Appalachian (1-1) jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead and scored 30 points in a 12:38 span in the second half to cruise to Moore�s 200th victory in 23 seasons at ASU. He joins legendary mentors such as Eddie Robinson (408 wins at Grambling), Joe Paterno (402 at Penn State), Bobby Bowden (304 at Florida State), Bear Bryant (232 at Alabama), Woody Hayes (205 at Ohio State) and former boss Tom Osborne (255 at Nebraska) on the list of coaches to win 200 games with a Division I program. Just minutes after Moore sealed his 200th win with the Mountaineers, Virginia Tech�s Frank Beamer became the 17th member of the exclusive group by downing East Carolina, 17-10, for his 200th victory at VT.

In contrast to last week�s season-opening loss at Virginia Tech, the Mountaineers were sharp in all phases of the game in Saturday�s romp. Offensively, ASU racked up 491 total yards (255 rushing and 236 passing), defensively, it limited N.C. A&T (0-1) to just 335 yards, forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown and on special teams, the Mountaineers blocked two punts to go along with a 69-yard punt and 51-yard field goal.

Senior all-Americans DeAndre Presley and Brian Quick led the offensive charge, with Presley completing 19-of-23 passes without an interception for 197 yards and Quick hauling in a career-high 11 receptions for 113 yards. The duo hooked up for a pair of touchdowns, a 19-yarder on the game�s opening series that gave the Mountaineers a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the ballgame, and a nine-yarder midway through the third quarter that kickstarted the Apps� second-half scoring burst. Presley also scored on runs of eight and three yards to account for four of ASU�s eight touchdowns.

In a curious move, North Carolina A&T (0-1) won the opening coin toss but elected to defer and allow Appalachian to take the ball first. ASU needed just eight plays to march 69 yards and draw first blood on Presley�s 19-yard scoring strike to Quick.

The Mountaineer defense forced a three-and-out on A&T�s first possession and ASU�s offense responded with a methodical 13-play, 98-yard drive that was capped by the first of Presley�s two touchdown runs that gave the Apps a 14-0 lead just over 10 minutes into the ballgame.

Appalachian stretched the advantage to 21-0 on Cedric Baker Boney�s three-yard touchdown run just before halftime but N.C. A&T appeared to be on the verge of making things interesting when it cut its deficit to 21-7 on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Lewis Kindle to Wallace Miles just two minutes into the second half.

However, the Mountaineers answered with a 12-play, 78-yard drive, capped by Quick�s second touchdown catch of the day, and went on to score on each of their six second-half possessions (five touchdowns and a field goal).

After Presley came out of the game with ASU leading 35-6 midway through the third quarter, backup quarterback Jamal Jackson led the Apps on a pair of touchdown drives, capping them with scoring runs of one and three yards. A 51-yard field goal by Sam Martin, Appalachian�s longest in 11 years, and a 97-yard interception return by true freshman Doug Middleton, ASU�s longest in 21 years, rounded out the scoring.

In addition to Presley and Quick, ASU�s offensive standouts included Baker Boney, who ran for a career-high 111 yards on just 12 carries (9.2 ypr), Travaris Cadet, who averaged 10.1 yards per rush with 71 yards on just seven carries and Steven Miller, who accounted for 86 all-purpose yards (54 receiving and 32 rushing).

Defensively, eight different Mountaineers recorded at least eight tackles, led by Jeremy Kimbrough�s eight stops, including one-and-a-half for loss. Troy Sanders and Middleton each had five tackles to go along with interceptions and Dan Wylie forced and recovered a fumble in addition to his five stops.

On special teams, senior Phillip Strickland became only the third player in ASU history and the first in 24 years to block two punts in a game. However, his performance might have been topped by Martin, who in addition to easily making the 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter also launched a 69-yard bomb on his only punt of the day.

N.C. A&T was led by Miles, who caught seven passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. Aggie defensive back Travis Crosby notched a game-high 18 tackles.

The 105-point turnaround from last week�s 66-13 loss at Virginia Tech marked the largest swing in terms of margin of defeat to margin of victory in consecutive game in ASU history. The previous best game-to-game turnaround was 96 points, when Appalachian rebounded from a 44-0 loss to Rutherford to top Mountain Park, 52-0 in 1928 (ASU�s first year of football).

Appalachian returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Savannah State under the lights at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

NOTES: Appalachian moved to 60-19-2 (.747) all-time in home openers ... ASU has won 25 of its last 28 and 10 of its last 11 home openers ... Appalachian moved to 19-1 in its last 20 games that immediately followed a same-season loss ... the Mountaineers won their 30th-straight home game versus an in-state opponent ... ASU has not lost to an in-state opponent at home since a 34-7 defeat to Western Carolina on Oct. 6, 1984 at then-Conrad Stadium ... the Mountaineers moved to 5-1 all-time versus N.C. A&T ... Appalachian won its fifth-straight matchup with a current member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and moved to 10-2 all-time versus current MEAC squads ... Quick�s 11 receptions were the most by a Mountaineer since DaVon Fowlkes caught a school-record 17 passes versus Elon on Nov. 6, 2004 ... Quick�s two touchdown catches give him 23 for his career, vaulting him past Fowlkes (22 � 2001-2004) and into a tie with current ASU senior associate athletics director Rick Beasley (1978-80) for second in program history ... Quick is just two shy of the school record of 25 touchdown receptions, held by Bob Agle (1965-68) ... Strickland�s two punt blocks marked the fourth time a Mountaineer has blocked two punts in a game � Chuck Hill accomplished the feat twice in 1987 (Oct. 10 vs. Liberty, Nov. 21 at Western Carolina) and Dino Hackett did it at East Tennessee State on Nov. 23, 1985 ... Martin�s 51-yard field goal is tied for the seventh-longest in school history and the longest by a Mountaineer since Mark Wright kicked a school-record 57-yarder versus Troy State on Sept. 9, 2000 ... Middleton�s 97-yard interception return was the fourth-longest in ASU history and the longest since Rico Mack returned an INT 100 yards at James Madison on Nov. 17, 1990.
|
Media Contact:
Appalachian Sports Information
Mike Flynn
828-262-2845
|

The BooneNC.com website (now in its 11th year of existence) regularly attracts more than 35,000 unique visits per month, while serving over 500,000 page views per month � with each site visitor being �logged in� for more than ten minutes (on average) per website session. BooneNC.com is a private (non-government) destination marketing organization (DMO).
|
Contact:
Albert S. Underwood
Media Manager
BooneNC.com
|