Courman keeps key

drive alive with catch
By Steve Behr
 
It might be the play of the year for Appalachian State. It was certainly the play of the day Saturday.

Appalachian State was clinging to a 24-21 against South Carolina State in the first round of the FCS playoffs at Kidd Brewer Stadium. The Mountaineers’ offense, normally as explosive as any in the nation, was misfiring badly, having punted on their last three possessions. One of those punts was blocked and set up a Bulldogs touchdown.

Facing a third-and-12 from their own 23, the Mountaineers looked ready to punt again when quarterback Armanti Edwards was forced out of the pocket. However, he found T.J. Courman at the 41 yard line, who then managed to dodge two tacklers to get to the ASU 49-yard line and grab a first down.

All of Appalachian State’s receivers were sent on “go” routes, according to Edwards. Courman broke off his route and Edwards was able to find him for the completion.

“In the first half I had been dropping back too far in the pocket,” Edwards said. “I started to scramble and the guy about had me. I saw TJ coming back, I let it go and he made a great play on the ball.”

The play went for 13 yards, but it might as well have gone to the end zone. Appalachian State’s offense suddenly came to life, as evident by its next play, a 9-yard gain by Robert Welton.

“Really, all I was thinking about was I don’t want to go home losing tonight,” Courman said. “I had to come back and get it and once I did, I realized I was still seven or eight yards short of a first down, so I had to make something happen.”

An 18-yard completion to Welton, followed by an 8-yard gain by Josh Jackson, was followed by a 3-yard gain from Matt Cline, which gave Appalachian State a first down at the S.C. State 13-yard line. Jackson went 12 yards on ASU’s next play, but it would take two attempts at the Bulldogs’ goal line before Edwards found Brian Quick on a 2-yard touchdown completion on a slant pass.

The touchdown gave the Mountaineers a 31-21 lead with 7:21 left in the game. And though the game was not completely over, it put the Bulldogs down by two scores.

“The play where Edwards scrambled and then threw for the first down was a backbreaker,” South Carolina State linebacker Marshall McFadden said. “We had them on the ropes and then they ended up with a first down. I was hoping we would step up defensively, but we just couldn’t get it done.”

South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough agreed.

“The Edwards play was big because I thought we had them stopped,” Pough said. “He was scrambling and then I looked back and he was throwing downfield. To me that was devastating because they went ahead and scored. We never really recovered from that.”

S.C. State fumbled at its own 31 on its next drive, but Appalachian State failed to capitalize after coming up short on a fake field goal. The Bulldogs got the ball back one more time, but saw their final drive end at the Mountaineers’ 41-yard line.

Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said the completion reminded him of a similar play in Appalachian State’s win over Georgia Southern. Facing a fourth-and-five, Edwards scrambled and then placed a perfectly thrown pass to CoCo Hillary, which kept a scoring drive alive in the Mountaineers’ 37-36 victory.

“Just flashback to Georgia Southern over on our sideline, a (fourth) down play,” Moore said. “Armanti throws the ball to CoCo. In my mind, this paralled this play because it kept a drive alive. We go down and score and you pretty well got control of things.”