ASU defense smothers Mars Hill 41-0

By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

For a starting debut, Mars Hill proved to be tailor-made for Armanti Edwards.

The freshman Appalachian State quarterback, making his first start as a Mountaineer, had little trouble generating offense against the Division-II Lions during Appalachian State’s 41-0 victory at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Edwards guided the Mountaineers to a 27-0 halftime lead and nearly had another touchdown pass just before the break, but saw his pass to William Mayfield intercepted on the final play of the first half.

“They said I did pretty good, but I threw two interceptions,” Edwards said.

Edwards, who won the starting job from junior Trey Elder last Monday, hit 15-of-29 of his passes for 203, a touchdown and two interceptions, all of it in the first half. Edwards also hit Mayfield for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 5:29 left in the second quarter. It was the Mountaineers’ first touchdown pass of the season.

Edwards did not play the second half. Elder and third-string quarterback Chase Laws finished the game for the Mountaineers.

Edwards was not the only Mountaineer to enjoy good numbers against the overmatched Mars Hill defense. Kevin Richardson broke through for 94 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Edwards also rushed for 49 yards on just five carries, an average of 9.8 yards per carry.

Overall, Appalachian State outgained Mars Hill 571-87 in total yards. The Mountaineers’ offense was so balanced that they gained 285 rushing, 286 passing and collected 31 first downs.

“I don’t think that it’s been any secret that our offense has been struggling a bit,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. “And we still are. It’s a good thing we aren’t miked on that sideline, because we’re hollering out there to our young receivers all the time.”

Mars Hill, which averaged 46 points per game in its victories over Greensboro College and Brevard, struggled to get anything going against the Mountaineers’ defense, which pitched a shutout for the first time since 2000. The Lions were held to minus one yard rushing in the first half and did not cross the 50-yard line until 2:19 was left in the third quarter.

By then, a lot of the 24,346 at Kidd Brewer were already headed to the exits. Lions quarterbacks Brandon Sims and backup Ricky Spradling were sacked four times for 29 yards in losses with defensive end Gary Tharrington in on three of them.

In one instance, Tharrington combined with fellow defensive end Marques Murrell for an 8-yard sack of Sims. Tharrington has started the last two games at right defensive end in place of Daniel Bettis, who caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Elder in the third quarter.

“Speed kills any team with any play,” Murrell said. “We always make sure we kept our gaps solid to stop the option, sweep, anything. It carried over to the game this week.”

Julian Rauch capped Appalachian State’s first two drives with field goals of 32 and 46 yards. Richardson scored from 8 yards out to give the Mountaineers a 13-0 lead

Edwards added a 4-yard touchdown run and then hit Mayfield for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Mountaineers a 27-0 halftime lead. After Bettis’ touchdown, Tavaris Washington caught a 12-yard pass from Laws with 2:16 left in the game to close out the scoring.

Appalachian State plays Gardner-Webb, a former South Atlantic Conference team that currently plays in the Big South, this Saturday.

Appalachian State 41, Mars Hill 0

Mars Hill                             0 0 0 0 — 0

Appalachian St.               13 14 7 7 — 41

First Quarter

ASU—FG Rauch 32, 12:03.

ASU—FG Rauch 46, 5:38.

ASU—Richardson 8 run (Rauch kick), 1:11.

Second Quarter

ASU—Edwards 4 run (Rauch kick), 10:10.

ASU—Mayfield 21 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick), 5:29.

Third Quarter

ASU—Bettis 13 pass from Elder (Rauch kick), 9:46.

Fourth Quarter

ASU—Washington 12 pass from Laws (Corbin kick), 2:16.

A—24,346.

                           Mars Hill              ASU

First downs               5                       31

Rushes-yards            39-51               43-285

Passing                     36                     286

Comp-Att-Int           6-12-1               23-44-3

Return Yards           0                        23

Punts-Avg.              11-37.5              2-30.0

Fumbles-Lost           2-0                    1-0

Penalties-Yards        4-33                  8-75

Time of Possession   31:00               29:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Mars Hill, Dendy 10-47, K.Johnson 13-17, Zachery 2-8, Spradling 5-5, Rose 1-2, B.Sims 8-(minus 28). Appalachian St., Richardson 13-94, Elder 9-50, Edwards 5-49, Laws 6-25, Cruver 2-20, De.Moore 4-19, Cline 2-10, J.Jackson 1-10, Hill 1-8.

PASSING—Mars Hill, B.Sims 6-11-1-36, Spradling 0-1-0-0. Appalachian St., Edwards 15-29-2-203, Elder 6-12-0-60, Laws 2-3-1-23.

RECEIVING—Mars Hill, Allen 2-20, Zachery 1-8, Dendy 1-5, Fayson 1-4, K.Johnson 1-(minus 1). Appalachian St., Mayfield 4-75, D.Jackson 4-65, Courman 4-32, Cruver 3-22, Jo.Johnson 2-27, Washington 2-27, Hill 2-14, Bettis 1-13, Cline 1-11.