BOONE – Thursday night games at Kidd-Brewer Stadium seem to be a yearly occurrence for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. For fans and players at "The Rock", a Thursday night game is a chance to showcase on national television against a top opponent. Getting a Thursday night home game against a rival is even better. When the Mountaineers took the field against rival Georgia Southern, a crowd of 23,110 erupted in cheers and stayed jubilant throughout the night as Appalachian State (6-4) became bowl-eligible with a 27-6 win over the visiting Eagles.The first quarter was owned for the most part by Georgia Southern with the visiting Eagles controlling the ball for over ten minutes but only a field goal to show for it. Appalachian State finally got on the scoreboard halfway through the second quarter as Taylor Lamb found a wide-open Collin Reed in the end zone for a 23-yard score. The Mountaineers added to their lead with a 53-yard Chandler Staton field goal as time expired in the half, the first of two field goals for Staton on the night.
The second half played much like the first as the Appalachian State defense found ways to bottle up the option offense of Georgia Southern that had been leading the Sun Belt in rushing yards per game with over 200 yards a game. AJ Howard paced the Mountaineer defense with 7 tackles while Austin Exford, Rashaad Townes, and Tee Sims each had a sack that helped restrict the Eagles to only 111 rushing yards.
Taylor Lamb led a balanced Mountaineer offense with 161 yards passing on 7-13 passing with two touchdowns. Marcus Williams, filling in for an injured Jalin Moore, had 28 carries for 130 yards. Ike Lewis had three big catches, including a 30-yard catch on fourth down that set up a Daetrich Harrington score. Lewis added a touchdown for himself as well.
What the Coaches Said
Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield"It's amazing to get six wins again. To do it against Georgia Southern, a rival team, is great. I'm proud of our guys and how they bounced back from last week. We had a really focused week of practice this week. We came back from one of our worst performances of the year and had one of our best. I'm proud of our freshmen running backs. They knew what they needed to do. Our O-line has played really well, creating holes these last two games.
Notable North Carolinians
Marcus Williams (R-Fr., SouthWest Edgecombe) averaged 4.6 yards per carry while running for 130 yards in the gameThomas Hennigan (Fr., Northwest Guilford) had a big 51-yard reception that set up a field goal early in the third quarter
Caleb Fuller (Sr., New Hanover) had 3 tackles on defense plus a 23-yard run on a fake punt to extend a drive in the third quarter.
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