By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — For many in the jam-packed Kidd Brewer Stadium on Oct. 26, the game was more about life than football.
Only a month earlier, on Sept. 27, Hurricane Helene swept through Western North Carolina, wreaking massive destruction with high winds and flooding. Just one day later, the regional carnage forced cancellation of a much anticipated home game against Liberty University. For the next two weeks, App State’s Mountaineers were out in the community, helping with recovery efforts. They were loading generators for people who had lost power. They were unloading distilled and bottled water for people with fouled water systems, whether municipal or private water wells. They were helping clean up the destruction.
And they prepared to play two football games, one on Oct. 5 at Marshall and then a week later, Oct. 12, at Louisiana. They lost both games, but playing them helped revive a sense of normalcy.
For the Oct. 26 home game vs. Georgia State, that sense of normalcy had spread to the better part of Watauga County and the High Country. Playing the game at Kidd Brewer Stadium instead of moving it to Wake Forest University or Charlotte (both had been considered) meant that the community’s regional infrastructure was returning to some semblance of normal. Roads were opened. Hotels and motels could accommodate the crowds. Restaurants and bars were prepared for business.
And to make it all perfect, App State played and won its first home game in 37 days with a come-from-behind touchdown no less, carving out a thrilling, 33-26 win over the visiting Panthers.
It may not have been the prettiest contest between two Sun Belt Conference adversaries sliding in the wrong direction, league standings-wise. Both programs entered the game with 2-4 overall records, and winless at 0-3 in conference play. At the end of the day, that was going to change. Someone was going to win.
With head coach Sean Clark and many others in the stadium sporting “Mountain Strong” sweatshirts, it was App State who ultimately emerged the winner of a see-saw battle to the finish. After no fewer than nine lead changes, the Mountaineers won the afternoon in the last two minutes of play when QB Joey Aguilar connected with redshirt sophomore tight end Kanen Hamlett on the right side, near the line of scrimmage. It was only the second career pass reception for the Madison, Ala. product and he made the best of it, reaching back to take the short pass from Aguilar, shaking free from one would-be tackler before dragging another into the end zone.
With Hamlett’s score giving the Mountaineers a 5-point lead at 31-26, App State’s braintrust wanted to make sure the Panthers couldn’t beat them with a final drive TD, so when Aguilar faked a handoff to Kanye Roberts and rolled right, twisting across the goal line for a successful 2-point conversion, the celebration was on.
Georgia State got the ball back with 1:15 remaining, but thanks to strong special teams coverage on the post-TD kickoff, had to start any potential game-winning drive from their own 12-yard line. A first play long pass down the right sideline made the Mountaineer faithful anxious perhaps — until linebacker Brendan Harrington swatted it away from running back Michel Dukes, the grad student transfer from the University of South Florida.
A short pass completion was not enough to move the chains and keep the Panther drive alive. After a QB sack and an incomplete pass on 4th down, the Mountaineers had the win in hand.
The game and the win probably had as much of a healing effect on the community as a FEMA grant has on financial and physical recovery.
Just as the game was a nailbiter, the stat lines reflected how close the game was. App State rolled up 479 yards of net offense, compared to 386 by Georgia State. Aguilar completed 18-of-27 passes for 299 yards, three TDs and no interceptions. While Kaedin Robinson was on the receiving end of five Aguilar aerials for 121 yards, the passing TDs were hauled in by Hamlett, freshman Makai Jackson (4 catches, 67 yards) and junior WR Dalton Stroman (2 catches, 32 yards).
What made the Mountaineers’ passing attack more effective was a strong performance running the football, too. This time, it was senior running back Ahmani Marshall, now in his third year as a Mountaineer after transferring from Wake Forest in 2022. The Winston-Salem native (East Forsyth HS) carried the ball 18 times for 115 yards and one TD.
After acknowledging the support of fans, students and interim Chancellor Heather Norris, Clark drew parallels between the community and the football team.
“Just like our community has rallied the last three or four weeks (after the hurricane-inflicted destruction), our football program has done the same thing,” said Clark. “I am proud of everyone involved in our program. Our players have never given up. We talked last night that you can’t lose something you never had. I told them we came into this season to play for a championship. What changed? We wanted to make sure we came out here with a great attitude. We played confident. We started fast and we finished strong.”
Key Notes from App State Strategic Communications
- In its first home game in 37 days and the first since Hurricane Helene hit the High Country, App State snapped a three-game losing streak and garnered its first Sun Belt victory of the season.
- App State’s 3-4 record is the same through seven games as last year’s team, which reeled off five straight victories to end the regular season.
- The Mountaineers have beaten the Panthers in all 11 meetings, dating back to 2014.
- App State improved to 98-39 since joining the FBS ranks in 2014. The only FBS programs with more wins in that span are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Boise State.
- The Mountaineers’ home winning percentage of .833 (55-11) since 2014 ranks top 10 in the FBS and is second among non-power conference teams behind Memphis (.836 – 61-12).
- App State scored the first two points of the game on a safety on Georgia State’s first drive, the first safety recorded by the Mountaineers since 2022 (vs. Troy).
- App State lost the turnover battle for the sixth straight game.
OFFENSE
- Joey Aguilar completed 18 of 27 passes for 299 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also scored a 2-point conversion on a QB run. Over his two-year career as the Mountaineers’ QB, it was the third time he’s had three-plus TDs with no picks and the 19th time in 21 games that he’s had at least one touchdown either passing or rushing.
- Two of Aguilar’s three touchdown passes resulted in App State taking back a lead, including the game-winning drive and score late in the fourth quarter. Last year, he led the country with 15 touchdown passes to either tie a game or give his team a lead.
- Kanen Hamlett’s second career catch was a big one. His 4-yard touchdown from Aguilar with 1:51 left in the game was the winning score. Hamlett entered the huddle late in the play clock to replace another tight end who was limping off the field.
- Ahmani Marshall rushed for a season-high 115 yards with a 1-yard touchdown that gave App State an 8-3 lead with 10:28 left in the second quarter.
- Kaedin Robinson had a game-high five catches for 121 yards, his third 100-yard game of the season and sixth game of 85+ yards in seven contests. He had four catches for 106 yards by halftime.
- Robinson, who has led the team in receiving yards in all seven games, has caught a pass in 32 consecutive games, which ranks top 15 among all FBS players.
- Makai Jackson caught four passes for 67 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown that gave App State a 15-10 lead with 3:57 left in the second quarter.
- A 23-yard touchdown connection from Aguilar to Dalton Stroman increased App State’s third-quarter lead to 25-16. It was Stroman’s fourth touchdown catch in the last four games.
DEFENSE
- The Mountaineers’ defense was very strong on third downs, limiting the Panthers to just one conversion on eight attempts.
- Santana Hopper had five tackles and was credited with 2.0 sacks. That included one solo sack and a hand in two more shared sacks. His solo sack on third down forced Georgia State to kick a field goal to take a 26-25 lead with 6:39 left in the game. On the Panthers’ final drive, he teamed with Thomas Davis for a 10-yard sack on third-and-two that forced an unsuccessful fourth-and-12 try that ended the game.
- Jordan Favors led the Mountaineers with a career-high 10 tackles and broke up a pass.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- On Georgia State’s first drive, Ahmani Marshall blocked a punt that went out the back of the end zone for a safety. It was the first blocked punt by a Mountaineer since 2019 (Demetrius Taylor vs. Coastal Carolina).
- Jackson Moore made a 33-yard field goal to help the Mountaineers regain the lead six seconds before halftime.
- Kaiden Robinson had the Mountaineers’ longest punt return of the year with a 30-yard return that helped set up the team’s third touchdown drive of the game.
