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As Clark manned the sidelines at Kidd Brewer Stadium Saturday for the first time as the Mountaineers’ head coach, he drew from his football DNA to direct App State to its 35-20 victory over Charlotte in the 2020 season opener for both teams.
Appalachian State vs. UAB (New Orleans Bowl) When: Saturday, December 21st, 9:00 PM EST Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana TV/Streaming: ESPN, WatchESPN (subscription req’d) New Orleans Bowl History (Last 6) Dec. 15th, 2018: Appalachian State 45, Middle Tennessee State 13 Dec. 16th, 2017: Troy 50, North Texas 30 Dec. 17th, 2016: Southern Miss 28, Louisiana-Lafayette.
Clark’s incredible journey came full-circle on Friday afternoon when he was introduced as the 22nd head football coach at Appalachian State.
Evans scampered 58 yards with a screen pass from quarterback Zac Thomas on a third-and-15 play less than two minutes into the game and Appalachian was on its way to the decisive 45-38 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in the second consecutive meeting between the two teams in the conference title clash at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Bobcats may have been 30-point underdogs against one of the elite teams in the Group of Five, but TSU trailed just 14-13 midway through the third quarter. At that point, Appalachian finally unleashed tailback Darrynton Evans, who rushed for 154 yards on 21 carries and three second-half touchdowns to finally lift the Mountaineers (10-1 overall, 6-1 in the SBC) to their comfortable 35-13 win.
It is hard to believe that 24th-ranked Appalachian State could play so badly early in its Sun Belt Conference football showdown Saturday night at historic Turner Field and still find time to engineer its 56-28 victory over the Panthers.
It seems like nothing ever comes easy for Appalachian State when it is playing a Power-5 Conference football team. So why would Saturday night before 80,849 fans be any different for the Mountaineers in its 20-15 nail-biter over South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium?
BOONE, N.C. — In the wind, the cold and the snow of Kidd Brewer Stadium on Thursday, 20th-ranked Appalachian State seemingly watched the cotton boll of its Cotton Bowl hopes wither and die on the vine as arch-rival Georgia Southern held on for a 24-21 victory before 18,796 brave spectators and the national-television, Halloween-night audience.
There was no doubt that No. 24-ranked Appalachian State had a couple of extra helpings of motivation heading into Saturday afternoon’s homecoming football game at Kidd Brewer Stadium and the Mountaineers turned that incentive into their convincing 52-7 Sun Belt Conference rout of Louisiana-Monroe. Remembering last season’s 34-14 loss to Georgia Southern four days following.
One of the longest days in Appalachian State football history gravitated well into the evening as the Mountaineers opened their Sun Belt Conference opener against Coastal Carolina.
But even a two-hour and three-minute lightning delay couldn’t slow down the ASU attack in the 56-37 victory over the Chanticleers.
When Akeem Gaither-Davis partially blocked Noah Ruggles’ 56-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game, the Mountaineers completed their first win over a Power-Five conference team for the first time since the historic 34-32 stunner over Michigan.
As sprinters, Darrynton Evans and Jalen Virgil would make a fine start to building a successful track relay team.
And at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Appalachian State needed all of that speed and more to hold off upset-minded Charlotte, 56-41 in a non-conference football game.
Eliah Drinkwitz wasn’t shy about savoring the benefits of his first victory as a college football head coach following Appalachian State’s hard-fought, 42-7 win over former Southern Conference rival and Football Championship Subdivision squad East Tennessee State Saturday afternoon before a home-opening crowd of 25,147 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Already 0-2 after the first week of Sun Belt Conference play and facing the daunting stretch of a contest against one of the league’s best teams — Texas State (13-3, 2-1) — on Saturday before embarking on a three-game road swing, the last thing the struggling Mountaineers needed was a loss at home against an SBC bottom feeder.
“We’re not coming here to shock the system, but to enhance the culture,” Drinkwitz said. “This is not a stepping-stone job. This is a top-25 job.”
BOONE, N.C. — There was a sense of symmetry for Darrynton Evans on Saturday afternoon as Appalachian State played in the first Sun Belt Conference football championship game against Louisiana-Lafayette before 14,960 fans at a rainy Kidd Brewer Stadium. “I kind of had a flashback,” said Evans, as he scooped up a bouncing kickoff and.
Gardner-Webb probably couldn’t have picked a worse time to roll into Kidd Brewer Stadium than Saturday afternoon as the opponent in Appalachian State’s hurricane-delayed, football home opener. Coming off a cancelled contest last weekend, when Southern Mississippi used every excuse necessary to back out of a scheduled non-conference encounter, the Mountaineers were firing on all.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — The one thing that Appalachian State needed from redshirt sophomore quarterback Zac Thomas in his first college start was a performance close to error free in the crucible of 105,232 fans Saturday at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. Coming into the biggest game of his life, this Trusville, Alabama product had thrown.
BOONE, N.C. — A week ago, at Texas State, Appalachian State executed well enough on the final play of the game to escape with a 20-13 win. But the lack of precision in the final seconds on Saturday cost the Mountaineers dearly as Wake Forest’s 6-foot-5 Scotty Washington leaped and blocked Michael Rubino’s 44-yard field.
SAN MARCOS, Texas — It isn’t uncommon for a college football team to overlook weaker opponents as it peaks ahead to more important games. But such an oversight on Saturday night nearly cost Appalachian State dearly in its heart-stopping, 20-13 victory over Texas State in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both squads. Coming in.
MONTGOMERY, AL. — As Zach Matics finished up his final practice at Kidd Brewer Stadium Monday evening, he contemplated a scenario where he would be called upon to make one more game-winning kick. Coming on the field with two seconds left in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl on Saturday evening those dreams became reality when.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a gorgeous, sun-kissed day seven years ago on a Labor Day Saturday as I made a short trip from a hotel near the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Michigan Stadium on the opening weekend of the 2007 college football season. None of the 109,218 fans that filled the largest sports.
By David Coulson Executive Editor College Sports Journal BOONE, N.C. — A year ago, Appalachian State felt the sting of losing to Georgia Southern as the No. 1 ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision. And on Saturday afternoon before 30,008 spectators at Kidd Brewer Stadium, it was No. 1 Georgia Southern experiencing.
