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| Mountaineers continue season with EKU Saturday
at Kidd Brewer Stadium |
James Nix
Associate Editor |
Two weeks off a hard loss to Marshall
University, Appalachian State University will kick off its home
opener against Eastern Kentucky University on Saturday.
Kick off is set for 3:30 p.m. at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Mountaineers hold a 5-2 record over the Colonels
and are currently undefeated at home.
The Mountaineers will look to improve on their
performance two weeks ago in Huntington W.Va., when the Thundering
Herd, led by Heisman Trophy candidate Byron Leftwich, trampled ASU
50-17. |
Appalachian went into
the Marshall game missing senior quarterback Joe Burchette.
Burchette was sent to Charlotte the day prior to the game for surgery
on a ruptured disk in his back. He is expected to return within
a few weeks.
To fill his place, red-shirt freshman Richie Williams took the first
snaps of his college career.
Without Burchette, the Mountaineers turned to the running game early
on with senior running back Jerry Beard. Marshall’s defense
picked up on this, however, and stopped Beard.
“What we did against Marshall is probably going to be like
a chip off a stone to what we really can accomplish,” said
Beard.
The Colonels enter the contest with a 1-1 record.
EKU lost its season opener to Oregon State University 49-10 and
defeated Slippery Rock University 35-11 this past weekend.
The Colonels finished 8-2 (6-1 Ohio Valley Conference).
Appalachian is currently ranked fifth on the Sport’s Network
I-AA football polls, while EKU is 17.
Eastern Kentucky will provide a chance for Williams to experience
a Division I-AA defense instead of the dominating defense he faced
against the Herd.
Williams’s situation is similar to two years ago when Burchette
took over as quarterback, said ASU Head Coach Jerry Moore.
Moore said the team had to cut some things down to Burchette’s
level at the time and the same will be done for Williams.
The team did not have adequate time to plan for Williams prior to
Marshall.
“We’re going to do the things we do, but we’re going
to concentrate a little more on the things that fit Richie,”
said Moore. “We want him to feel comfortable when he gets on
the field running around.”
Even with William’s presence in the game, Appalachian should
be able to play its type of football against the Colonels.
“We’re going to hit a lot harder, run a lot faster, be
more precise,” said Beard. “I’m just looking forward
to our next game to really show everybody that we are the team that
we made out to be, that we are the team we feel we can be.” |
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