ASU blocks Furman 40-7

By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

It would not take any last-second Appalachian State heroics to beat Furman at Kidd Brewer Stadium Saturday.

Instead, good old-fashioned football proved to be more than enough for the No. 1 Mountaineers to bury No. 8 Furman 40-7 in front of 24,447 fans who braved a 42-degree kickoff.

The Mountaineers (8-1, 5-0 SoCon), winners of 23 straight at Kidd Brewer, can wrap up their second straight Southern Conference championship with wins over The Citadel this Saturday and over Western Carolina the following weekend.

“You never dream that a Furman-Appalachian game would be decided by that margin,” said Appalachian State head coach Jerry Moore. “I was proud of the way we played. We got behind 7-0 and we talked about doing things yourself because nobody is going to help you. I was proud as I could be of them.”

It was hard to believe that Furman actually led 7-0 after the first quarter, that score coming on a Renaldo Grey 1-yard run. It took him three plays to sneak over the goal line, but Grey’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 66-yard drive.

From there, it was all Appalachian State. Mountaineers running back Kevin Richardson scored touchdown runs of 3, 39, 27 and 1 yards, but it was Corey Lynch who came up with the big play of the game.

With the game tied at 7-7, Lynch blocked a Scott Beckler field goal attempt, recovered the ball at the 21-yard line and raced 79 yards for a Mountaineers touchdown. It was the third kick Lynch has blocked in four games.

“Gary Tharrington blocked down on the end of the tackle and went down on him,” Lynch said. “(Jerome) Touchstone opened it wide for me to get in there. He went wide and the wing just followed him right out.”

Richardson took it from there. Already scoring the first Mountaineers touchdown, a 3-yarder that capped a 12-play, 73-yard drive that tied the game 7-7 in the second quarter, the junior runner scampered 39 yards to give the Mountaineers a 21-7 lead in the third quarter.

The following kickoff proved to be costly to the Paladins as returner William Middleton caught Julian Rauch’s kick at the 1-yard line. He backed into the end zone and downed the ball, thinking the Paladins would start their drive at the 20-yard line.

However, it was ruled that he backed into the end zone voluntarily and not because of any backward momentum created by the kick, so the officials placed the ball inside the 1-yard line.

One play later, Cedric Gipson was tackled for a safety, giving Appalachian State a 23-7 lead. After a Jerome Touchstone interception that was returned 29 yards to the Furman 20, Rauch tacked on a 38-yard field goal, leaving the Mountaineers up 26-7 with 1:56 left in the third quarter.

“I’m still not that sure about the call,” Furman coach Bobby Lamb said. “If the ball carries you into the end zone, you’re supposed to down it in the end zone and that’s what our guy did and that’s what we teach. The referee made a judgment call that his momentum took him to the 1-yard  line and then he backed up into the end zone. I totally disagree with the call. It probably didn’t matter because at the time Appalachian was rolling pretty good.”

Appalachian State’s defense took it from there, limiting the Paladins to 198 total yards and just 66 rushing. Furman was without bruising fullback Jerome Felton, who has over 600 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns. Felton played during Furman’s touchdown drive when it reached inside the 10, but did not get the ball.

Gipson was held to just 30 rushing yards on 12 carries, while Grey settled for 21 yards on 15 carries.

Linebacker Pierre Banks had 10 tackles, including one sack, for the Mountaineers. Monte Smith added nine tackles.

Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards, who is Grey’s first cousin, gained 24 yards on just six carries. He also completed 12-of-22 yards for 129 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. The Mountaineers rolled up 328 yards in total offense.

Richardson completed the scoring with touchdown runs of 27 and 1 yards in the fourth quarter.

“We said earlier in the week and every week that we needed to establish the run game to open our passing game up,” Appalachian State offensive tackle Matt Isenhour said. “We came out and the first two series were shaky and had a turnover. We put that behind us and on the next series took it down the field. We were dominating.”

Appalachian State 40, Furman 7

Furman              7 0 0 0 — 40

ASU              0 14 12 14 — 40

Scoring summary

F—Grey 1 run (Beckler kick)

ASU—Richardson 3 run (Rauch kick)

ASU—Lynch 79 blocked field goal return (Rauch kick)

ASU—Richardson 39 run (Rauch kick)

ASU—Safety, Gibson tackled in end zone

ASU—Rauch FG 38

ASU—Richardson 27 run (Rauch kick)

ASU—Richardson 1 run (Rauch kick)

Furman                                      ASU

15              First downs               19

36-66              Rushes-yards        40-232

132              Passing yards           129

14-29-1              Passes               12-22-0

1              Return yards               115

5-36.4              Punts-avg.           2-44.5

5-38              Penalties-yards        5-49

3-1              Fumbles-lost             2-1

Individuals

Rushing: Furman—Gipson 12-30, Grey 15-21, Kendall 3-14, Standridge 3-5, Hawk 1-2, Stepp 1-1, Team 1-(-7); ASU—Richardson 27-173, Edwards 6-24, Elder 1-10, Hennessee 4-9, Team 2-(-17).

Passing: Grey 13-26-1 138, Sorrells 1-3-0 (-6); ASU Edwards 12-22-0 129.

Receiving: Furman—Stepp 4-42, Webb 4-36, Gipson 3-24, McKee 1-12, Sprague 1-11, Bell 1-7; ASU—Mayfield 3-47, Courman 2-29, Jackson 2-12, RIchardson 2-7, Batichon 1-15, Johnson 1-11, Hill 1-8.