Mountaineers host Furman as ‘Black
Saturday’ returns
Allie
Woods
Sports Beat
Paul Sherar | The Appalachian
Senior running back Jerry Beard
(34) avoids a Paladin defensive lineman during last year’s
22-28 loss to Furman. This Saturday the Mountaineers host the
Paladins, marking the return of “Black Saturday.”
Saturday will mark the clash between
Southern Conference (SoCon) heavyweights Appalachian State University
and Furman University, as well as the return of “Black Saturday.”
Kidd Brewer Stadium will provide the backdrop
for the fourth-ranked Mountaineers (4-1, 2-0 SoCon) and fifth-ranked
Paladins (4-1, 2-0 SoCon) to go head-to-head to determine who will
control the conference.
“It should be a great game,” said Jerry
Moore, head coach of the Appalachian football team. “You have
two of the top teams playing and competing against each other.”
Appalachian is coming off an impressive victory
over East Tennessee State University that featured senior running
back Jerry Beard running for two touchdowns and catching another.
After seeing the Paladins’ relative inability
to stop the run against the Western Carolina University running
backs, look for Beard and freshman running back Sean Jackson to
touch the ball often.
Mountaineers take home court advantage;
topple Buccaneers 3-2
Josh Dernosek
Sports Beat
Christina Hill | The Appalachian
The Mountaineers defeated the East Tennessee
State Buccaneers Tuesday night in a thrilling five game match in
Varsity Gym. The Mountaineers defeated the Bucs 3-2, improving to
10-10 overall, and 4-4 in SoCon play. They return to the Convocation
Center to host Georgia Southern Oct. 26.
The visiting East Tennessee State
University Buccaneers (5-11, 3-5 SoCon) entered Boone with no idea
of the advantage Appalachian State University’s women’s
volleyball team owned at the start of the match Tuesday night.
For the first time since the end of the 2000 season the Mountaineers
hosted an opposing team in the confines of Varsity Gymnasium.
The advantage panned out and the Mountaineers (10-10, 4-4 SoCon)
toppled visiting ETSU in a thrilling five game match: 30-27, 30-26,
32-34, 26-30, 15-13.
“The fans are right on top of you and I
like to think that that gave us a little bit of an advantage,”
said head coach Chris Redding. “I am sure that they will have
a little payback when we go [to Johnson City, Tenn.,] and that will
be great, because that is a great atmosphere to play in.”
