On what turned out to be a record-setting day for two Mountaineers, Appalachian continued their dominance of Western Carolina with a decisive 46-14 victory on Saturday. ASU has now won 25 of the last 27 contests against the rival Catamounts and the Old Mountain Jug will remain in Boone for another year. The Mountaineers (7-3, 5-2 SoCon) are now in position to receive a seventh consecutive playoff berth while Western Carolina (1-9, 0-8 SoCon) has stumbled to another winless conference season and will now begin the hunt for yet another head coach tasked with righting the ship in Cullowhee, as Dennis Wagner announced his resignation on Sunday morning.
Senior Day proved to have additional significance for Brian Quick, who surpassed Rick Beasley as Appalachian's all-time leader in receiving yards on Saturday. Ironically, the reception that set the record came off the arm of DeAndre Presley as he spelled Jamal Jackson for one series while he was taped up on the sidelines. A short bubble screen to Quick followed by a 33-yard scamper solidified his position as the most decorated receiver in ASU history. If he is able to record 16 more receptions before season's end, Brian Quick will leave Boone as the black and gold's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. If this was indeed his last game at Kidd Brewer Stadium, he gave the Mountaineer faithful a memorable exit.
Brian was not the only ASU player to reach a milestone this weekend, as a newcomer joined him in the record books. Place kicker Drew Stewart connected on 6 field goal attempts and scored 21 kicking points, both of which are new school records. In what has become a disturbing trend the last two weeks, the Mountaineer offense stalled out inside the 30 yard line on their first four possession. However, Stewart split the uprights on kicks from 44, 32, 29 and 21 yards out to give ASU a 12-0 advantage midway through the 2nd quarter. With kicking troubles haunting the Mountaineers all season, Stewart's success served as a silver lining to ASU's early red zone woes.
Staked to a 12-point lead with 2:29 remaining in the first half, ASU finally put together a complete drive as they needed only 1:34 to march 59 yards down the field in 6 plays, capped by a 2-yard Jamal Jackson touchdown run. The next snap from scrimmage resulted in a Dominique McDuffie interception of Brandon Pechloff, setting up Jackson's second rushing score in under a minute to stretch the ASU lead to 26-0 at the intermission.
A 28-yard touchdown pass from Jamal Jackson to Brian Quick on the opening drive on the second half erased any doubt about the outcome, as ASU coasted through the remainder of the game. Jackson seemed to shake off last week's dreadful performance against Furman as he finished the day completing 22 of 34 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown, along with 48 rushing yards and two scores. Brian Quick paced the receiving corps 7 catches for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Steven Miller led the way on the ground with 76 yards on 11 carries. As a unit, the Appalachian offense racked up a season-high 553 yards of total offense.
However, the real story of this game was yet another dominating performance by the Mountaineer defense, as they held WCU to 236 total yards and forced 2 turnovers. The Catamounts were only able to muster 20 rushings yards on 22 carries as they were smothered all day and possessed the ball for only 19:32. In addition to Dominique McDuffie's key interception before halftime, Rodger Walker notched his 4th pick of the season, tying him for the Southern Conference lead. After bouncing around between offense and defense his first two years in Boone, the redshirt sophomore seems to have found his permanent home in the secondary.
As inconsistent as the Mountaineer offense has been, the defense was impressive for the fourth consecutive week and looks like a unit that will be leaned on when the postseason rolls around. The next challenge on the horizon is the regular season finale at Rhodes Stadium against the Elon Phoenix. Elon is coming off an impressive win on the road at Furman, now sitting at 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the conference. Facing a team with renewed confidence on their Senior Day will be a serious challenge and in order to secure their spot in the playoff bracket, the Mountaineers had better be up for it. Although the postseason is not in the cards for Elon, they would love nothing more than to send their seniors out with the program's first victory over ASU since joining the SoCon and another winning season.
As the regular season home schedule ends on a positive note, the Mountaineers have plenty to be proud of and almost as many areas to improve as they prepare for a strong finish the conference slate.
Offensive game ball: Brian Quick
Defensive game ball: Rodger Walker
*Photo from MountaineerIllustrated.com
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