GREENVILLE, S.C. — No matter the circumstances around it, Appalachian State and Furman always seem to play entertaining games.

This time, No. 10-ranked Appalachian State took a 17-point halftime lead and made it stand in a 34-27 victory Saturday in front of 13,811 at Paladins Stadium. The Mountaineers (6-2, 2-2 SoCon) beat Furman (3-5, 1-3) for the third-straight time and for the sixth time in their last seven games.

With the exception of Appalachian State’s 40-7 win last year, victories in each margin of victory has not been greater than seven points. Furman, which sealed its fate of missing the 2007 playoffs, fell behind 24-7 at halftime, but rallied with 20 second-half points and had a chance to tie the game after blocking a Julian Rauch field goal with 1:11 left in the game.

However, after the Paladins marched from their own 25-yard line to the Appalachian State 29, Mountaineers safety Corey Lynch stepped in front of a Renaldo Gray pass and intercepted at the 3-yard line with three seconds left in the game.

Lynch, who nearly intercepted Gray’s first pass of the final drive, returned the ball to the 50-yard line, securing Appalachian State’s victory.

“I just saw a pump fake and I was a little off-guard,” Lynch said. “I just did a turn deep in the middle and I saw the ball coming around.”

“Corey has great anticipation,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. “He does a lot of things that you don’t see until he makes the climatic play.”

The Mountaineers, still smarting from a 38-35 loss to Georgia Southern despite rolling up 557 yards in total offense, piled up 502 yards against the Paladins. Appalachian State rushed for 300 yards and was led by quarterback Armanti Edwards (126 yards on 28 carries) and Kevin Richardson (124 yards on 21 carries). It was the fourth time that the two each rushed for 100 yards in the same game since Edwards became the starting quarterback in 2006.

Edwards also scored touchdown runs of 6 and 7 yards. The sophomore quarterback, making his second start since aggravating a shoulder injury at Wofford on Sept. 22, hit 16-of-24 passes for 211 yards and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Hans Batichon in the second quarter. That score gave the Mountaineers an eventual 14-7 lead with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

Edwards’ 7-yard touchdown run gave the Mountaineers a seemingly safe 31-14 lead with 10:02 left in the third quarter. But the Paladins struck back with two Scott Beckler field goals, going 35 and 20 yards, to pull Furman to 31-20.

Rauch banged through a 27-yard field goal, but Furman’s Jerome Felton, taking advantage of an Appalachian State fumble at the Mountaineers’ 47-yard line, capped a six-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, leaving Appalachian State in front 34-27.

The Mountaineers moved the ball back down the field, but Rauch’s 41-yard field goal attempt with 1:11 left in the game was blocked by Clifton Dorch and rolled out of bounds.

“I thought we had control of it until the middle of the fourth quarter,” Moore said. “The fumble out at midfield put a damper on things. I like the way we came out of the locker room and played on both sides. We had some penalties early that limited what we tried to do, but we played hard and this is traditionally a great football game and it turned out to be the same kind of football game today.”

Furman took over, but Lynch snuffed out the Paladins’ final drive. The Paladins piled up 402 yards in total offense, gaining 248 of them on the ground. Gray, who is Edwards’ cousin and went to the same high school, Greenwood H.S., in South Carolina, gained 103 yards for the Paladins. Mike Brown had 83 yards on just seven carries, while Felton finished with 51.

The Mountaineers play at The Citadel (5-3, 3-2 SoCon) needing a victory to keep their Southern Conference championship hopes alive.

Lynch had a chance to block a punt in the Furman end zone, but Furman punter Trent Hawk slipped away from Lynch and got the punt off.

“Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve ever been juked out by a punter,” Lynch said.