By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — App State’s defense finally figured out how to stop Southern Miss running back Frank Gore, Jr. and put together two key defensive stops in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Joey Aguilar-led Mountaineer offense scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to seal a Homecoming win on Oct. 28, 38-28, in front of 32,601 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
After trading opening TDs, the Mountaineers trailed the Eagles by 10 points at three different points leading up to the last 14 minutes of the game. They trailed 14-24 late in the second quarter, 21-31 early in the third period, and 28-38 early in Q4.
It will probably surprise no one watching this game that App State’s fortunes began to turn in the fourth quarter when they apparently learned how to stop the Eagles’ featured running back, Frank Gore, Jr. The man was a Halloween monster in the eyes of App Nation through three quarters, with gains of 42 yards and 75 yards for TDs in the second and third quarters, respectively. But he also had big gains of 10 and 43 yards, respectively, that set up other Southern Miss scoring opportunities.
Gore’s impact on this game was reminiscent of North Carolina sophomore Omarion Hampton in Chapel Hill on Sept. 9, except the Mountaineers could find no answers for Hampton in the overtime loss, 40-34. Hampton rolled up 234 yards rushing and 3 TDs in his breakout game for North Carolina. Gore, more of a known commodity with a father’s NFL pedigree to match, tore through the App State defense for 247 yards rushing and 2 TDs and setting up others.
Southern Miss got its last touchdown at the 14:01 mark of the 4th quarter when running back Jakarius Caston swept around the left side for an 11-yard TD, also giving the Eagles their last 10-point advantage.
App State was not done on offense, however.
On the next possession, after Aguilar kept the ball and bowled through defenders for a 20-yard gain up the middle, advancing the Mountaineers to near midfield, three plays later he found wide receiver Christan Horn open in the left flat. The junior out of Columbia, S.C. strong-armed his way around one defender, then sprinted down the sideline and into the end zone to bring App State back to within a field goal with a successful Michael Hughes PAT kick, 35-38.
Wiles and the Southern Miss offense were able to get one first down early in their next offensive opportunity but, on 3rd-and-10, Wiles and receiver Tiaquelin Mim came up short with only a six-yard gain and the Eagles were forced to punt. App State safety E J. Jackson, a senior transfer from Marshall was credited with the stop.
After another App State defensive effort forced the Eagles to punt, redshirt freshman running back Kanye Roberts negotiated his way through the left side of the line of scrimmage, broke into the clear and sprinted down the sideline. It was a 61-yard dash to paydirt that gave App State its first lead of the day, 42-38 (with Hughes’ PAT), with a little more than six and a half minutes remaining.
Southern Miss was again frustrated by a stingy Mountaineer defense, the Eagles’ 10-play drive getting no further than the APP30 before turning the ball over on downs. With 2:44 left on the game clock, App State seemed in control but needed at least one, perhaps two first downs to effectively run out the clock — but they got more than that from Aguilar, Roberts, Horn et al.
After Roberts romped for 25 yards on the second play of the drive, with eight seconds remaining Aguilar found Horn running down the right sideline, finding him in the end zone for the night’s final points.
POSTGAME NOTES from App State Sports
- App State snapped a two-game losing streak to win its fourth game of the year and move to 2-2 in Sun Belt Conference play.
- The Mountaineers are 3-1 at The Rock this year. Their 51-10 record (.836 pct) in home games since making the transition to FBS in 2014 is seventh-best among all FBS teams (behind Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon).
- App State won on Homecoming for the ninth straight year and improved its all-time Homecoming record to 48-13-2.
- Attendance at Kidd Brewer Stadium was 32,601, the ninth-largest crowd in stadium history.
- App State defeated Southern Miss for the first time after taking losses in 1937 and 2014, both in the state of Mississippi.
- This was the fifth straight game – and the sixth in the last seven – to be decided in the closing seconds. The Mountaineers’ fourth-down touchdown with 8 seconds remaining sealed a two-score victory after a Mountaineer fumble with 14 seconds left bounced around before being recovered by the home team.
- Earning his first career start was cornerback Trenton Alan Yowe.
OFFENSE
- The Mountaineers’ offense put up a season-high 48 points and a season-high 571 total yards, including 34 points and 301 yards in the second half alone.
- Christan Horn caught a career-high eight passes for a career-high 165 yards and two touchdowns. His scores were an integral part of the final 12 minutes of the fourth quarter during which App State turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point victorious margin.
- Bouncing back from a pair of first-half turnovers, Joey Aguilar finished the game with a career-high 391 passing yards and matched his career high with four passing touchdowns, while completing 23 of 33 passes.
- Aguilar has thrown multiple passing TDs in all but one game this season and leads the Sun Belt with 20.
- Running back Kanye Roberts rushed 13 times for 109 yards and a touchdown, one week after he went for 109 in his first career start at Old Dominion. Of his 109 yards against Southern Miss, 92 came in the fourth quarter, including 86 on back-to-back runs. His 61-yard touchdown with 6:37 left in the game gave the Mountaineers their first lead at 42-38.
- Running back Maquel Haywood scored his first touchdown as a Mountaineer.
- Other touchdowns came from wide receiver Dashaun Davis (third of the season), tight end Eli Wilson (third of the season) and running back Ahmani Marshall (second of the season).
DEFENSE
- Linebacker Andrew Parker Jr. led all players with a career-high 13 tackles.
- In his most extensive action of the season, Marshall transfer safety EJ Jackson produced a season-high 11 tackles and two pass breakups.
- Cornerback Ethan Johnson notched a career-high four passes broken up to lead the Mountaineer defense that broke up a season-high 10 passes.
- Linebacker Caden Sullivan, who finished with seven tackles, a sack and a forced fumble, made one of the game’s biggest plays with a sack that knocked the ball out of Southern Miss QB Wiles’ grasp and was recovered by Michael Fletcher at USM’s 1-yard line.
- Defensive tackle Santana Hopper made his presence known with a career-high five tackles, a TFL and two QB hurries after posting 1.5 sacks a week earlier.
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Gore was not the only Southern Miss offensive threat, of course. In fact, it could be argued that Gore’s success began in the second quarter after Southern Miss QB
