It’s hard to believe that at one point of Appalachian State’s 79-35 pasting of Western Carolina, the Mountaineers actually trailed.

Yet it happened, if just briefly, in the first quarter when Western Carolina claimed a 7-3 lead. From then on, Appalachian State’s offense did whatever it wanted to do to the Catamounts, who offered little resistance for most of the game.

Surprisingly, Appalachian State’s 79 points and staggering 743 yards are not school records. The 1936 Mountaineers beat Piedmont 115-0 and rolled up 788 yards in the process.

But the 79 points were the most since the Mountaineers beat Elon 70-26 in 1968. The 114 points the two teams scored together is third to the 115 that Appalachian State scored on Piedmont and the 115 scored in 2004 when Chattanooga beat Appalachian State 59-56.

Appalachian State also retained the Old Mountain Jug, which it has won 21 of the last 23 years.

“I was really pleased, in particular, with our offense,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. “I don’t think we even punted. It was a good evening for the offensive guys.”

Appalachian State (8-2, 4-2 SoCon) can clinch a tie for the Southern Conference championship with a victory over Chattanooga this Saturday at Kidd Brewer. Wofford (8-2, 5-2) clinched the SoCon’s automatic bid into the FCS playoffs by beating Chattanooga 42-16 last Saturday.

If Appalachian State’s offense plays as well as it did against the Catamounts (1-9, 0-6), Chattanooga will have its hands full. The Mountaineers, led by 215 rushing yards on 22 carries by Kevin Richardson, rolled up 396 yards on the ground. Richardson also scored touchdown runs of 4, 42 and 4 yards.

Third-string running back Josh Jackson nearly hit the century mark, gaining 78 yards on just seven carries, which included a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Mountaineers a staggering 72-35 lead.

Not to be outdone, quarterback Armanti Edwards completed 26-of-31 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns, despite being sacked three times. Both scoring passes went to Hans Batichon, who caught seven passes for 114 yards. Edwards and backup Trey Elder, who completed 6-of-9 passes, had completions to 10 receivers.

“Appalachian State’s offense was really rolling tonight,” Western Carolina coach Kent Briggs said. “We couldn’t stop them. They were just better than us tonight.”

It’s not like Western Carolina’s offense played dead. The Catamounts finished with 410 yards in total offense, including 264 through the air. Eddie Cohen caught nine passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Todd Spitzer hit 14-of-22 passes for 258 yards.

But once Appalachian State got rolling, there was little the Catamounts could do. The Mountaineers scored on their first eight possessions of the game and built a 45-21 halftime score.

Mountaineers safety Corey Lynch also returned an Adam Hearns pass 65 yards for the final touchdown of the game. Linebackers D.J. Smith, Pierre Banks and cornerback Jerome Touchstone also picked off passes.

“Our offense kept us in it,” Western Carolina defensive back Carlton Bailey said. “Defensive-wise, we were giving them some breaks in third-down situations and we were not coming through.”

Western Carolina actually led 7-3 in the first quarter. Following a 29-yard field goal from ASU kicker Julian Rauch, Western drove 80 yards in nine plays on a drive capped by a 5-yard run by Hearns.

But Appalachian State roared back with a 4-yard touchdown run by Richardson, a 7-yard touchdown pass to Batichon from Edwards, and a 3-yard run by Edwards. That run capped a 12-play, 90-yard drive and gave the Mountaineers a 24-7 lead with 9:28 left in the second quarter.

Western Carolina stunned the Mountaineers when Cohen scored on an 82-yard catch-and-run from Spitzer to pull the Catamounts to 31-21, but Appalachian State closed out the first half with a 4-yard scoring run by Edwards, and a 10-yard Batichon touchdown catch to claim a 45-21 lead.

Edwards said the game plan was to throw early, which the Mountaineers did. The Mountaineers threw three times on their first drive, the first three plays of their second drive and four times on their third drive, which ended in Batichon’s 7-yard score.

“In the film room we saw that they played a basic cover three,” Edwards said. “It left our receivers open in space. So we came out and do that. When we had the passing game working, it allowed Kevin to get his yards.”

The loss was the worst for the Catamounts since they fell 67-0 to N.C. State in 1989.

App. State 79, Western Carolina 35
Western Carolina 7 14 0 14 — 35
Appalachian State 17 28 13 21 — 79
First Quarter
ASU—FG Rauch 29, 11:45.
Western—Hearns 5 run (Parsons kick), 7:21.
ASU—Richardson 4 run (Rauch kick), 4:58.
ASU—Batichon 7 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick), :41.
Second Quarter
ASU—Edwards 3 run (Rauch kick), 9:28.
Western—Malone 1 run (Parsons kick), 5:40.
ASU—Moore 3 run (Rauch kick), 3:59.
WesternCohen 82 pass from Spitzer (Parsons kick), 3:35.
ASU—Edwards 4 run (Rauch kick), 1:53.
ASU—Batichon 10 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick), :18.
Third Quarter
ASU—Richardson 42 run (Rauch kick), 13:14.
ASU—Edwards 2 run (kick failed), 7:15.
Fourth Quarter
Western—Malone 1 run (Parsons kick), 14:56.
ASU—Richardson 4 run (Rauch kick), 11:05.
Western—Cohen 11 pass from Spitzer (Parsons kick), 8:01.
ASU—J. Jackson 1 run (Vitaris kick), 5:43.
ASU—Lynch 65 interception return (Vitaris kick), 4:10.
A—27,977.

Western ASU
First downs 16 34
Rushes-yards 34-146 51-396
Passing 264 347
Passes 15-26-4 32-40-1
Return Yards 19 117
Punts-Avg. 5-38.0 0-0.0
Penalties-Yards 3-19 6-52
Fumbles-Lost 5-1 3-1
Time of Poss 27:42 32:18

Individuals
Rushing: Western—Malone 18-151, Hearns 4-16, Harper 2-11, Pittman 1-5, Davis 1-2, Team 1- (- 2), Brown 1- (- 7), Cohen 2- (- 9), Spitzer 4-(minus 21); ASU—Richardson 22-215, J. Jackson 7-78, Moore 5-40, Edwards 14-35, T.Elder 1-17, Cline 1-8, Courman 1-3.
Passing: Western—Spitzer 14-22-1-258, Hearns 1-4-3-6; ASU—Edwards 26-31-1-295, T.Elder 6-9-0-52.
Receiving: Western—Cohen 8-156, Pittman 1-33, Allen 1-29, Garland 1-15, Rogers 1-14, Harper 1-9, Malone 1-4, Miller 1-4; ASU—Batichon 7-114, Hillary 5-69, Richardson 5-15, Moore 4-39, D. Jackson 3-37, B. Elder 3-18, Courman 2-15, Cline 1-28, Hill 1-7, Cardwell 1-5.