Fee finishes fifth at NCAA Championships; leads Mountaineers into top 30

James Nix - Sports Beat

Appalachian State University junior Mark Fee finished fifth in the 165-pound weight division at the 2002 NCAA Wrestling Championships this weekend in Albany, New York and picked up All-American recognition for his performance.

“It’s an honor,” said Fee. “This is the most prestigious tournament out there for this style of wrestling.”

Fee advanced to the semifinals of the tournament before losing to Joe Heskett of Iowa State University by a pin at the 5:24 mark. Heskett went on to claim the championship.

He was then entered into the wrestleback final four, which determined consolation placing. Eugene Harris of the University of Oregon defeated him 18-9.

Fee eventually earned his fifth-place ranking after a medical forfeit from Robbie Waller of the University of Oklahoma.

Fee gave much of the credit for his performance to his team after the tournament.

“I couldn’t have done this with out my team,” said Fee. “They pushed me to my limits and gave me confidence.”

Also representing Appalachian in the NCAA Championships were junior Travis Drake and senior P.J. Boccia.

Drake, a two-time Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year, exited the 133-pound tournament brackets after fourth-seeded Kevin Black of the University of Wisconsin defeated him 11-2.

He won his first-round match against Jesse Brock of Boise State University 9-4.

Drake then entered the wrestleback brackets where he advanced by defeating Pat Dowty of Eastern Illinois University 15-9.

Drake lost his next bout to Marat Tomaev of Pennsylvania State University 5-4.

Drake ended his season with a 33-6 record.

Boccia, in his third NCAA tournament, was defeated by 12th-seeded Josh Jenson of The Ohio State University, 12-5.

In the wrestleback tournament Boccia defeated Jeremiah Jarvis of the University of California at Davis, 2-1. He then lost to Tim Foley of the University of Virginia, 6-4, in his last match as a Mountaineer.
Boccia ends his season with a 19-14 record.

In the first round of the tournament, Fee defeated fourth seeded Tom McHath of the University of West Virginia, 10-6. He then defeated Tyron Woodley of the University of Missouri with a pin at the 47-second mark.

In the quarterfinals, Fee defeated fifth-seeded Josh Henson of the University of Pennsylvania, 7-4.

Fee was named the Southern Conference Tournament’s most outstanding performer after defeating Craig Johnson of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for the championship for his weight division. The victory entered him in the NCAA Championships. He
finished his season with a 25-10 record.

Along with Fee, Drake also won his weight class in the SoCon Championships, defeating Sean Markley of the Citadel. This gave him a bid into the Tournament.

Boccia, on the other hand, lost to Adam Britt of the Virginia Military Institute in the SoCon finales. He, however, received one of the three SoCon at-large bids to the NCAA Championships.

Fee and Drake will both return next season with SoCon titles to defend and tournament performance to improve.

“This puts a lot of pressure on me for next season,” said Fee. “Now I’ve got to live up to my name.”

Mountaineers open home season by dropping three to Catamounts

Josh Dernosek - Sports Beat

The Appalachian State University men’s baseball team welcomed the Western Carolina University Catamounts this weekend for a three game series to open the Mountaineers home season.

The weather was beautiful, but the play for Appalachian (3-17, 1-8 SoCon) needed some improvement.

The teams opened the series Saturday with a double header, which proved to be an offensive clinic given by the Catamounts (13-8, 6-3 SoCon).

The first game was called after the eighth inning after a nine run Western barrage increased the score to 26-10. The Catamounts were led by Ryan Schade’s two three-run homeruns, both of which sparked a rally in the Western bench giving them the boost they needed.

Appalachian’s Graham Thompson gave his best effort in the loss with a four for five performance at the plate. Derek Smith’s three hits and two RBIs were also key in Appalachian’s 10-run losing effort.

Western Carolina came out in game two with the same offensive mindset and intensity they ended the first game with. The game was cut short after the seventh because Western had built a 17-3 lead.

Dan Foley gave up three hits, marked up no strikeouts and walked three in route to his first win of the season for the Catamounts. Brian Chapman fell to 2-3 on the mound for the Mountaineers.

The Catamounts hit 17 for 37 as a team and left eight men on base.
Most of Appalachian’s trouble was with the heart of Western’s lineup; Alan Beck, Todd Buchanan and Donovan Minero all posted two hits in the three, four and five spots in the batting order. Beck and Buchanan each knocked in three, while Minero led all players with four RBIs.

Appalachian took the field Sunday looking to overcome pitching problems in the previous games and to prove to the Catamounts that Saturday’s blowouts were not taken lightly.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, Western opened the game with a three-run first inning, a lead that proved to be enough to secure a victory for Western’s starting pitcher Seth Foster, now 5-0.

Kyle Shiplet toed the rubber and pitched a solid game for the Mountaineers. However Western’s offensive talent was still too much and they pulled out the victory 6-3.

Led by Alan Beck’s three hits and two RBIs Western finished the weekend with the same offensive fervor they began the weekend with.
Beck accrued a .533 batting average and 10 RBIs for the weekend, making it a solid performance in Boone.

The Mountaineers showed signs of brilliance throughout Sunday’s game holding the Catamounts to six scoreless innings, equaling the number of innings Western failed to score in both games Saturday.

Graham Thompson picked up two hits in for four at-bats Sunday, bringing his series batting average to .600 to lead the Mountaineers.
Clint Johns drove in two, but the efforts were not enough to meet Western’s offensive pace that was set as soon as the arrived in Boone.

Western walked into Boone with their bats ready and when it was all through they left Red Lackey Field outscoring the Mountaineers 49-16 in a three game series.

Appalachian will need to improve hitting and pitching this weekend if they plan on picking up victories against visiting Binghamton.

The series begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. and finishes with a double header Saturday beginning at noon.

Josh Brown - The Appalachian

Freshman running back Chris Thomas makes a run towards the endzone for the Gold team during Saturday’s spring scrimmage.

Pair of QBs do battle in spring scrimmage Saturday

Chris Boyce - Sports Beat

Joe Burchette may be the present quarterback for Appalachian State University football, but Richie Williams is the future.

Saturday’s annual Black and Gold football game ended in a 21-14 victory for the Burchette-led Black team, but the 6-foot-4-inch redshirt freshman turned some heads in the morning scrimmage.

The Black team produced the game’s first score, a touchdown pass from Burchette to Sterling Hayward, giving the Black team a 7-0 lead.

Then Burchette hooked up with Torez Leach for a 60-yard touchdown strike, giving Black a 14-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Things didn’t get any better for the Gold team, after a high snap sailed over Gold quarterback Brian Moriarty’s head. Moriarty could not regain control of the ball, and the loose ball was recovered by Black’s Leon Moore in the endzone, giving Black a commanding 21-0 lead with 9:48 left in the first half.

Burchette finished the first—and last—spring full-pad scrimmage with 118 yards and two touchdowns.

But Williams turned the tide late in the second quarter.

The Camden, S.C. product found wideout Andrew Layton wide open on a crossing route for a 30-yard touchdown with 3:02 left in the first half to cut Black’s lead to 14 points, 21-7.

Williams and Layton struck again with 10:49 remaining in the third quarter, this time for a 43-yard hookup, putting the Gold team down by a touchdown, 21-14.

But that would be as close as they’d get, failing to capitalize on numerous opportunities in the second half. The Black team hammered Williams for numerous sacks and at times the freshman showed his inexperience with several fumbles while scrambling.

“Once I got hit around a little bit I started feeling a little bit better, trying to get back into game-type situations,” said Williams about feeling comfortable.

Williams ended up 10 of 17 with 125 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think that was good for Richie to be under that kind of pressure and to get that kind of exposure. He didn’t handle the ball quite like you’d like, and he had some turnovers but you have to play to find out those things,” said Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore after the game.

But even the talented Williams wasn’t enough to help Gold complete the comeback.

“It was frustrating. We just made a lot of mental mistakes, but overall we played pretty good. I still think we should’ve won this game,” said Williams.

Part of the force that stopped the Gold team’s advances at the end of the game was defensive lineman Leon Moore, who for the second consecutive spring scrimmage recovered a fumble for a touchdown.

“It’s more that just being out here playing spring ball. We try to carry it on to the season because you never know, it may come down to keeping somebody out of the endzone to win a national championship.
You never know,” said Moore. “It was fun just going to war.”

One of the best things to come out of the scrimmage was a lack of injuries, added Coach Moore.

“One of the big things is we didn’t have a bunch of people get beat up. Sterling Hayward got a separated shoulder and will be out a month and Corey Jones got a fractured finger,” said Moore.

“I’d say all and all it was a good scrimmage and the players got a lot out of it.”