Paul Sherar - Chief Photographer

Mountaineer defensive lineman Jason Hunter (97) sacks UTC quarterback Jason Spearman (4) during the Mountaineer’s 51-14 Homecoming win Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Mountaineers keep playoff hopes alive with Homecoming rout of Mocs

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

With the memories of last season’s 30-27 loss to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga fresh in mind, the Appalachian State University football team extracted full revenge Saturday afternoon, blasting the Mocs 51-14 and keeping its playoff hopes alive.

Chilly temperatures and snow flurries Saturday did not deter 15,337 Homecoming Weekend fans from watching the Mountaineers defeat a team that cost Appalachian State a share of the Southern Conference (SoCon) crown last season.

The 12th-ranked Mountaineers (5-3, 4-2 in SoCon) used a balanced offensive attack led by the resurgence of All-American Jimmy Watkins, who torched the Mocs for 169 yards on 15 carries for two scores.

Junior quarterback Joe Burchette completed only seven passes but made them count, throwing for 227 yards and three touchdowns.

Little went right for Chattanooga (2-5, 1-4 in SoCon) after a successful start and an early score.

The Mocs used wide receiver Jason Jones as a “J.R. Revere-type” running threat that paid dividends early in the game as the Mocs took an early 7-0 lead.

Chattanooga compiled an eight-play, 80-yard drive that began with 5:42 left in the first quarter and was highlighted by two big runs by Jones, one a 47-yard scamper that put the Mocs at the Appalachian State 29-yard line and another 17-yard run three plays later on a second down and 16 yards. Jones capped the drive with a 1-yard scoring plunge.

But that was as good as it would get for injury-plagued Chattanooga after the Mountaineer defense made adjustments, and the Appalachian State offense began looking downfield.

The Mountaineers scored 30 unanswered points to close out the first half, capitalizing on Chattanooga mistakes with an explosive passing game.

Trailing 7-3 with 11 minutes left in the second quarter, Appalachian State used a cluster of penalties on Chattanooga to take full advantage.

An intentional grounding call against Jones on second and 10 from the Mocs 20-yard line pinned Chattanooga back to their own 2-yard line and the ensuing punt was fumbled by Appalachian State return man DaVon Fowlkes but recovered by Andrew Layton.

The play drew an un-sportsmanlike penalty on the Mocs who had appeared to recover the loose ball, giving the Mountaineers a first and 10 from the Chattanooga 12-yard line.

Appalachian State scored on their first play, a 12-yard run by Watkins putting the Mountaineers up 10-7 with under 10 minutes to play in the half.

After a Chattanooga punt, Appalachian State’s DaVon Fowlkes burned the Mocs’ secondary for a 70-yard bomb from Burchette, extending the Mountaineers’ lead 17-7.

Two possessions later, the Mountaineers struck again, this time an 83-yard strike to freshman wide out Andrew Layton on a third and 10 from the Appalachian State 17-yard line.

The Mountaineers then recovered an onside kick at the Chattanooga 25-yard line with only a minute remaining in the half.

After an incomplete pass, Burchette found Sterling Hayward wide open in the left corner of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown play, giving Appalachian State a commanding 30-7 halftime lead.

Appalachian State did not let up in the second half, scoring another 21 straight points before Chattanooga’s Jesse Chesterfield scored on a 16-yard rush with only 20 seconds remaining in the game.

Chattanooga’s offensive woes seemed to stem from the Mountaineers making the necessary adjustments to contain Jones and forcing the Mocs to play catch-up nearly the entire game.

“We weren’t prepared for that,” said Appalachian State head football coach Jerry Moore. “We didn’t prepare for them to run it that much. Normally [Jones] will run it occasionally, but today it was like a series for them until we stopped them.”

Mountaineer linebacker Sam Smalls said it was a breakdown in communication that allowed the Mocs their early success on the ground.

“What was happening was the whole defense wasn’t getting the same play call,” said Smalls. “We had one side of the defense going on one call, and the other side running a different call. We started echoing the play call out so that everybody was running the same defensive call and that put a stop to it.”

The re-emergence of Watkins and the balanced attack offensively for the Mountaineers paid big rewards.

“It wasn’t something that was planned, it just worked that way,” said Moore, referring to Watkins’ getting the bulk of the Mountaineers’ carries. “Jerry [Beard] fumbled the ball and the good thing with us is that we’ve got three or four good running backs. We’ve got a neat mesh as far as those kids are concerned.”

“It makes your life a lot easier when you can do both,” said Burchette about the team’s ability to run and pass. “If you’re one-dimensional it makes it a lot harder. When we can do both we’re a lot better football team.”

The Mountaineers will face the Virginia Military Institute this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Lexington, Va.

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Balance propels ASU past Mocs

Jared Kavlock - Club/Intramural Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University football team used every part of its game plan to defeat the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The Mountaineers ran the football, passed the football, kicked the football and returned a blocked punt to give the team its 51-14 victory.

“Every phase of our game was pretty solid,” said Mountaineer head coach Jerry Moore.

For the first time this season, Appalachian’s offense lived up to its full potential.

After it seemed to completely break down against Wake Forest University, struggled in a narrow-victory over The Citadel and squandered scoring opportunities against Furman University and Georgia Southern University, ASU’s offense is beginning to show signs of being prepared for a trip to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

Appalachian showed it could put points on the board in every way possible in Saturday’s decisive win over the Mocs.

Junior quarterback Joe Burchette completed three touchdown passes, senior running back Jimmy Watkins had a pair of scoring runs and junior place kicker Erik Rockhold tied his career long field goal with a 44-yard field goal.

“It makes your life a lot easier when you [pass and run],” said Burchette. “When we can do both, we’re a very good football team.”

Freshman wide receiver Sean Jackson also had the team’s first touchdown with freshman quarterback Brian Moriarty in the game.

Even the special teams got a piece of the Mocs when junior defensive back Scott Cornatzer recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown.

There was definitely a new, bolder Mountaineer football team on the field Saturday.

The Mountaineers came out shaky as the Moc’s used the duel force of quarterbacks Chuck Spearman and Justin Barnes to add a different element to the game.

Spearman seemed to be the passing quarterback while Barnes led the rushing attack.

Chattanooga’s “Air Raid 2001,” as it has been dubbed this season, was not evident as Spearman and Barnes only completed 10 out of 32 passes for 56 yards.

Spearman had completed 94 out of 173 pass attempts for 952 yards prior to Saturday’s encounter in Boone.

Appalachian, however, unleashed its own air raid Saturday.

Although Burchette surpassed his season low for pass attempts by one, he made every one count.

Of his seven completed passes, Burchette had an 83-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Andrew Layton and a 70-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver DaVon Fowlkes.

Burchette also found sophomore wide receiver Sterling Hayward in the end zone with a 25-yard pass.

“[Passing] is Joe’s strong suit,” said Moore. “He loves to throw the long ball.”

Burchette threw the long ball to a group of receivers who have matured as the season has progressed.

Hayward is the only returning Mountaineer receiver who caught a pass during the 2000 season. He, along with Layton and Fowlkes, are now three critical parts of the Appalachian offense.

Moore said his young receivers are finally coming of age.
“They’ve played eight ballgames,” he said. “They’re seasoned football players now.”

The young receivers are now more accustomed to the team, said Moore.

The Mountaineer’s signature running game also played a significant role in trouncing the Mocs.

Watkins led his team in rushing with 169 yards on 15 carries, including a 44-yard touch down run in the third quarter.

Moriarty showed he could run the ball as well, gaining 41 yards on nine carries.

The ASU passing and running games complemented each other throughout the game.

Burchette said the Mocs inability to stop the Appalachian running game opened up the lanes for his passes.

Appalachian’s kicking game also has improved.

Rockhold, who had trouble early in the season, made six out of seven extra point and field goal attempts against the Mocs.

ASU will play the Virginia Military Institute next weekend on the road before returning to Boone for two more games against Western Carolina University and West Virginia Technical University.

If Appalachian wins the remainder of its games, it will have a strong chance at makinng the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

The type of balanced attack ASU showed against Chattanooga is what will lead the Mountaineers into the playoffs.

“A balanced attack just makes the game easier,” said Watkins.