Courtesy of Appalachian State Sports Information
BOONE, N.C. — Second-ranked Appalachian State University jumped out to a 41-7 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a convincing 47-21 win over No. 12 The Citadel at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Appalachian (3-2, 1-0 SoCon) racked up 363 yards of offense in the first half alone and found the end zone on its final six possessions of the half to take the commanding halftime lead.
Quarterback Armanti Edwards, who overcame an ankle injury suffered in last Saturday’s win over Presbyterian, highlighted ASU’s first-half dominance by rushing 11 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns and completing 10-of-12 passes for 177 yards and three more scores before the break. The junior, who became only the 12th player in NCAA Division I history (FBS or FCS) with 3,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a career, finished the contest with 225 yards and a career-best four touchdowns on 14-of-18 passing and 80 yards on 15 carries.
The Mountaineers scored just once in the opening quarter on Devin Radford’s 29-yard touchdown run just under 10 minutes in. However, the second period was all Black and Gold, as the Apps scored five times to take the 41-7 advantage into the break. Edwards accounted for all five second-quarter touchdowns with runs of 16 and three yards and passes of 25 yards to Matt Cline, four yards to CoCo Hillary and, the back-breaker, a 68-yard screen pass to Radford with 15 seconds to go in the half.
Not to be overlooked in the impressive performance was the effort turned in by Appalachian’s defense. ASU limited The Citadel (3-2, 1-1 SoCon), which came into the contest with the Southern Conference’s second-ranked scoring offense at 35.5 points per game, to just 245 yards on the afternoon, 170 below its average. The Citadel managed only 82 yards in the first half.The Bulldogs tried to make it interesting by cutting the deficit to 41-21 midway through the fourth quarter on a 50-yard punt return by Andre Roberts and a nine-yard scoring connection from Bart Blanchard to Alex Sellars.
However, after recovering an onside kick, the Mountaineers iced the triumph on a 24-yard strike from Edwards to Josh Johnson. Besides Edwards, Radford was Appalachian’s offensive star with 72 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries to go along with the 68-yard touchdown reception. Cline chipped in with 74 all-purpose yards (49 rushing, 25 receiving).Cortez Gilbert paced the Mountaineers defensively with 11 tackles and two pass break-ups. D.J. Smith added nine tackles and a pair of pass break-ups and true freshman Lanston Tanyi made seven stops and hurried the passer four times. Appalachian continues SoCon play next Saturday when it travels to league-newcomer Samford. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. (EDT) at Seibert Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.
