By:
John Frierson
Robert Franklin photo Chattanooga's B.J. Coleman runs the ball past App State defenders Jabari Fletcher (left) and Jacque Roman (center) at the game against Appalachian State in Boone, NC on November 7, 2009.
BOONE, N.C. -- Everything you can't do if you want a shot at beating Appalachian State, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team did in the first quarter Saturday.
Turnovers, penalties, dropped passes, missed tackles -- you name it, UTC did it. Yet despite the mistakes, the Mocs gave the eighth-ranked Mountaineers all they could handle until midway through the fourth quarter.
Appalachian State's Devon Moore scored two touchdowns in the final 7:20 to keep the Mountaineers unbeaten in Southern Conference play with a hard-fought 35-20 win.
The crowd of 24,430 at Kidd Brewer Stadium was jubilant early as Appalachian State (7-2, 6-0) jumped out to a 21-0 lead. But after the Mocs (5-4, 3-4) cut that to 21-20 early in the fourth quarter, the mood was a lot different.
"We spotted them 14 points, but after that I felt like we played toe-to-toe with them," Mocs coach Russ Huesman said.
The Mocs trailed 21-7 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a Craig Camay onside kick that Joel Bradford recovered. All UTC could get out of that possession was a 30-yard Camay field goal, but the Mocs got the ball right back when Huesman had Camay do another onside kick that Jeff Veres recovered.
That drive ended at the ASU 5-yard line when Mocs quarterback B.J. Coleman was stopped on fourth-and-1.
Despite coming up empty after the second onside kick, the Mocs maintained the momentum by forcing the Mountaineers to punt. Bradford returned the punt 15 yards to the UTC 47 and the Mocs later scored on Coleman's 2-yard pass to Blue Cooper with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
After another defensive stand, the Mocs again were able to move the ball. On third-and-1 at the ASU 20, Coleman was stuffed for no gain and Huesman decided to send in Camay, who kicked a 36-yard field goal that cut Appalachian State's lead to 21-20 with 10:43 remaining.
"I apologize for not being able to poke it in. That's on me," said Coleman, who was 25-for-46 passing for 246 yards and a touchdown. He also had three interceptions, two of them coming in the first quarter on tipped passes.
Having been shut out since late in the first quarter -- in part because UTC dominated time of possession 36:17 to 23:43 -- Appalachian State finally got its offense going again.
All-American quarterback Armanti Edwards hit wideout Brian Quick for a couple of big gains and Moore completed the 8-play drive with an 8-yard run to put the Mountaineers up 28-20 with 7:20 remaining.
On third down of the ensuing drive, Coleman was picked off by Mark LeGree. Moore scored on a 15-yard run three plays later to seal ASU's 18th consecutive SoCon victory
"We came to the realization that when you play App State, you know they're going to get yards -- you just have to be able to contain them," Huesman said. "You can't let them dictate your game plan. You just have to execute better and make tackles, because if you don't do that they'll make you pay."
The Mocs actually outgained the Mountaineers 351-322 and held Edwards to 140 yards passing and 52 rushing. But the disastrous first quarter was too much to overcome.
On UTC's third play from scrimmage, tight end Garrett Hughes tipped a pass from Coleman and linebacker D.J. Smith caught and returned the ball to the 1. Two plays later, Moore ran the ball in for a touchdown.
The same thing happened on UTC's next drive. That possession began with a false-start penalty, followed by a 5-yard completion to Chris Pitchford, followed by a delay-of-game penalty. On second-and-15, Clint Woods couldn't hold on to a Coleman pass and linebacker Jacque Roman intercepted it at the UTC 39.
Appalachian State couldn't capitalize on this turnover, but the Mountaineers later went up 14-0 on a 3-yard run by Edwards. Devin Radford's 2-yard run put them up 21-0 with 2:01 left in the first quarter.
"We gave them some hope in the second quarter with a few mistakes that we made, but they didn't quit," ASU coach Jerry Moore said.
The Mocs host The Citadel in their home finale this Saturday, while Appalachian State plays at No. 6 Elon in a game that will decide the SoCon championship.
