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Jeyhoun Allebough | The Appalachian
The men's soccer team piles onto Raphael Jones, who scored the game-winning goal in the 99th minute of ASU's bout against Davidson College. |
Football playoff hopes derailed by UTC
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
Appalachian State found out the hard way that it does not matter how good a game the offense has if the defense cannot stop the other team.
Chattanooga rolled up 695 yards of total offense and hung on to defeat the Mountaineers, 59-56, in a wild shoot-out.
The 59 points hung on ASU was the most since it allowed 72 points to UTC in 1978.
“We played horrible and that’s all there is to it,” head coach Jerry Moore said.
The ASU offense was able to move the ball with ease all game, but that fact was shadowed by the poor play of the defense.
Quarterback Richie Williams passed for 410 yards and four touchdowns and added 107 rushing yards, with an additional two touchdowns.
Receiver Davon Fowlkes hauled in 12 passes for 236 yards and two scores. He also scored in the first quarter on a 26-yard reverse.
But Mocs quarterback Cedric Stevens and wide receiver Alonzo Nix one-upped the Williams-Fowlkes tandem. Stevens passed for 515 yards and five touchdowns and Nix grabbed eight balls for 247 yards and two scores.
“I told our team before the game that this game meant a lot to me [in terms of] getting some respect from somebody that I respect so much,” UTC head coach Rodney Allison said regarding his respect for Moore. “Hopefully I [earned some].”
Early in the game, it appeared Appalachian would cruise to its first road win.
The Mountaineers steam-rolled their way to a 28-7 lead mid-way through the second quarter by running the ball very effectively.
The first four ASU touchdowns came on the ground: two by Williams, one by Fowlkes and the fourth by Alan Atwater.
Chattanooga responded the next drive by kicking a 27-yard field goal and then stopped Appalachian on fourth down at UTC’s 32-yard line.
With less than 30 seconds to go in the half, Stevens hit Nix downfield for a 47-yard completion, moving the ball to the 3-yard line.
The Mocs scored on the next play and went into halftime only down 11 points.
“That gave them a lot of momentum just before the half,” Moore said. “We had to come back out in the second half and get control again. We come back out and the first thing they do is score.”
Chattanooga eventually took a 38-28 lead in the third quarter, giving them 31 unanswered points.
From that point, the Mountaineer offense scored four more touchdowns, all of them coming on quick drives through the air. The longest ASU touchdown drive in the second half was 28 seconds.
Every time ASU scored, UTC answered by easily moving the ball through the air.
“You’ve got to throw deep on freshmen corners. Even though I think [ASU starting cornerbacks Jerome Touchstone and Justin Woazeah] are talented, they just haven’t learned everything yet,” Allison said.
Senior safety Nygel Rogers said the defense did not make enough plays to win the game “Bottom line, we had young corners and they went at them,” Rogers said. “[The safeties] can’t protect the [cornerbacks] all the time, and when we didn’t, [UTC] made plays down the field in 1-on-1 situations.”
After the loss, Moore said this loss all but ends Appalachian’s hope to play in the post-season.
“If we won the final two games, then I think we would have been into the playoffs. But now I think you’re dreaming,” Moore said.
“I hurt for the seniors. The first thing that came to my mind was how much work has gone into this season, and it’s all gone. Every bit of it is gone.”
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