Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Andrew Layton (2) turns up field after corralling a pass as Remi Awolowo (4) closes in practice earlier this week.

Mountaineer offense looking for unity, execution

Andy Morris - Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University football team’s offense has come to a screeching halt.

After scoring 46 points in the season opener against Liberty University, the Mountaineers have scored only 18 points in the past two games, including an 8-6 squeaker against long-time Southern Conference doormat The Citadel last Saturday.

But, according to head coach Jerry Moore, the Mountaineers only need a few drops of oil to turn the offense into a smooth-running machine.

“We’ve just got to get back to polishing and be more authoritative in what we do,” he said. “We ask ourselves what the problems are, and you ask ‘Is it the quarterback? Is it the offensive life? Is it the receivers? Is it the running back?’ and you come to find out in most instances, it’s a little bit of all of them.”

Appalachian had its share of problems offensively against The Citadel as Appalachian quarterback Joe Burchette threw four interceptions while the rushing game only managed to rack up a season low 95 yards.

Burchette said the lack of offensive production against The Citadel was caused by a lack of rhythm on the team.

“I didn’t see stuff, and people weren’t where they were supposed to be,” he said. “We played tough in the game and those interceptions are mine.”

Receiver Sterling Hayward blamed himself for one of the interceptions.

“I ran a wrong route,” he said. “I ran in instead of out, and he threw it out for the pick.”

Moore added the next time Hayward ran that route, Burchette was hesitant to throw the pass, and the ball was tipped away.

“If you start ad-libbing, you get out of sync and you don’t have any rhythm,” Moore said.

Hayward agreed a lack of unity on the field is a problem for the Mountaineers.

“We don’t have 11 players doing the same thing and there is a lack of execution,” he said. “Once we get our execution together, we’ll get back to scoring points. We just have to execute.”

Moore said by the offense not capitalizing on opportunities to score, it keeps opponents in the game and hurts the Mountaineers’ chances to seal victories.

“If we would have scored when we should have at The Citadel, it could have been 20-0 instead of 5-0 and that’s a whole different ball game for them,” he said. “5-0 is nothing and might as well be a tie game because it only takes a touchdown for them to win the game.”

According to Moore, the lack of execution along with mental errors and hesitation has caused the offensive woes for the Mountaineers.

“We’ve brought it on ourselves with the interceptions, the penalties and the long yardage situations that keep us in the hole,” he said. “We need to get back to basics on offense and emphasize not making mistakes and running better routes.”

Being able to look at the team’s problems honestly is an important tool for the team and leads to improvement, Moore said.

“If you can’t be critical of yourself and evaluate yourself, then you’re probably not going to win many football games.”

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Josh Brown - The Appalachian

ASU officials plan to build several new sports facilities in the near future, including a grass-turf soccer stadium near the baseball stadium.

Future for women's sports bright

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series on Title IX and its impact on Appalachian State University.

Orange cones and construction equipment appear to be in the near future of Appalachian State University in regards to its relationship with Title IX, as the university plans to add two new athletic facilities on campus.

There are no sports to be added at Appalachian State in the immediate future, but the university has several new facilities in which planning and design are in the most preliminary stages.

The first project will be a men and women’s grass-surfaced soccer facility, expected in the next several years. The most likely location for the new facility will be adjacent to the baseball stadium behind Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The project is a priority, said athletic director Roachel Laney, but will be expensive and require a large amount of dirt to be removed from the hillside.

The decision to put a new soccer facility on campus stems from one major concern. Soccer at Kidd Brewer is played on a turf field while the preferred playing surface of the sport is grass. Because of this, Mountaineer soccer has lost recruits.

According to Laney, $500,000 has been set aside for the new soccer facility, and he believes that the university is looking at a two-year period of having something done.

The soccer facility is an immediate priority to Mountaineer athletics but eventually an on-campus softball facility will also be constructed.

A new softball facility is not required under the legislation of Title IX because the team’s current facility is considered equivalent to Red Lackey Field, home of the baseball team.

The team currently plays in the Watauga County Complex located off of State Farm Road.

“My goal when starting softball was while we did not have a facility of our own on campus, I felt it was more important to start the program, share a facility with the community recreation center and then eventually build an on-campus site. That’s not totally required but it’s the right thing to do,” said Laney.

Associate athletics director/senior woman administrator Debbie Richardson said it would be difficult finding a place to put a softball facility on the crowded campus of Appalachian State University.

“Finding somewhere to put a facility on our campus is the first challenge. We’re not very sure where it’s going to go yet, but we’re very pleased with the relationship we have with the parks and recreational facilities and how they’re working with us on our softball team,” said Richardson.

With the facility located off campus, questions might be raised about whether attendance will suffer for the softball team.

“Attendance isn’t a major concern because students can take the AppalCART if they don’t drive,” said Richardson.

“What’s nice is that the community knows where all the parks are and with girls fast-pitch softball now in the area, that allows them to come out and watch us play with all the other fields that are there. I think attendance has actually been pretty good out there.

“Yes, we’d like to have our own field but until then were not letting that be a drawback,” she said.

The year-to-year responsibility Appalachian State athletics has regarding Title IX is a continuing effort to keep spending funds on women’s athletics and also to look out for other sports on the collegiate athletic horizon, although the university has more sports than any other school in the conference.

“Each year, we just keep trying to put more and more money into the women’s side. We’re hoping we are not going to have to add any more women’s sports but if that has to happen we would do that,” said Richardson.

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Women look to bounce back at 6-on-6 tourney

Jared Kavlock - Club Sports Beat

After only four games, this season is proving to be a big turnaround for Appalachian State University’s women’s club soccer team.

Although it only won two regular-season (non-tournament) games last year, it jumped right out of the gates this year.

The team won its first two games, beating Clemson University 4-2 and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro 2-0.

“We played together and worked hard,” said junior Amber Hindson. “None of us likes to lose.”

The team’s good fortune did not travel with it last weekend, however, as some players got stuck in traffic on the way to Greenville, forcing the team to play with a short squad against East Carolina University on Friday.

The Pirates defeated the Mountaineers 3-1, and then the team lost to Wake Forest University on Sunday 3-1. However, the team remains positive that it will rebound from last weekend’s losses.

“We’ve improved a lot so far this year,” said Hindson. “We have more players coming out, and they are much more dedicated [than last year].”

With 34 players on the roster, there are usually 25 to 30 at each practice, junior Jenna Lewter said.

That number is up considerably from last year, when there would only be five to 10 girls at each practice, said Lewter.

Both Lewter and Hindson attribute the higher turnout to a large crop of new players with lots of experience and dedication.

“There are a few freshmen who, if they weren’t out there, we don’t know what we’d do,” said Lewter.

“They are all really experienced,” said Hindson. “Most of them played at the classic level [before coming to college].”

Classic is the most competitive level in recreation soccer and requires extensive try-outs and traveling, providing good preparation for college club soccer.

This weekend the team will travel to Hilton Head, S.C., for a tournament where the games will be six-on-six rather than the traditional 11-on-11.

“It’s a really fun tournament,” said Lewter. “Last year we stayed at a really nice resort, and we had a great time.”

After the Hilton Head tournament, the team will play against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

“I look forward to playing the teams that we didn’t do so well against [in the past],” said Hindson.

Lewter said her biggest goal is simply “to come out with a winning season.”

Like all club teams, however, the women’s soccer club puts an emphasis on playing a game they love and having fun doing it.

“We just want to have fun, work hard as a team and do the best we can,” said Hindson.

Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Quarterback Joe Burchette (16) and his Mountaineer teammates returned to practice this week to prepare for a 3 p.m. showdown Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium against ETSU. Burchette and the ASU offense failed to find the end zone in an 8-6 win over The Citadel last week.

Following subpar outing, Burchette shoulders responsibility

James Nix - Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University football team must improve upon poor performances against Wake Forest University and The Citadel in order to topple East Tennessee State University Saturday.

“We’ve got to get back to the basics,” said head coach Jerry Moore.

Moore’s comment comes after the 20-10 loss to the Demon Deacons and a near loss to the Bulldogs.

Junior place kicker Erik Rockhold’s 37-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter is all that stood in the way of a loss to a team the Mountaineers annihilated 61-14 last season.

Rockhold had missed a field goal only two minutes earlier.

“We’re fortunate to win a close ballgame like that,” said Moore.
“You seldom get a second chance in this business.”

Junior quarterback Joe Burchette, who led the team in rushing, threw a career-high four interceptions against The Citadel.

“Ain’t much I can do about them now,” said Burchette of his interceptions. “We’ve got to put that game behind us.”

His 198 yards in passing produced no Mountaineer touchdowns.

Burchette plans to watch a lot of film this week in hopes to improve his game for ETSU. He said he must take more snaps in practice in order to get a better handle on the game.

“If a guy plays like I did, you can’t win,” said Burchette. “If I don’t throw interceptions, we win.”

Moore, however, likes to give a little more credit to The Citadel than most pundits did in preseason forecasts.

“The Citadel is probably a lot better of a football team than a lot of people thought,” said Moore.

But The Citadel is in the past, and Appalachian must prepare for Saturday’s 2 p.m. SoCon showdown with the Bucs at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Moore said he and his staff are starting to analyze ASU’s recent performances.

“We’ve got to get to polishing the way we do things,” said Moore. “That may mean cutting back on some things. We may be trying to do too much.”

If his team can’t think critically of itself, it will not win many ballgames, and that right now the team is out of sync, he said.

The Mountaineers will work on running the ball this week. The offensive unit only gained 95 yards against the Bulldogs on 32 rushes.

Also, Burchette must eliminate his interceptions. He has thrown six in the two losses.

Buccaneer quarterback Matt Wilhjelm has thrown only four interceptions this season.

“I’ve got to make better reads and hit my receivers,” said Burchette.

Burchette has taken much of the blame for the last two games, but he remains confident his team will continue to win.

“We’re fine. We’re running the ball good and the offensive line has played great every week.”

ASU’s seven penalties against The Citadel is a significant drop from the 27 suffered in the first two games.

“The penalties we had were more from effort than from dumb mistakes,” said Moore.

The Bucs are coming off a 20-6 loss to Western Carolina University last weekend, a set-back which dropped ETSU to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the Southern Conference.

One advantage Appalachian does have on the Bucs is Kidd Brewer Stadium.

This will be the first time ASU has played at home since it opened against Liberty University Sept. 1.

ETSU holds a 6-15 record in Boone and are 3-13 at Kidd Brewer.
Appalachian defeated the Bucs 30-13 last year.

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Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Appalachian State head cross country coah Mike Curcio will send his teams into the Blue Ridge Open Friday with the Brown Mountain Jugs on the line. The Mountaineer women have won the jug two out of the four years of its existence, while the men have yet to lose the jug.

Jug on line: ASU aims to outpace field

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

When the Appalachian State University men and women’s cross country teams suit up for the annual Blue Ridge Open this Friday in Boone, there will be more on the line than just simple pride.

What’s at stake this weekend is the yearlong resting place of cross country’s two sacred shrines, the Brown Mountain Jugs.

Brown in color and much smaller than the Appalachian State/Western Carolina University football rivalry mountain jug, these jugs represent an ever-intensifying rivalry between the two schools that carries beyond football.

The jugs, created in 1996 by a potter and former Appalachian State alumnus and runner Brett Dotson, were introduced in 1997 with the face of a mountain man on one side.

On the opposite side of the jug, the winning team of each event in the last four seasons is listed under the heading “King of the Mountain” and for the women’s jug “Queen of the Mountain.”

The original idea for the two mountain jugs originated six years ago with Western Carolina head cross country coach Danny Williamson.

Appalachian State has enjoyed possession of the jugs for the majority of their existence.

The Mountaineer women have won the jug two out of the four years, in 1998 and 2000.

The Mountaineer men have yet to lose the jug to Western Carolina.

“The rivalry’s always been there because of the conference and both schools being located in the mountains. This just added an interesting facet, something to actually run for,” said Appalachian State head cross country coach Mike Curcio.

The two jugs have a history of finding interesting homes, whether on the floor of Curcio’s car, Williamson’s car or an assortment of vans.

In addition, athletes have borrowed the jugs for certain occasions.

However, Curcio’s worst fear is dropping the jug on the way to the meet this Friday.

“It’s not like the Stanley Cup because it will break,” said Curcio. “I always worry about bringing it out to the course because it could get broken.”

The meet will bring a formidable cross country competition to Boone, featuring Western Carolina University, East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Lees-McRae College and Lenoir-Rhyne College.

“Western’s got two good guys that can run with just about anybody in the conference. Their third guy is a freshman, so they’ve got the talent but they just don’t have the depth that we have,” said Curcio.

The meet will be a different type from last weekend’s Great American Cross Country Festival at Winthrop University. The event will be much smaller than the 31-team event at Winthrop.

Curcio sees the event as more strategic in terms of individual runners winning instead of a competitive team finish.

“With a smaller field you know everybody around you and you can see your teammates and what’s going on. It becomes a little more tactical, less about time and more about placement,” said Curcio.

Until Friday, the Brown Mountain Jugs of the cross country teams will reside on a table in Mike Curcio’s office, where he hopes they’ll stay for a long time to come.

“Keeping those two jugs is gonna be a big goal for us. I don’t like to make predictions but there’s certainly a chance we’ll be able to keep both jugs this year. We’ve certainly got the talent to do it, it’s just a matter of our athletes doing what they’re capable of doing,” said Curcio.