a fourth touchdown run by a fourth different back.

tbowman@wsjournal.com.
727-7320

Appalachian State 3 17 7 17 -- 44
Wofford 6 21 7 0 -- 34

First Quarter

ASU--FG Vitaris 30, 10:22.

Wofford--Boyce 74 run (kick failed), 10:08.

Second Quarter

Wofford--Rucker 64 run (C.Reed kick), 13:47.

ASU--Quick 27 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick), 11:23.

Wofford--Bersin 66 pass from Allen (C.Reed kick), 9:57.

ASU--FG Vitaris 39, 7:06.

Wofford--Allen 4 run (C.Reed kick), :48.

ASU--Edwards 3 run (Vitaris kick), :00.

Third Quarter

Wofford--Palmer 2 run (C.Reed kick), 12:22.

ASU--D.Moore 48 run (Vitaris kick), 6:16.

Fourth Quarter

ASU--FG Vitaris 49, 14:54.

ASU--D.Moore 1 run (Vitaris kick), 10:00.

ASU--Quick 57 pass from Edwards (Vitaris kick), 6:48.

A--8,330.

TEAM STATISTICS

ASU Wofford

First downs 25 17

Rushes-yards 41-196 51-384

Passing 415 153

Comp-Att-Int 27-34-0 4-8-2

Return Yards 38 0

Punts-Avg. 3-46.0 3-40.7

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 2-2

Penalties-Yards 8-108 5-53

Time of Possession 32:02 27:58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Appalachian State, D.Moore 25-180, Edwards 14-17, Cadet 1-1, C.Baker 1-(minus 2). Wofford, Rucker 8-104, Boyce 2-76, Allen 11-60, Palmer 8-38, Scott 9-34, Davitte 5-30, Joslin 2-23, A.Parks 5-18, Boggs 1-1.

PASSING--Appalachian State, Edwards 27-34-0-415. Wofford, Davitte 2-4-0-52, Allen 2-3-1-101, C.White 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING--Appalachian State, Quick 8-181, Hillary 6-96, D.Moore 6-38, Cline 3-41, B.Frazier 1-33, Jorden 1-18, Elder 1-11, C.Baker 1-(minus 3). Wofford, Bersin 2-94, Joslin 2-59.