By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Things may have bogged down a bit in the middle but Appalachian State was stellar at the beginning and the end against East Tennessee State in the Aug. 31 football season opener, pulling away from the Buccaneers, 38-10.
Kidd Brewer Stadium was rockin’ and rollin’ with a standing room only crowd to watch quarterback Joey Aguilar’s return after a record-setting debut a season ago. The transfer from California’s Diablo Valley Community College didn’t disappoint against ETSU, completing 22 of 37 passes for 325 yards through the air, two TDs and no INTs (a 151.3 efficiency rating) while toting the pigskin five times in short yardage situations for another two TDs.
The Mountaineers amassed 500 yards of total offense, adding 175 rushing yards to Aguilar’s passing totals. Counting Aguilar, App State employed seven rushers in a methodical attack. Wide receiver Makai Jackson used his one carry on a jet sweep around the left side to ramble for 47 yards and a TD, to lead all rushers. Juniors Kanye Roberts and Anderson Castle accounted for most of the ground game workload, each carrying the ball nine times for 35 and 28 yards, respectively.
Just like they did a year ago, Aguilar and wide receiver Kaedin Robinson proved an effective tandem, with Robinson on the receiving end of 8 Aguilar passes for 103 yards, the biggest a 47-yard aerial as Robinson crossed to the middle for a 47-yard gain, to the ETSU 21 yard line.
Aguilar’s biggest play, however, seemed to be supercharged by the lightning storm preceding the game, an 83-yard catch-and-run to veteran wide receiver Christan Horn. With the ball snapped from App State’s own 17 yard line, the 6-2, 190 lb. senior collected the ball near the ETSU 37, then sprinted the rest of the way to the end zone. On App State’s third play from scrimmage, it was the first of five Mountaineer TDs on the day.
The matchup between two former SoCon adversaries also pitted former Watauga Pioneers against each other. Castle, Orlando Leon and Carter Everett are now on the Mountaineers’ roster. Redshirt senior Zach West, an outside linebacker, joins Carlton and Cole Horine, both freshman defensive backs and first year offensive lineman Eli Greene as Pioneer representatives on the Buccaneer roster.
Although the Mountaineer offense seemed to bog down in the middle of the contest while ETSU was gaining some momentum, midway through the third quarter Aguilar found tight end Eli Wilson crossing across the middle for a 34-yard passing TD. It seemed to provide a new spark for App State, on both sides of the ball. Up to that point, ETSU had narrowed the early Mountaineer lead to just a single possession, 17-10. Whether discouraged or worn out, the Buccaneers never really threatened for the rest of the game.
GAME NOTES (Courtesy of App State Athletics):
- Attendance at Kidd Brewer Stadium was 36,232, the third-largest crowd in Kidd Brewer Stadium history behind the 2022 game against North Carolina and the 2023 game against East Carolina, which both announced a crowd of 40,168.
- App State won its 10th home opener in the last 11 tries.
- The Mountaineers improved to 33-14-1 all-time against ETSU and won against an FCS team for the 11th time in 12 tries since moving up to the FBS ranks in 2014. It was App State’s eighth straight win in the series against ETSU.
- App State improved to 54-10 in home games since 2014, the seventh-best winning percentage nationally in that span (and best among Group of Five programs).
- App State’s 96 wins since its 2014 FBS debut are tied for sixth-most in the nation behind Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and Oklahoma.
- First-time starters for the Mountaineers included LG Griffin Scroggs, C Jack Hollifield, RT Thomas Shrader, DE Montez Kelley, NOSE Joshua Donald, DE Michael Fletcher, STAR Avarion Cole and CB Seth Robertson.
OFFENSE
- On the Mountaineers’ second offensive play of the season and first passing play, Joey Aguilar connected with Christan Horn for an 83-yard touchdown, the longest throw and catch of their careers, respectively. Aguilar also threw a touchdown on his first pass of the season in last year’s opener against Gardner-Webb.
- Aguilar – the only returning FBS QB with 33+ touchdown passes and 3,700+ yards from last year – finished the day completing 22 of 37 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns, while adding two more scores on the ground. It was his first game with multiple rushing touchdowns after scoring on the ground three times all of last season.
- Aguilar’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Eli Wilson on a fourth-down play was Wilson’s career-long reception. The starting tight end found the end zone for the third-straight regular season game.
- Kaedin Robinson led the receiving corps with eight catches for 103 yards, his fourth career triple-digit receiving yard outing. Robinson ranks among the top 15 players in the country with his 26 consecutive games with a reception.
- Wide receiver Makai Jackson found the end zone via rush on an end-around toss that he took 47 yards to pay dirt. It was his first career rush as a Mountaineer.
DEFENSE
- App State’s defense held the Buccaneers to just 122 passing yards and 305 total yards. ETSU converted only 3 of 13 third downs and 1 of 3 fourth downs.
- Starting inside linebacker Kyle Arnholt led all players with a career-high 10 tackles.
- Outside linebacker Thomas Davis surpassed his sack total from all of last season with 1.5 sacks and a career-high 2.0 TFLs on five total tackles. His back-to-back third-quarter sacks (shared the second one with Kevin Abrams-Verwayne) turned the momentum in the Mountaineers’ favor and helped turn a seven-point lead into a multiple-touchdown advantage.
- Derrell Farrar, on his birthday, recorded his first career full sack.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Michael Hughes was good on a 33-yard field goal that gave App State a 10-0 lead. The Groza Award watch lister also made all five PATs.
SELECTED TEAM STATS (courtesy of StatBroadcast)
- Net Total Yards: ETSU 305, APP 500
- Net Rushing Yards: ETSU 183, APP 174
- Net Passing Yards: ETSU 122, APP 326
- Rushing TDs: ETSU 1, APP 3
- Passing TDs: ETSU 0, APP 2
- Total 1st Downs: ETSU: 15, APP 22
- 3rd Down Conversions: ETSU 3-13, APP 6-14
- 4th Down Conversions: ETSU 1-3, APP 1-2
- Penalties: ETSU 7-65, APP 6-61
- Turnovers
- Fumbles: ETSU 0, APP 0
- Interceptions Thrown: ETSU 0, APP 0
- Time of Possession: ETSU 30:30, APP 28:25
- DEF Tackles for Loss: ETSU 2, APP 6
- DEF Tackles for Loss Yards: ETSU -3, APP -26
- DEF Pass Breakups: ETSU 5, APP 0
- DEF QB Hurries: ETSU 5, APP 3
- DEF QB Sacks: ETSU 0, APP 3
SELECTED INDIVIDUAL STATS (courtesy of StatBroadcast)
Passing (completions-attempts-yards)
- APP – Joey Aguilar: 22-37-326, 2 TDs
- ETSU – Jaylen King: 10-19-122
Rushing (carries-yards)
- ETSU – Devontae Houston: 15-126, 1 TD
- APP – Makai Jackson: 1-47, 1 TD
- ETSU – Bryson Irby: 12-40
- APP – Kanye Roberts: 9-35
- APP – Anderson Castle: 9-28
- APP – Joey Aguilar: 5-19, 2 TDs
- ETSU – Jaylen King: 13-17
- APP – Maquel Haywood: 4-19
- APP – Ahmani Marshall:3-13
- APP – Kaedin Robinson: 1-13
Receiving (catches-yards)
- APP – Kaedin Robinson: 8-103
- APP – Christan Horn: 2-89, 1 TD
- ETSU – Cameron Lewis: 3-47
- APP – Eli Wilson: 3-43, 1 TD
- APP – Kanye Roberts: 4-37
- ETSU – AJ Johnson: 2-25
- APP – Makai Jackson: 2-24
- ETSU – Karim Page: 2-23
- APP – Anderson Castle: 2-20
- ETSU – Jonathan Burns: 1-16
- ETSU – Hakeem Meggett: 1-11
- APP – William Fowles: 1-10
