Special Report. BOONE, N.C. — A top-10 road win Saturday afternoon helped facilitate more big news Saturday night.
ESPN’s College GameDay is coming to Boone.
Appearing in the High Country for the first time, the popular college football pregame show will be on campus next weekend, on Saturday, Sept. 17, for App State’s Sun Belt Conference opener against Troy. Kickoff, subject to change, is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Stay tuned to appstatesports.com and App State’s social media platforms for more details on the exact location and other info.
The Mountaineers will head into their league opener fresh off a 17-14 win at No. 6 Texas A&M. It was the program’s first win against a top-10 opponent since the 34-32 victory against No. 5 Michigan in 2007, when App State was an FCS power, and that nationally televised victory followed a home opener in which Kidd Brewer Stadium had a record 40,168 fans for a high-scoring thriller between the Mountaineers and North Carolina.
Now in its eighth season at the FBS level, App State has won four Sun Belt titles and six bowl games. The Mountaineers are 80-20 in their last 100 games.
Rece Davis leads the show in his eighth season as host. He is joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and David Pollack and reporters Jen Lada, Gene Wojciechowski and newcomer Jess Sims. Senior research producer Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica and college football insider Pete Thamel round out the GameDay crew for the season.
Pat McAfee joined GameDay for the first time this past weekend in Austin, site of the Texas-Alabama game.
By David Rogers. COLLEGE STATION, Texas — With the kind of time management that would make a Swiss watchmaker proud, Appalachian State rolled into the Longhorn State and took down nationally No. 6-ranked Texas A&M, 17-14, on Sept. 10. It was the second time in the Mountaineers’ program history that they upset a “top 10” ranked team, the first coming in 2007, against then No. 5 ranked Michigan.
Saturday’s upset occurred in front of 92,664 mostly Aggie fans at Kyle Stadium. At one point in the first half, the heat index was recorded at 107 degrees Fahrenheit. During his post-game press conference, App State head coach Shawn Clark underlined the weather conditions by noting that earlier in the week the Mountaineers had practiced in 58-degree weather, back in Boone.
With an estimated 3,000 Mountaineer fans among the more than 92,000 in College Station, Texas’ Kyle Stadium, the High Country was well represented on Sept. 10 to witness App State’s 17-14 upset of No. 6 ranked Texas A&M. Photo courtesy of the Sun Belt Conference
Controlling the clock was part of the Mountaineer game plan, said Clark, and they achieved that objective by having possession of the football for 41:29, keeping A&M’s highly touted offense off the field for all but 18:31. Appalachian produced 315 yards of total offense while holding Texas A&M in check.
The Mountaineer defense, which was torched for 567 yards of total offense by North Carolina a week ago, effectively stuffed Texas A&M, limiting the Aggies to just 186 yards of total offense and forcing two turnovers.
The Mountaineers’ scoring included a 4-yard TD run by Wake Forest transfer Ahmani Marshall on the first play of the second quarter to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
App State’s Daetrich Harrington darts through a hole in the line of scrimmage on Sept. 10, 2022, during the Mountaineers’ 17-14 upset of the No. 6 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. Photo courtesy of the Sun Belt Conference
Running back Devon Achane accounted for both of the Aggies’ touchdowns, the first coming on a 26-yard run on the drive after Marshall’s TD. Then, after Mountaineer QB Chase Brice had flipped a short pass to tight end Henry Pearson on the right side that saw the 6-3, 245-lb. senior from New Jersey run around the perimeter and sneak one foot inside the goal line pylon, Achane responded with a 95-yard kickoff return, covering the distance virtually untouched.
App State featured a balanced offensive attack on the day: 181 yards rushing by five runners, led by junior running Camerun Peoples (19 carries, 112 yards) and 134 yards passing to nine different receivers.
App State’s defense sparkled against No. 6 ranked Texas A&M on Sept. 10, 2022, like this tackle behind the line of scrimmage by defensive back Nick Ross (4) of Aggie QB Haynes King. Photo courtesy of the Sun Belt Conference
Appalachian State returns to Kidd Brewer Stadium on Sept. 17 for a first Sun Belt Conference tilt against Troy, with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m. Texas A&M hopes to rebound against No. 15 Miami, at home, in a 9:00 p.m. game featured on ESPN.
COMPLETED GAMES FROM AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE (SBC teams in bold)
Appalachian State 17, No. 6 Texas A&M 14
No. 3 Ohio State 45, Arkansas State 12
Marshall 26, No. 8 Notre Dame 21
No. 15 Miami 30, Southern Miss 7
North Carolina 35, Georgia State 28
South Alabama 38, Central Michigan 24
James Madison 63, Norfolk State 7
East Carolina 39, Old Dominion 21
Coastal Carolina 31, Gardner-Webb 27
SUN BELT GAMES IN PROGRESS AT THIS WRITING:
3rd Qtr. – Eastern Michigan 14, Louisiana 0
3rd Qtr. – Troy 21. Alabama A&M 3
3rd Qtr. – Texas State 20, Florida International 6
By David Rogers. LAWNDALE, N.C. — For three-quarters of the Sept. 9 high school football game between host Burns and visiting Watauga, both teams had answers. But with a 21-point scoring outburst in the fourth quarter that took advantage of Pioneer turnovers, the Bulldogs gave their enthusiastic home crowd a lot to cheer about in carving out a convincing, 48-28 win.
The night started promising enough for Watauga, its defensive unit holding Burns to a three-and-out on the Bulldogs’ opening possession. Then, in trademark grinding fashion, the Pioneers marched to the game’s first score after a 10-play drive that took four and a half minutes off the clock — and kept Burns’ offense off the field. Watauga covered the 78 yards with quarterback Maddox Greene and senior running backs Will Curtis and Trey Thompson trading carries before Greene surprised everyone on 1st-and-10 from the Burns 24-yard-line with a pass to senior wide receiver Jackson Pryor. The TD pass drew the proverbial “first blood” for the High Country visitors. Placekicker Grant Kight’s PAT kick sailed through the uprights cleanly to make the score midway through the first half, 7-0.
Burns High School junior running back Jeremiah Norris breaks into the open to score a second half TD against Watauga on Sept. 9.
Burns didn’t waste any time answering, orchestrating a 9-play drive to produce a touchdown and PAT that took just under three minutes.
And that was the way most of the first three quarters went, the schools trading touchdowns. Watauga held the slightest of advantages when Burns’ placekicker missed a field goal and an extra point after his team’s final TD of the third quarter, leaving the score at 28-27 entering the last stanza.
Trailing, Burns had possession going into the fourth quarter but failed to convert on a 4th-and-5 opportunity at the Watauga 31-yard-line. The Pioneer defense did its job, setting up the offense for a potential go-ahead opportunity that would have made it a two-score game. Prospectively, they would also have taken a substantial amount of time off the game clock.
Even for a game almost two hours’ driving distance from Boone, Watauga’s student section was well represented on Sept. 9 in Lawndale as the football team took on Burns — and well costumed, to boot.
But only two plays into their first possession of the final period, the Pioneers joined the “Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Club” when Burns punched the ball out of running back Will Curtis’ arms, then recovered the fumble at the Watauga 37. Given a short field, it took Bulldog quarterback Ben Mauney just four plays to get Burns into the end zone, finished off with a 16-yard scamper around and through a legion of Pioneers by versatile running back Jeremiah Norris.
On the subsequent kickoff, Watauga’s Trey Thompson gave the Pioneers’ offense relatively good field position with a 20-yard return, but two plays later the Bulldogs forced yet another fumble and turnover, again giving the home side a short field to work with, offensively. It took only five plays for the Mauney-directed offense to get the job done, with running back Ryan Thompson getting the call to rush the ball into the end zone from five yards out. This time, placekicker Ansley Camacho’s PAT kick was good, giving Burns a 42-28 lead and only 6:19 left before game’s end.
The Burns’ defense held on Watauga’s next possession, forcing a three-and-out, then the Bulldogs use eight plays to grind out an insurance touchdown, the drive featuring senior wide receiver Lemont Wilson’s rushing carries of 5, 13, 3, and 3 yards before fellow senior Thompson punched the ball the remaining one-yard across the goal line with just 53 seconds left.
Oops. The referees caught this face mask penalty against Burns as the defensive lineman turns Watauga’s Greene after a sizable gain on Sept. 9, in Lawndale.
“We didn’t execute, plain and simple,” said Watauga head coach Ryan Habich after the game. “In one respect, I am happy about this because we needed to know you can’t take anything for granted. You have to play the whole game. Overall, I was pleased with our players’ effort and we have some terrific young men on this team, but we have to improve on execution if we want to achieve our goals of a conference championship and home field advantage in the playoffs.”
Asked what the team needs to do to fix its execution problems, sophomore quarterback Maddox Greene said, succinctly, “More practice and better practice.”
Watauga (3-1 overall, 0-0 in Northwestern Conference) will have a week to work on things before next Friday, Sept. 16, when they return to the friendly confines of Jack Groce Stadium for “Homecoming” and a final non-conference game. Their opponent will be High Country rival, Ashe County (2-2, 0-0). On Sept. 9, the Huskies suffered a 51-29 loss to a strong Mt. Airy team.
SELECTED TEAM STATS
Total Offense: WAT 329, BUR 459
Time of Possession: WAT 25:45. BUR 22:15
Rushing Attempts-Yards: WAT 48-302, BUR 42-207
Passing Completions/Attempts/Yards: WAT 2/4/27. BUR 15/20/252
Passing TDs-INTs: WAT 1-0, BUR 2-0
Fumbles-Lost: WAT 3-3, BUR 0-0
Penalties: WAT 5-30, BUR 7-55
3rd Down Conversions: WAT 4/7 (57%), BUR 4/11 (36%)
4th Down Conversions: WAT 1/2 (50%), BUR 2/4 (50%)
By David Rogers. BOONE — Sept. 8 was a day of sweeps in Watauga middle school volleyball matches.
Hardin Park’s Lainey Gragg sets a spike opportunity during the team’s Sept. 8 volleyball match vs. Green Valley. Photo by David Rogers
In a tri-match between Hardin Park, Parkway and Green Valley, Hardin Park recorded a 2-0 win over Green Valley before Parkway tested the Eagles, forcing a third set with a nail biter, overtime win in the second frame. Parkway used that measure of momentum to dominate Green Valley.
Another tri-match saw Cove Creek dispatch Bethel and Mabel in straight sets, but not before both rallied for second set threats. In arguably the most evenly-matched competition of the day, Mabel got by Bethel in straight sets.
The lone pairing: Valle Crucis defended its home court effectively with a straight set win over Blowing Rock.
SCORES
Valle Crucis def. Blowing Rock, 2-0 (25-12, 25-15)
Hardin Park def. Green Valley, 2-0 (25-8, 25-12)
Hardin Park def. Parkway, 2-1 (25-10, 26-24, 15-9)
By David Rogers. LENOIR, N.C. — All but 1:20 had ticked off the game clock on Sept. 8, with West Caldwell holding a tenuous, 2-1 lead over Watauga men’s soccer. And that is when the game was called after a more than half-hour delay while school officials and EMS first responders tended to a seriously injured Warrior midfielder.
The player apparently went up for a contested header, shoulder to shoulder with an unidentified Watauga player, and collapsed immediately to the ground screaming in agony. Trainers and coaches got the player stabilized and holding still while waiting for paramedics and an ambulance to transport him to a hospital. As he was being moved to load onto a gurney, it was apparent that any movement was excruciatingly painful for the young man. The early reports on the sideline were that it was believed to be a neck-related injury but that has not been confirmed.
Play leading up to the moment of injury was fast-paced, marked by outstanding play on both sides of the ball. The Pioneers dominated possession, estimated at approximately 80 percent of play and keeping the ball while pressuring the West Caldwell defenders.
After a scoreless first half, within the first 10 minutes of the second half West Caldwell capitalized on a well-placed free kick from the left side, the ball crossing the face of the Watauga defended goal only to be punched into the net by a Warrior for the game’s first goal. Less than five minutes later, West Caldwell was able to push in a second goal as the ball caromed wildly off one player or another in front of the net.
Finally, with roughly 10 minutes to go in the game, the Pioneers’ forward line got in on the scoring action with Stryker Ward credited for the goal and Emmit Coffey getting the assist.
After the medics had cleared and teams shaken hands on the “no decision” result, Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt said, “That was a first for me, the first time I witnessed a player being removed from the field in an ambulance. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with that player and his West Caldwell soccer family. It was a very unfortunate end to this game.”
Of his team’s play, Honeycutt added, “We were complacent coming out of halftime. I told the guys during the break that just because we are dominating possession and controlling it 70-80 percent of the time, it does not mean we are going to win the game. We have to find ways to get the ball into the net. We have to find ways to score goals. It seems like we are doing everything else except that, scoring. We need someone to step up, to be hungry for goals.”
Next up for Watauga are four more, highly competitive non conference matches, including home against Northwest Guilford (Sept. 12), on the road at Davidson Day (Sept. 15), home against Ardrey Kell (Sept. 19), and home vs. Cox Mill (Sept. 21). The Pioneers open Northwestern Conference play at South Caldwell on Sept. 26 and at Alexander Central on Sept. 28 before a first home conference match vs. Hibriten on Oct. 3.
By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — It was a straight set sweep on Sept. 7 at Lentz Eggers Gym, but visiting Hickory rallied to challenge Watauga volleyball’s roster depth, 25-11, 25-18 and 25-21.
The Pioneers’ big hitters, seniors Caroline Farthing and Brooke Scheffler, powered their way through the contest with 22 and 11 kills, respectively. Scheffler added 18 assists to her stat line, along with a serving ace, two stuff blocks and eight digs, reflecting her balanced production all across the court.
Brooke Scheffler puts the ball in play on Sept. 7 during Watauga’s 3-set sweep over Hickory at Lentz Eggers Gym.
Junior Evie Robbins and senior Cam Norris were backcourt leaders, defensively, keeping the ball in play with 14 and 15 digs, respectively, and near flawless with only one receive error each.
“Hickory is a pretty solid team,” said Farthing after the match. “They’ve lost a few players since last year, but they are still pretty solid. Tonight we got to prove that we have a really deep bench.”
Farthing credited the closer results in the second and third sets to some of those personnel changes, something the Pioneers can afford to experiment with in early season, non-conference matches.
Under the watchful eye of an umpire, Watauga senior Faith Watson (5) spikes the ball across the net during the Pioneers Sept. 7 home win vs. Hickory.
“We had completely different lineups,” explained Farthing. “Usually we come right out into the flow of things (with those changes), but tonight we had some communication issues.”
By late in the third set, Watauga had fixed the communication issues and staged their own rally to pull away from the Red Tornadoes.
Before the match, assistant coach Casey Gragg, on behalf of the team and school, presented head coach Kim Pryor with a hi-res team photo embedded on a plaque to commemorate Pryor’s 200th win. She has coached many of the Watauga athletes since they were in grade school, at different levels.
Watauga volleyball head coach Kim Pryor, left, received a plaque commemorating her 200th coaching win from assistant coach Casey Gragg on behalf of the players, coaching staff and school before the Sept. 7 match vs. Hickory.
Watauga is now 7-1 on the still young, non-conference season, the only loss coming on the road at North Iredell on Aug. 19. The Pioneers continue to face strong opposition on Sept. 10, again on the road in a tri-match format against Northwest Guilford of Greensboro and Hough High School of Charlotte suburb, Cornelius.
SELECTED WATAUGA STATS
Evie Robbins – 1 assist, 15 digs
Kenzie Baldwin – 3 assists, 2 service aces, 14 digs
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Appalachian State freshman Ethan Lipham was named the 2022 season’s first Sun Belt Cross Country Men’s Runner of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
In his debut for App State, Lipham was the first Mountaineer to cross the finish line at the Covered Bridge Open (Sept. 2), recording an 8K time of 25:49.43 to finish ninth overall. The Largo, Fla. native’s time helped the Mountaineers to a second-place team finish with 69 points.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Sept. 16, hosting the Firetower Project Run at the Don Kennedy Trails at State Farm in Boone.
By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C.— Adding talent to an athletic team is always a good thing and Blowing Rock-based ZAP Endurance was busy over the summer, adding three rising, distance running stars.
It doesn’t hurt that all were collegiate champions.
Eric van der Els
van der Els is a native of Norwalk, Conn., and a recent graduate of the University of Connecticut. At UConn, he won multiple Big East Conference championships, including titles in the outdoor 1500m and indoor 3,000m in 2022. His 3,000m performance set a Big East meet record of 7:52. Eric also scored a personal best for 5,000m of 13:36.2 in the spring, the event he ran at the NCAA meet and led the UConn men’s Distance Medley Relay to a 3rd place performance and school record at the Penn Relays.
van der Els was also the US junior champion and the Pan American junior Champion in 2017 in the 1500.
Ryan Ford
Ford hails from Huntsville, Ala., graduating from the University of Tennessee-Martin where he was the Ohio Valley Conference’s 5,000m Champion before finishing his collegiate career at Iowa State.
Ford played a key role as part of the 2021 Iowa State cross country team that finished runner up at the NCAA Championships. He was an all-Big 12 Conference selection in cross country and on the track in 2022, including personal bests of 28:34 for 10,000m and 13:34 for 5,000, the event in which he qualified to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Dan Schaffer
Schaffer is a 2022 graduate of Binghamton University where he was a 9-time America East Conference champion and qualified for the NCAA Championships final at 5,000m this past spring, earning honorable mention All-American honors.
During his time at Binghamton, Schaffer won conference titles at 1500m, the 4 x 800m relay, the indoor mile, the indoor distance medley relay, and over 8 kilometers in cross country.
Schaffer grew up near Binghamton in Endicott, NY, where his family still resides. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and a Masters in business administration.
In his final year at Binghamton, Scjaffer lowered his personal bests across all distances from the 800m up to 5,000m, including at 1500m: 3:40.98; 1 Mile: 3:57.47; 3,000m: 7:50.05; and at 5.000m: 13:36.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The App State field hockey team (3-1) fell short for the first time this season against Drexel (1-2), in a game that ended with a 1-1 tie in regulation. The Dragons gained the upperhand in a 3-2 penalty shootout.
The Mountaineers held Drexel to just one goal in 80 minutes of play. Goalkeeper Addie Clark tallied eight saves, four of which were in the 20 minutes of two overtime periods that saw 11 combined shots between the two teams.
The senior saved two more in the opening plays of the shootout. Clark leads the Mid-American Conference with 20 saves this season. She also leads the conference in shutouts (2) and goals against average with a percentage of .361, having given up just two goals in four games.
Just after a scoreless first half, Friederike Stegen scored the first goal of Sunday’s game on a corner play that was inserted by Pauline Mangold and set by Carli Ciocco.
Stegen has scored a goal in all of App State’s games so far, leading the MAC in goals with four. Ciocco’s assist gave her five on the season, making her the conference leader in the assists category.
App State finished with 12 shots (five on goal) and seven corners. Allison Corey paced the squad with four shots, two of which were on target. Corey also had the team’s first defensive save of the season to force overtime.
The Mountaineers will return to the state of North Carolina to visit Duke on Friday at 6 p.m. Streaming options and live stats will be available at appstatesports.com.
