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| Matt Brown | The
Appalachian |
| Freshman runningback Alan Atwater
lead the Mountaineers against the Catamounts with
76 rushing yards during the 26-18 win over Western.
With the win, Appalachian still has a chance at
gaining a playoff spot. |
Appalachian State University did their job Saturday.
Now they’ll wait for the playoff selection committee
to do theirs.
The Battle for the Old Mountain Jug was as intense and physical
as the players said it would be, and then some. But after
Appalachian’s hard-earned 26-18 victory, the talk went
from Western Carolina University to the chances of ASU making
the playoffs.
“Hopefully if the right teams lose we’ll have
the opportunity to keep playing,” head coach Jerry
Moore said after the game. “I just hope we get to keep
on playing and see what we can do because [these players]
are a bunch of special people and they certainly believe
in themselves.”
Seniors now have five days to dwell on whether or not they
have played their last college football game ever.
“It’s really eating me up inside,” defensive
end K.T. Stovall said. “This could have been the last
time I strapped on pads in college football. It’s just
a guessing game right now. We did our part. The rest just
has to fall in line.”
If this rest does fall in line, ASU will have to clean up
their game if they are to advance into the playoffs.
On a game day that was cold, wet and dreary, the game itself
was nastier than the weather.
ASU and Western combined for 229 penalty yards, nine total
fumbles, and the game had to be stopped seven times for an
injured player.
Moore said he keeps a sheet of paper where he writes down
the player penalized and the amount of yards the penalty
was for.
“That list got so long I just quit writing [the penalties]
down,” Moore said.
With Appalachian comfortably ahead 19-3, Western’s
quarterback Brian Gaither found Michael Reeder behind the
secondary for a 60-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion
brought the game to within eight points at 19-11.
After Western stopped Alan Atwater on 3rd and 2, Gaither
and the Catamounts began to drive on Appalachian’s
defense.
And then Stovall did something he’s done his entire
career at Appalachian.
With the game in the balance, he made a play.
Stovall ripped the football from Gaither’s hands and
returned it 52 yards for the game- winning touchdown.
“I just rushed up field and one of my teammates (Marques
Murrell) pressured the quarterback,” Stovall said.
“The QB brought the ball down and I just grabbed it
out of his hands and ran. I haven’t ever scored a touchdown
in anything. I was too tired to do any dancing, so I just
spiked the ball.”
“I didn’t get to see him spike it, but I told
him that I hoped he knocked all the air out of the ball,”
Moore said.
Stovall came into the game three and a half sacks behind
Josh Jeffries’ school record. Jeffries, who attended
the game as part of Appalachian’s all-time team, saw
his record stand. Stovall finished with nine tackles, an
interception and half of a sack in addition to his touchdown.
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t get the
record, but we got the win,” Stovall said.
Out of the previously mentioned combined nine fumbles and
229 penalty yards, ASU was responsible for six fumbles and
168 penalty yards, a new school record.
Of the six fumbles, only one was recovered by Western.
“They did a good job of stripping us and we were just
fortunate to overcome it,” receiver DaVon Fowlkes said.
“Western was definitely the hardest hitting team we
played this year. They hit us from beginning to end.”
Fowlkes finished with four receptions for 81 yards, a touchdown,
and 180 all-purpose yards.
In preparation for a possible playoff spot, the Mountaineers
will practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Moore said he
would give his team the rest of the week off.
The playoff field will be announced Sunday, Nov. 23 on ESPN
NEWS and local Boone channels as well.
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