The Road to Four

ASU Hosts S.C. State in First-Round Playoff Game Saturday

Story by Anna Oakes

Say goodbye to the folks, pack as many Thanksgiving leftovers as possible into your car and get back to Boone this Saturday—you’ve got a football game to watch. No. 2-seeded ASU will host the South Carolina State Bulldogs at 12:00 p.m. Saturday in a first-round playoff game at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The Mountaineers captured the Southern Conference championship—their fourth straight—with a 35-10 win over Western Carolina last Saturday. An injured Armanti Edwards rested while freshman quarterback DeAndre Presley ran the show in Cullowhee, accounting for 314 total yards of offense and four touchdowns. Presley was aided in his efforts by the ASU defense, who held Western Carolina to fewer than 100 yards of total offense, including -2 yards rushing.

The win also secured a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for ASU, behind No. 1 James Madison. The JMU Dukes, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association conference, defeated ASU 35-32 in a non-conference game in Harrisonburg, Va., on September 20. The University of Northern Iowa and Montana received the third and fourth seeds, while the rest of the 16-team playoff field is unseeded.

The No. 2 seed guarantees home field advantage for the Mountaineers—should they advance—in the first, second and third rounds of the playoffs. The national championship game will be played on Friday, December 19, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The S.C. State Bulldogs hail from Orangeburg, S.C., and are a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They went 10-2 overall and 8-0 in conference to win the MEAC conference title and earn their first bid to the FCS/I-AA playoffs since 1982. ASU and S.C. State have played only once before, when the Mountaineers shut out the Bulldogs 24-0 in 1984.

Coached by S.C. State alumnus Buddy Pough, the Bulldogs average 30.5 points and 387.2 total yards of offense per game, compared to ASU’s 39.3 points and 464.3 yards per game. On defense, S.C. State allows an average 15.3 points and 248.2 total yards per game, compared to 20.8 points and 332.7 total yards allowed by ASU. While the ASU offense ranks among the nation’s top six in scoring, rushing and total offense, the Bulldog defense ranks among the top six in points, passing yards and total yards allowed.

The Saturday game at The Rock will also feature two of the 16 national finalists for the Walter Payton Award, the highest award for an offensive player in FCS football. They are ASU’s Edwards and S.C. State running back William Ford.

Edwards and running back Robert Welton are listed as probable on the injury report for Saturday’s game, while linebacker Richard Long, defensive back Leonard Love and running back Devin Radford are listed as questionable.

Tickets are available online at www.GoASU.com, in person at the ASU athletics ticket office in the Holmes Center or by phone at 828-262-2079 on Friday. Tickets cost $25 for adults, $15 for children ages 3 to 12 and $5 for currently enrolled ASU students.

The game will be televised on ESPNU, and High Country residents can hear the game on the radio at WKBC 97.3 FM, WATA 1450 AM or WXIT 1200 AM.

AppalCART Buses Will Run Saturday

AppalCART is changing its bus schedules to accommodate fans attending Appalachian’s football playoff game on Saturday, November 29, against the South Carolina State Bulldogs.

Kickoff is scheduled for noon, and AppalCART will start all routes at 8:30 a.m. and run until two hours after the game ends, or approximately 5:00 p.m.

AppalCART will run the Red, Green, POP105 bus one, Pink, Purple and Orange routes, as well as the State Farm shuttle and a modified Blue route from the Watauga Human Services Center to the ASU music building stop on Bodenheimer Drive.

People with disability placards needing transportation are encouraged to park in the lots on the Faculty Street side of the Holmes Convocation Center where AppalCART will pick them up and take them up Stadium Drive in lift-equipped vans.

For more route information, click to www.appalcart.com.

2008 Southern Conference Awards

The Southern Conference has announced its 2008 first and second all-Conference teams and winners of several special awards. Fourteen ASU players were voted to all-conference teams, and quarterback Armanti Edwards, linebacker Jacque Roman and head coach Jerry Moore received the conference’s Offensive Player, Defensive Player and Coach of the Year awards. Here are the ASU honorees.

Offensive Player of the Year – QB Armanti Edwards
Defensive Player of the Year – LB Jacque Roman
Coach of the Year – ASU Coach Jerry Moore

First Team All-Conference
QB Armanti Edwards, Jr.
OL Jonathan Bieschke, Sr.
OL Brad Coley, Sr.
TE Ben Jorden, Fr.
DL Jabari Fletcher, So.
LB Jacque Roman, Jr.
LB Pierre Banks, Sr.
DB Cortez Gilbert, Jr.
DB Mark LeGree, So.
P Neil Young, Sr.

Second Team All-Conference
OL Mario Acitelli, Jr.
OL Daniel Kilgore, So.
DL Anthony Williams, Jr.
LB D.J. Smith, So.