By David Rogers. ATLANTA, Ga. — Two methodical offensive drives in the first half directed by App State quarterback J.J. Kohl along with a shutdown defensive performance set the tone against Georgia State on Oct. 11. The Mountaineers cruised to a convincing, 41-20 win.
With Kohl at the helm, completing 21-of-32 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns — and no interceptions or fumbles — the App State offense hummed, rolling up 435 yards of total offense (311 passing and 124 yards rushing). Protection was good as Kohl was only sacked once for a 2-yard loss.
Unlike early games when turnovers in the red zone plagued the Mountaineers, against the Panthers App State made six trips inside the 20-yard line and capitalized on all six opportunities.
Kohl and 4th quarter replacement Noah Gillon combined to complete passes to 11 different receivers, with four of them tallying touchdowns.
If no one thought senior Izayah Cummings was exciting to watch in previous games, he made believers out of Mountaineer fans against Georgia State, collecting six receptions on all six targets for 94 yards and a TD. Most impressive: 55 of those yards came after the catch.
Four of Cummings’ receptions picked up big chunks of gridiron real estate, including 2nd quarter catches of 17, 18 and 26 yards before 3rd quarter receptions of 24, 6 and topping the day off with a 3-yard TD.
Among the most impressive pass plays of the day was a short flare to the left side targeting senior tight end David Larkins, who turned a four-yard catch into a 40-yard power dance down the sideline. It may not have been a TD but it certainly extended a memorable scoring drive in the third quarter that was finished off by Cummings’ 3-yard TD.
Defensively, App State held the Panthers scoreless until late in the third quarter. It was 31-0 before the Mountaineers’ hosts saw the end zone at the 4:40 mark of Q3 when quarterback Cameran Brown found tight end Grant Hollier for a 15-yard TD. Even though Georgia State manufactured a trio of TD-scoring drives in the third and fourth frames, the Mountaineers always countered with points of their own, never allowing the Panthers to seriously threaten.
While a lot App State’s offensive performances earlier in the season featured running back Rashod Dubinion, this time the senior transfer from Arkansas evenly shared the rushing duties with freshman RB Jaquari Lewis, the pair rolling up 56 (12 carries) and 57 yards (14 carries), respectively.
The game was still relatively close at halftime, with the Mountaineers leading 17-0. Georgia State received the second half kickoff, but their possession was short-circuited when App State’s sophomore linebacker Colton Phares stepped in front of a T J Finley pass intended for GSU wide receiver Ted Hurst with still 13:23 left in the third quarter. That led to a virtual explosion of TDs manufactured by the Mountaineers to all but put the game away in the third quarter.
App State head coach Dowell Loggains was candid in opening his post-game press conference.
“We need to finish the game better but I like the way we started, in all three phases,” said Loggains. “I’m happy with the game. We cut down on the penalties… defense was good and special teams showed up.”
Loggains could feel his team’s confidence building as the game progressed.
“Any time you give yourself a three-possession lead and then start the second half the way we did… at that point I felt pretty good about the game,” said Loggains. “We still need to learn how to finish, to play all four quarters.”
Kohl was similarly candid in assessing the App State offense’s performance.
“We started kind of slow with a couple of three and outs,” he conceded, “but then we got into the flow of things. We got some confidence going and then it was pretty cool from there. It was (great) to see different guys making plays from both the receivers and running backs rooms. The offensive line… they fought their butts off for me.
“The thing about this offense,” Kohl added, “is that it is multi-dimensional. We can move the ball running or throwing.”
Next up for the Mountaineers is a Homecoming date with Coastal Carolina at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Oct. 18, with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
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