Mountaineers head to third title game

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Armanti Edwards made sure that Appalachian State would make a third-straight trip to the FCS finals.
Edwards, Appalachian State’s quarterback, put on a performances for the ages in the Mountaineers’ 55-35 victory over Richmond in front of a crowd of 24,140 at Kidd Brewer Stadium Friday.

It was the largest FCS/I-AA playoff crowd for a non-championship game since the playoffs began in 1978.
It allowed the two-time defending national champs a chance to win an unprecedented third straight championship.

The No. 5 Mountaineers (12-2) take on the winner of the Delaware/Southern Illinois game, which is Saturday at 4 p.m.

Whomever wins will have to account for Edwards, who was virtually unstoppable Friday night.
“I think we have some pretty good athletes on our defense,” Richmond coach Dave Clawson said. “But he made plays in space that we have not seen all year. He’s good. I don’t want to change places with any Southern Conference defensive coordinators next year.”

Edwards made sure the crowd at chilly, but not miserably cold Kidd Brewer Stadium, saw a record-breaking performance. The sophomore carved the Richmond defense, which held Wofford to 130 yard rushing the previous week, into ribbons by rushing for 313 yards on just 31 carries. Edwards also scored touchdown runs of 7, 9, 36 and 3 yards, all by halftime.

Out of his 31 carries, he lost yardage just once, on a minus 2-yard run.

“Our linemen blocked who they were supposed to block and that made big holes that anybody could run through,” Edwards said.

“They just can’t run as far,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore added, drawing laughter from the postgame media.

Normally, that would be enough production from any quarterback. However, Edwards also hit 14-of-16 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns. He ended up being responsible for 495 total yards (breaking Richie Williams’ school record of 403 yards in a game), and seven of the Mountaineers’ eight touchdowns.

Overall, Appalachian State racked up 617 total yards against a defense that was giving up just 130 yards rushing per game. Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore went back to his days as an assistant coach at Nebraska in the 1970s to compare Edwards’ performance to another quarterback.

“A long time ago, when I was at Nebraska, I saw Dave Humm complete 21 passes in a row and I thought that was a big deal,” Moore said. “That doesn’t come close to tonight. And that was against Kansas and Kansas was a basketball school then.... The magnitude of the game, you have to step up and perform and he did it.”

Edwards made sure the Mountaineers got off to a fast start with some help from receiver Dexter Jackson, who turned a 7-yard hook route into a 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass. Edwards scored on a 7-yard run on the Mountaineers’ next drive, and after Richmond answered with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Eric Ward to Kevin Grayson, Edwards burned the Spiders twice with scoring runs of 9 and 36 yards, giving the Mountaineers a 28-7 lead.

Appalachian State led 35-14 when the No. 6 Spiders made their move. Ward scrambled out of the grasp of an Appalachian pass rush and scored on a 37-yard run with just 21 seconds left in the first half.

The Spiders took the second half kickoff and marched 78 yards in seven plays for a Ward 17-yard scoring pass to tight end Joe Stewart. Richmond got the ball back when Appalachian State fumbled the kickoff and Ward tied the game 35-35 with a 5-yard touchdown run.

Ward hit 14-of-30 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Seven of them, including two touchdowns, went to Kevin Grayson, one for 29 yards in the first quarter and another for 26 yards in the second quarter.
Ward also rushed for 79 yards on 11 carries. Tim Hightower led the Spiders in rushing with 95 yards on 22 carries.

“When they came back and tied it, it was kind of a little shock, because we were up 14 coming into the second half,” Appalachian State safety Corey Lynch, who had an interception in the fourth quarter, said. “We put so many points on the board on offense, and for them to tie it up, it takes the wind out of your sails. But this is a special team this year. We’ve been through adversity before and we know how to handle it, and we did.”

It would be all the Spiders would get. Kevin Richardson capped a 9-play, 69-yard scoring drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, and Edwards would find tight end Nic Cardwell for touchdown passes of 28 and 13 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Cardwell would catch just the two touchdowns in the game. He now has seven catches, three that went for touchdowns.

“The opportunity to catch balls and play like that, it was awesome,” Cardwell said. “To play my final game at The Rock at home, scoring not one but two touchdowns, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
Cardwell, a senior, will try for his third championship ring this Friday.

“It’s definitely a blessing and a great opportunity,” Cardwell said. “Corey and I were here when we were 6-5 during the rough times. I think the 6-5 season gave us the opportunity to know how to react to adversity.”

Appalachian State 55, Richmond 35
Richmond 7 14 14 0 — 35
Appalachian State 21 14 7 13 — 55
Scoring summary
First quarter
ASU—Jackson 52 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick)
ASU—Edwards 7 run (Rauch kick)
R—Grayson 29 pass from Ward (Howard kick)
ASU—Edwards 9 run (Rauch kick)
Second quarter
ASU—Edwards 36 run (Rauch kick)
R—Grayson 26 pass from Ward (Howard kick)
ASU—Edwards 3 run (Rauch kick)
R—Ward 37 run (Howard kick)
Third quarter
R—Stewart 17 pass from Ward (Howard kick)
R—Ward 5 run (Howard kick)
ASU—Richardson 3 run (Rauch kick)
Fourth quarter
ASU—Cardwell 29 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick)
ASU—Cardwell 13 pass from Edwards (Rauch kick)

                        Richmond ASU
First downs 19 29
Rushes-yards 37-194 54-435
Passing yards 208 182
Passes 14-32-1 14-16-0
Total plays-yards 69-402 70-619
Return yards 8 13
Punts-avg. 5-38.0 2-35.5
Penalties-yards 4-30 5-35
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Individuals
Rushing: Richmond—Hightower 22-95, Ward 11-79, Vaughan 3-12, Healy 1-8; ASU—Edwards 31-313, Richardson 15-76, Elder 2-28, Washington 3-14, Moore 2-5.
Passing: Richmond—Ward 14-30-1 208, Healy 0-1-0 0; ASU—Edwards 14-16-0 182.
Receiving: Richmond—Grayson 7-122, Mitchell 2-28, Steward 2-27, Hightower 1-17, Riddell 1-12, Crone 1-2; ASU—Batichon 7-60, Cardwell 2-42, Jackson 1-52, Courman 1-24, Johnson 1-7, Hillary 1-2, Richardson 1-(-5).