The Chattanooga Mocs missed a golden opportunity to take a big step forward Saturday night.
But instead of snapping a seven-game losing streak to the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers, the Mocs watched helplessly as the visitors from Boone scored 24 straight points in the fourth quarter, breaking away from a 10-10 tie to claim a 34-17 victory.
While the Mocs had taken advantage of two Mountaineer turnovers for a 10-0 first-quarter lead, the shoe was on the other foot at the end when UTC had three turnovers of its own in the final 15 minutes and Appy took advantage of all three for three straight touchdowns.
Kicker Drew Stewart, who had booted a 24-yard field goal late in the second quarter to put the Mountaineers on the board, added another field goal from 38 yards with 14:01 left in the game as Appalachian State enjoyed its first lead of the game at 13-10.
Chattanooga's Jacob Huesman was intercepted by Jamill Lott five minutes later and the Mountaineers marched 74 yards in just four plays, taking just 1:37 to make it 20-10 when Jamal Jackson hooked up with Sean Price on a 36-yard TD pass with 7:34 to play.
Jackson had completed a 22-yard pass to Tony Washington on the previous play as Chattanooga was back on its heels defensively and totally unable to stop the high-powered Appy offense.
Brandon Grier recovered a Chattanooga fumble on the Mocs' second play following the next kickoff and Jackson wasted no time in passing 14 yards to Price to make it 27-10 with 7:03 to play.
By this time, many of the 13,726 fans in attendance were headed toward the exit and the rest followed three minutes later when Grier picked off Huesman and raced 70 yards for the Mountaineers final TD with 3:30 to play.
Terrell Robinson, who had played very little up to this point, came in and orchestrated a seven-play, 65-yard drive as the Mocs scored a meaningless touchdown with 18 seconds left.
Robinson, who had a nice 17-yard run on a scramble early in the drive, added a 28-yard pass to Ron Moore before connecting with Faysal Shafaat for the final two yards.
The Mocs had taken advantage of two Appalachian State turnovers in the first quarter to take a 10-0 lead, but the Mountaineers came back with 10 points of their own in the second quarter for a 10-10 tie at intermission.
Chattanooga got on the board on its second possession following a 60-yard punt by Nick Pollard that was downed at the ASU 2.
Jackson was sacked by Davis Tull and fumbled on the play, resulting in a recovery by Chattanooga's Kadeem Wise with 9:49 remaining in the first quarter.
Two plays and 52 seconds later, Huesman hooked up with Marlon Anthony for an eight-yard TD pass and the difference was 7-0 following Pollard's PAT.
A second turnover by the Mountaineers on their next possession helped the Mocs score again.
Jackson was intercepted by Chaz Moore, who returned the pick 42 yards to the Chattanooga 33. The Mocs were unable to score a touchdown, but Pollard booted a 32-yard field goal with 2:01 remaining in the first quarter and it was 10-0 when the first quarter ended.
The Mountaineers finally got on the board when Stewart booted a 24-yard field goal with 4:43 remaining in the second quarter.
ASU had taken possession at the 50 following a 31-yard punt by Pollard. Back-to-back passes from Jackson to Sean Price moved the ball 30 yards before Steven Miller picked up 18 more on a run off left tackle.
The Mountaineers had first and goal at the 2, but two stops for no gain and a delay of game penalty moved the ball back to the 7, leading to Stewart's field goal.
Appalachian State then knotted the score with 32 seconds left in the half when Jackson found a wide-open Miller for a 35-yard TD pass.
The Mountaineers dominated the offensive stats in the first half with 208 yards on 43 plays while Chattanooga was limited to 71 yards on just 24 plays.
Both teams entered the game at 1-2 overall. The Mountaineers have now won 24 of the last 27 meetings, although the previous two had been by a combined total of three points.
| Score by Quarters |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Score |
| Appalachian State |
0 |
10 |
0 |
24 |
34 |
| Chattanooga |
10 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
17 |
| SCORING SUMMARY |
APP -UTC |
| 1st |
08:57 |
UTC |
Marlon Anthony 7 yd pass from Jacob Huesman (Nick Pollard kick) |
| |
|
|
2 plays, 8 yards, TOP 0:52 |
0 - 7 |
| |
02:01 |
UTC |
Nick Pollard 32 yd field goal |
| |
|
|
6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 1:57 |
0 - 10 |
| 2nd |
04:43 |
APP |
Drew Stewart 24 yd field goal |
| |
|
|
7 plays, 43 yards, TOP 3:19 |
3 - 10 |
| |
00:32 |
APP |
Steven Miller 35 yd pass from Jamal Jackson (Drew Stewart kick) |
| |
|
|
3 plays, 57 yards, TOP 0:38 |
10 - 10 |
| 4th |
14:01 |
APP |
Drew Stewart 38 yd field goal |
| |
|
|
5 plays, 33 yards, TOP 1:26 |
13 - 10 |
| |
07:34 |
APP |
Sean Price 36 yd pass from Jamal Jackson (Drew Stewart kick) |
| |
|
|
4 plays, 74 yards, TOP 1:37 |
20 - 10 |
| |
07:03 |
APP |
Sean Price 14 yd pass from Jamal Jackson (Drew Stewart kick) |
| |
|
|
1 play, 14 yards, TOP 0:08 |
27 - 10 |
| |
03:30 |
APP |
Brandon Grier 70 yd interception return (Drew Stewart kick) |
| |
|
|
|
34 - 10 |
| |
00:18 |
UTC |
Faysal Shafaat 2 yd pass from T.
Robinson (Nick Pollard kick) |
| |
|
|
7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:12 |
34 - 17 |
|
Kickoff time: 6:05 pm • End of Game: 8:58 • Total elapsed time: 2:53
Referee: Steve Marlow • Umpire: Steve Coullias • Linesman: Jeff Jones • Line judge: D. LaFontaine • Back judge: Jimmy Russell • Field judge: Bob Johnson • Side judge: Lee Hedrick • Scorer: Lynn Trent •
Temperature: 79 • Wind: WNW 11 • Weather: Partly Cloudy
|
App State UTC
FIRST DOWNS
|
21 |
15 |
| Rushing |
10 |
7 |
| Passing |
10 |
7 |
| Penalty |
1 |
1 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING |
133 |
87 |
| Rushing Attempts |
40 |
32 |
| Average Per Rush |
3.3 |
2.7 |
| Rushing Touchdowns |
0 |
0 |
| Yards Gained Rushing |
146 |
115 |
| Yards Lost Rushing |
13 |
28 |
| NET YARDS PASSING |
268 |
183 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int |
19-30-1 |
20-35-2 |
| Average Per Attempt |
8.9 |
5.2 |
| Average Per Completion |
14.1 |
9.1 |
| Passing Touchdowns |
3 |
2 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS |
401 |
270 |
| Total offense plays |
70 |
67 |
| Average Gain Per Play |
5.7 |
4.0 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost |
2-1 |
1-1 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards |
6-33 |
6-54 |
| PUNTS-YARDS |
4-192 |
7-299 |
| Average Yards Per Punt |
48.0 |
42.7 |
| Net Yards Per Punt |
43.0 |
39.9 |
| Inside 20 |
2 |
2 |
| 50+ Yards |
1 |
3 |
| Touchbacks |
1 |
0 |
| Fair catch |
1 |
0 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS |
7-406 |
4-263 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff |
58.0 |
65.8 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff |
45.1 |
45.0 |
| Touchbacks |
1 |
2 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD |
2-20-0 |
1-0-0 |
| Average Per Return |
10.0 |
0.0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD |
2-33-0 |
4-70-0 |
| Average Per Return |
16.5 |
17.5 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD |
2-70-1 |
1-42-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD |
0-0-0 |
0-0-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards |
0 |
0 |
| Possession Time |
30:16 |
29:44 |
| 1st Quarter |
8:32 |
6:28 |
| 2nd Quarter |
10:10 |
4:50 |
| 3rd Quarter |
8:32 |
6:28 |
| 4th Quarter |
3:02 |
11:58 |
| Third-Down Conversions |
5 of 15 |
8 of 16 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions |
2 of 3 |
0 of 0 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances |
2-3 |
3-3 |
| Touchdowns |
1-3 |
2-3 |
| Field goals |
1-3 |
1-3 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards |
4-17 |
1-5 |
| PAT Kicks |
4-4 |
2-2 |
| Field Goals |
2-2 |
1-1 |
|