Appalachian State Mountaineers' Furious Fourth Quarter Rally Falls Short

Despite playing without All-American signal-caller Armanti Edwards, Appalachian State mounted a furious fourth-quarter rally directed by sophomore, third-string signal-caller Travaris Cadet, but it wasn’t enough to overcome East Carolina, who held on for a 29-24 victory over the Mountaineers in front of a sellout crowd of 43,329 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday afternoon. 

The Mountaineers were overwhelmed by the Pirates early on in the contest, falling behind 24-0 just 17 minutes into the contest and trailed 29-7 as the game entered the final period.

Junior running back Devon Moore got things started in the final period, scoring on a one-yard TD plunge to cap an impressive 12-play, 55-yard drive for the Black and Gold. 

The Appalachian State special teams had the opportunity to get into the act after an impressive three-and-out forged by the veteran Mountaineer defense.

Cadet made the first of his big fourth quarter plays when he returned a Matt Dodge punt 19 yards to the ECU 38-yard line to help his own cause. Seven plays later, Cadet cut the deficit to one possession when he found paydirt from a yard out, making the score 29-21

Then, the Mountaineers got a game-changing play from it’s opportunistic defense on ECU’s ensuing drive, as All-SoCon cornerback Cortez Gilbert picked off a Patrick Pinkney pass at the ASU 33 and returned it 16 yards to the 49, sending the strong contingent of Black and Gold in the stands into a frenzy.

From there, Cadet proceeded to seize the momentum created by the turnover and led the Mountaineers to 22-yard line, before the drive stalled and the Apps were forced to settle for a 43-yard Jason Vitaris field goal to make the score, 29-24 with a little over three minutes to go in the game.

The Black and Gold defense once again came through in a pressure situation, stopping the Pirates on a three-and-out, allowing Cadet and the Mountaineer offense the opportunity to take their first lead of the contest.

Taking over at their own 24 with 1:28 to go in the game, the Mountaineer offense appeared to be on their way to the potential game-winning points, as the Apps moved the ball to midfield on three-consecutive pass completions.

However, the ECU defense made its biggest play of the afternoon on an Appalachian State first-and-10 from the 48 with less than a minute remaining, as Cadet was sacked and the without any timeouts, Cadet was forced to sacrifice a down as a result on the subsequent play.

Cadet was able to find Blake Elder on third down for an eight-yard completion, but his fourth-down pass intended for CoCo Hillary fell incomplete, dashing the Mountaineers comeback aspirations.

The loss was particularly disheartening, as one glaring mistake made the difference in the Mountaineers attempting a Jason Vitaris field goal and needing a TD on their final offensive possession. On ASU’s second possession of the second half, punter Sam Martin was forced to concede a safety after bobbling a high snap.

The Mountaineers also left points on the field on their opening possession of the second half, as Vitaris missed a 37-yard field goal wide to the right.

After yielding 267 yards to the Pirates in the opening half, the Black and Gold defense made amenze in the second half, limiting ECU to just 53 total second-half yards and only four first downs.

After struggling to get anything going in the first half, the ASU offense also came to life in the second half, putting up 183 yards and posting a 20:05-9:55 time-of-possession over the Pirates over the final 30 minutes of play.

The Mountaineers’ only first-half TD came when starting QB DeAndre Presley found the end zone from three yards out to cap an impressive 11-play, 77-yard drive to make the score 24-7 late in the second quarter.

Cadet, who replaced Presley at quarterback with 5:28 to go in the third quarter, finished with 35 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, 55 yards on 7-of-9 passing and 43 yards on two punt returns.

Making his second career start, Presley completed 7-of-15 passes for 89 yards and rushed 12 times for 12 yards. Moore led the Mountaineers with 37 rushing yards on 17 carries and Quick led all receivers with 47 yards on three catches.

ASU’s defense limited Pinkney, a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award candidate, to 131 yards on 12-of-27 passing, but ECU’s Dominique Liindsay rushed for 105 yards on only 15 carries to pace the Pirates. Mountaineer linebackers D.J. Smith and Jacque Roman led all tacklers with 13 and 11 stops, respectively.