ASU's back on track
By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

ELON — It took Appalachian State running back Kevin Richardson five chances before he gained over 100 yards in a single game this year. When he finally did it in No. 5 Appalachian State’s 49-32 win over No.24 Elon Saturday in front of a record Rhodes Stadium crowd of 13,100, he gave credit to people other than himself.

“I’d like to thank my offensive line for that,” Richardson said.

Richardson broke out for 158 yards on 26 carries and a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the Mountaineers (4-1, 1-1 SoCon), who put a loss to Wofford the previous week behind them by rolling up 526 yards in total offense.

“I was proud of our running game,” Mountaineers head coach Jerry Moore said. “And we held them to less than 70 yards rushing and that’s a good thing. In this league, you better be able to run the football.”

Helping out in the running game was quarterback Trey Elder, who gained 115 yards and scored touchdown runs of 6, 14 and 6 yards. Elder, subbing for injured Armanti Edwards, also hit 11-of-19 of his passes for 161 yards and an interception.

Appalachian State also converted 9-of-15 third downs.

“That’s big,” Elder said. “When you look at Wofford last week, they converted 11-of-19 third downs. That’s how you win ballgames right there. When it’s crunch time, you’ve got to pick up the first down and you do whatever it takes to get the first down.”

Appalachian State was never comfortably ahead until the fourth quarter when it scored 28 points. Even then, following a Titus Howard 41-yard interception return for a touchdown that gave Appalachian State a 42-24 lead with 4:39 left in the game, Elon kept counter-punching as Michael Mayers caught a 21-yard touchdown from quarterback Scott Riddle, pulling the Phoenix to 42-32. It took a 24-yard reverse touchdown run by Dexter Jackson with 3:01 left in the game to finally seal the win for good.

Both Riddle and Mayers had huge games for the Phoenix (2-2, 0-1). Riddle, a true freshman, hit 32-of-51 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 22 yards and a 13-yard touchdown.

Mayers was his favorite target, catching 14 passes for 162 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown. But Mayers’ biggest contributions were returning one kickoff 100 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown and returning another 83 yards to set up a third-quarter touchdown for the Phoenix.

“We were competitive,” Elon coach Pete Lembo said. “But to beat a team like this, you’ve got to play better than we did.”

Appalachian State’s strength up front wore the Phoenix down. The Mountaineers, held the ball for 20:42 of the 30 minutes played and outscored the Phoenix 35-22 in the second half.

It wasn’t that way in the first quarter. The Mountaineers got off to a slow start when Riddle riddled the Appalachian State defense with a mixture of pinpoint passing and a running game that wasn’t dominant, but effective.

However, even though Elon reached the red zone twice in three possessions, it settled for one Andrew Wilcox field goal following the Phoenix’s first drive. Another Wilcox field goal from 37 yards hit the left upright.

Elder answered with a 6-yard run following a seven-play, 61-yard drive, but Elon came back with a 25-yard Riddle pass to Bo Williamson, giving the Phoenix a 10-7 lead going into the second quarter.

Appalachian State’s special teams may have to work on kick coverage, but blocking kicks still is an important part of the Mountaineers’ arsenal. Corey Lynch blocked a punt and recovered at the Elon 22. It was Lynch’s second blocked kick of the season and the fifth of his college career.

Two plays later, Elder scored from 14 yards out, giving the Mountaineers a 14-10 halftime lead. Lynch also had an interception in the second half when he outjumped Mayers, who stands 6-foot-4, for the ball at the goal line.

“The first thing I think of is the interception in the end zone,” Moore said. “We had given them really good field position right around midfield. They turned the post route and it was just a great play in the end zone.”

Elon collected 198 yards in the first quarter, but just 55 in the second. Part of the reason the Elon offense cooled down was that Appalachian State’s offense started to move the football. Richardson had 102 yards by halftime and the Mountaineers compiled 250 yards in total offense in the first half, compared to 253 by Elon.

A good pass rush also helped. By the time the game was over, Riddle was sacked five times, 3.5 by defensive end Tim Washington.

“I think we started to pressure their quarterback,” Moore said. “It seems like in the first half, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t even get a sack and we’d be offsides or they’re would always be a penalty to offset a good play. In the second half, I thought our defense was more consistent and we put more pressure on the quarterback.”

“Everybody needed to get pressure from then on,” Washington said. “Their quarterback couldn’t step up and scramble. Everything clicked. The secondary helped out with coverage.”

Elder added a 6-yard touchdown run with 3:32 left in the third, but Riddle followed with a 6-yard run that was set up by Mayers’ 83-yard kickoff return. After Devin Moore capped a 50-yard Appalachian State drive with a 2-yard run, Mayers returned the ensuing kickoff 101 yards — 100 officially according to NCAA scoring rules — to pull Elon to within 28-24 with 13:57 left in the fourth quarter.

“We had been great until those two (returns),” Moore said. “I’m told we had two guys run into each other and knock each other down. When you have two guys knock each other down and leave a space like that, there’s a crease there, and they turned around and did it a second time.”