By David Rogers. GREENVILLE, N.C. — Shrugging off a 16-point, first quarter deficit, App State scored 21 unanswered points — and then hung on to defeat East Carolina on Sept. 13, 21-19, in front of a near-capacity crowd of 46,117 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
BONUS PHOTOS, GAME STATS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE
Oops, they did it again
This game’s beginning looked eerily like a week ago, when on the third play from scrimmage Clemson found the Mountaineer secondary asleep and completed a 72-yard, pass-catch-and-sprint for a touchdown with hardly a minute gone from the game clock. That set the stage for an avalanche of scoring for the Tigers, who took a 35-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, then kept piling on.
Against ECU, the Mountaineers again allowed a deep post pattern TD, this one tossed by QB Jeff Garcia and cradled in stride by Winston Wright, Jr. for 65 yards and paydirt. While the Mountaineer offense had trouble even making first downs in their opening possessions, the Pirates added a 48-yard field goal by placekicker Andrew Conrad and a “pick 6” pass interception by Shavon Revel, Jr. On the INT, Aguilar was pressured by Omar Rogers, causing him to take a little bit off the ball and giving Revel an opportunity to step in front of the intended Mountaineer wide receiver, Dalton Stroman, at midfield and run it back 50 yards to the end zone.
As a man, you have to make a statement and toe the line.
Never quit
Those three early scoring plays by ECU had the home side fans thinking they already had the High Country visitors on the edge of walking the proverbial Pirates’ plank — and erasing the none too fond memories of lopsided losses to the Mountaineers in the last two meetings. But throwing in the towel because things don’t go right at the beginning of a football game is not in the App State DNA, which they have proven time and again over the years. Even though the first quarter had similarities to what happened a week earlier at Clemson, the Pirates are not the Tigers and the visiting Mountaineers were hellbent on proving it.
Mountaineer cornerback Seth Robertson is a fifth-year senior transfer from Georgia Southern who had a key pass interception in the waning minutes to cut short an East Carolina drive that could possibly have won the game with either a field goal or touchdown. He told reporters after the game about the team’s performance and mindset after the disastrous opening quarter.
“As a man, you have to make a statement and toe the line. As a team, we came together at halftime,” he said. “You have to take it like a man.”
Stay in the moment and take it one play at a time.
Quarterback Joey Aguilar said of the deficit there was never a time when he thought, “Oh no, here we go again.”
“We always come back and finish strong,” he said. “That’s what we’re all about.”
Mountaineer wide receiver Makai Jackson caught a 36-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter that put his team ahead, 21-16. Of the team’s resilience and ability to come back, Jackson gave the coaches plenty of props for helping the team regain their composure.
“Coach (Shawn) Clark just pushed everyone to stay together, do their jobs, and not get too high or into panic mode,” Jackson recalled. “He said to stay level-headed, stay in the moment and take it one play at a time.”
For his INT, Robertson was quick to smile and credit his teammates on the defensive line.
“They get after it. Their pressure makes our job (in the secondary) a whole lot easier,” he said.
While the defense sparkled in only allowing ECU to score a late field goal after the first quarter, that only explained a part of the Mountaineers’ resilience in forging the comeback rally.
After the Mountaineer offense’s first three possessions ended in two punts and a pass interception, quarterback Joey Aguilar led his unit to scintillating productivity, including 505 yards of total offense, 424 of them through the air.
Meanwhile, the aggressive Pirate defensive line throttled down the App State rushing attack, the quartet of running backs Anderson Castle, Kanye Roberts and Ahmani Marshall, along with Aguilar, managing only 81 yards combined on the ground, in 36 carries.
Through the air, Aguilar spread the ball around to nine different receivers, including the biggest games from Kaedin Robinson (7 carries, 129 yards), Christan Horn (5-108), Makai Jackson (6-86-1 TD), Eli Wilson (4-53-1 TD), and Dalton Stroman (2-21).
To offset two interceptions thrown by Aguilar, he also threw two TD passes. The first was a well-designed 6-yard pass to tight end Eli Wilson over the middle, capping the Mountaineers’ first scoring drive of 13 plays, covering 75 yards, and it took 5:38 off the game clock, Wilson securing the TD catch early in the second quarter.
Head coach Shawn Clark explained after the game that a major goal of the Mountaineers was to keep the ball out of the hands of ECU’s up-tempo, dynamic offense.
The second Aguilar TD pass came late in the third quarter, to Jackson, and finished off a 4-play drive that went 56 yards, requiring only 1:24. App State got possession in good field position after a short Pirate punt. Jackson caught the ball along the right sideline, near the 5-yard line before going into the end zone.
On paper, the Mountaineer rushing attack was a non-factor, but critical advances by each of the running backs gained key first downs during the comeback. After Robertson’s late INT, Anderson Castle had an important 10-yard dash through the line in the 4th quarter with under two minutes remaining in the game. Moving the chains with the first down gave the Mountaineers what they needed to run out the clock and deny East Carolina another offensive opportunity. Either a field goal or touchdown would have won the game for the Pirates, had they gotten the ball back and been able to move downfield.
But 281 yards of the Mountaineers’ offensive production came on chunk passing plays greater than 15 yards. Robinson had big plays of 17, 22, 19, 31, and 20 yards. Horn hauled in big gainers of 32, and 49 yards. Jackson was on the receiving end of 18, 15 and 36 (TD) yard aerials. And Wilson had a 22-yard reception to go along with his 6-yard TD catch.
Two App State starters on defense, outside linebacker Nate Johnson and defensive back Jordan Favors were ejected for targeting.
It will be a quick turnaround for the Mountaineers once they arrive home in Boone, preparing for their Sun Belt Conference opener at home against South Alabama on Thursday night, Sept. 19, at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The Jaguars are coming off setting a Sun Belt Conference, single-game scoring record after demolishing FCS contender, Northwestern State, 87-10, on Sept. 13. It was the first win for the program under new head coach Major Applewhite, a former star QB for the Texas Longhorns and later head coach, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the University of Houston.
App State may get a glimpse of how they stack up against the team’s Sept. 28 opponent, Liberty, when the Flames host East Carolina on Sept. 21.
All game stats made available by StatBroadcast and East Carolina.
Selected Team Stats
Selected Individual Stats
Defensive Stats
Drive Charts
BONUS PHOTOS
All photos courtesy of App State Athletics
