By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a long, cross-country trip for the Oregon State Beavers football team. It might have felt even longer on their return.
In one sense, App State flipped the script on Oct. 4 in defeating Oregon State, 27-23, in front of a sold out crowd at Kidd Brewer Stadium — which stayed jam-packed to the triumphant, if nail biting end.
Three turnovers by the visiting Beavers proved their undoing against the Mountaineers, offsetting an otherwise strong performance. Oregon State won the time of possession battle, 31:30 vs. 28:30. Importantly, the Beavers rolled up 456 yards of total offense, compared to 354 for new starting quarterback J.J. Kohl’s Mountaineers. Kohl is the fourth QB used by App State in the still young, 2025 season.
But as App State and its fans well know, turnovers are hard to overcome. They nearly cost the Mountaineers the game at home against FCS upstart Lindenwood (Sept. 6) and they proved pivotal in the loss against Southern Miss (Sept. 13) where the Mountaineers committed three turnovers inside the red zone.
A turnover-free afternoon against the men from Corvallis, Ore., though, was only part of App State’s story with this win. Although the Mountaineer defense seemed porous vs. the Oregon State offense for most of the second half, they were near impenetrable — and opportunistic — in crunch time.
Down 27-23 and knowing another touchdown would likely seal the deal for the visitors, with 43 seconds remaining and in possession of the ball at the App State 29 yard and 2nd-and-1, the Mountaineer defense held. The stopped the Beavers again on 3rd-and-1 — but the nail biting last few seconds were just beginning.
On 4th-and-1, Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy passed short right, incomplete, a pass that appeared to be uncatchable. But App State defensive back Elijah McCantos was flagged for pass interference, giving the Beavers new life at the 25-yard line, and a 1st-and-10 with 29 seconds remaining.
With the crowd chanting, no roaring back and forth, APP — STATE, APP — STATE, Murphy dropped back to pass but was sacked for a loss of 13 yards by junior defensive lineman Rondo Porter, App State’s first sack on the day.
So on second and 23 from the Mountaineer 38, with 26 seconds showing on the clock, Murphy dropped back to pass, under pressure. His pass short left was on target to the Beavers’s star wide receiver Trent Walker, who finished with a game–high 179 yards receiving on 13 catches, but the ball, briefly hauled in by Walker, was dislodged on a thunderous hit by freshman defensive back Juan Berchal. The ball popped into the air and was juggled for a moment by DB Zyeir Gamble, but the redshirt sophomore from Sumter, S.C. gathered it in and returned the INT nine yards, effectively ending the game and sealing the win for App State.
The end-of-game excitement almost overshadowed the debut of two redshirt sophomore performers for the App State offense in 6-7, 245 lb. quarterback from Ankeny, Iowa, J.J. Kohl, and 6-4 wide receiver Davion Dozier, a native of Moody, Ala. The duo are new arrivals in Boone, transfers from Iowa State and Arkansas, respectively.
Kohl managed the offense effectively, completing 13-of-28 passes for 218 yards and one TD with no interceptions. He also scored a TD on a 6-yard keeper through the middle in the first half.
Dozier was making his Kidd Brewer debut and made it a good one, including four catches for 140 yards and a TD.
Now 3-2, the Mountaineers will look to capitalize on the momentum when the travel to Atlanta, Oct. 11 (3:30 p.m. kickoff), for a second Sun Belt Conference game, this one against Georgia State. The Panthers are 1-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play after an Oct. 4 loss to James Madison, 14-7.
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