Chris Boyce Varsity Sports

The Gold team was in a generous mood Saturday morning at Appalachian State University's spring football game, giving its Black team counterparts two opportune fumbles late in the fourth quarter to propel Black to an 8-7 victory.

In a game that was highlighted by defensive domination and a plethora of turnovers, the Black team used a safety and a fumble recovered for a touchdown (all in the last four minutes) to put the Gold team away.

Both plays were the handiwork of defensive lineman Leon Moore, who along with the safety and touchdown return forced a fumble, added a sack and gave the Gold offense fits the entire day.

The spring game saw three turnovers just in the first quarter and only 465 yards of total net yards between the two teams by the end.

Nothing seemed to be going right for the Black team throughout the game, a game in which they trailed 7-0 for three quarters thanks to a 27-yard touchdown pass from Gold quarterback Brian Moriarty to Joey Hoover that came at the 14:55-minute mark in the second half.

Things seemed to take a turn for the worst after a possession that drove the Black team to the Gold team's 8-yard line with under seven minutes to play ended in a Sean Jackson fumble that was recovered by Gold's Josh Jeffries at their own 5-yard line.

But then disaster struck the Gold team after a reverse from Moriarty to Joe Hamilton was read perfectly by Moore who tackled Hamilton in the end zone for the safety, breathing new life in the Black teams hopes.

With the score 7-2 in favor of the Gold team, 4:40 left to play and the Black team beginning their drive from their own 40-yard line, quarterback Andrew Stamey weaved a pass to Jose White in between two Gold defenders for a 38-yard pass play that set up the Black team with a first and ten at the Gold team's 22-yard line.

Three plays later the Black team found themselves faced with a fourth and two at the Gold 14-yard line and only 2:32 left to play. Stamey tried to get the ball to Bryant Smith, but Sam Smalls closed on the pass quickly, knocking the ball from Smith's hands and seemingly ending Black's bid for the comeback.

But just when the game appeared to be over, Gold's Karim Razaak was stripped by Black's Ryan Watson, and the fumble was picked up by Moore who ran it in for the game-winning touchdown.

The Gold team didn't give up despite their horrible fourth quarter luck and nearly made their own comeback with only 28 seconds left.

On a first and ten from their own 12-yard line, Moriarty scrambled to his left and then fired a long pass to a streaking Tommy Perry along the left sideline who hauled it in for a 73-yard pickup all the way to the Black's 15-yard line.

The pass was ruled illegal, however, because Moriarty had passed the line of scrimmage in his effort to elude defenders, and the penalty put the nail in the coffin for the Mountaineers' Gold squad.

Appalachian State head football coach Jerry Moore was pleased with what he saw on Saturday morning.

"I think you get a lot more out of a ball game like this than one of those 35-0 deals," said Moore.

"I think we got everything done that we wanted to get done in the spring.

We concentrated heavily on fundamentals and backyard football like blocking and tackling. We did a good job on that all spring, and I'm pleased with that."

After the game, Leon Moore commented on the critical touchdown return.

"We talked about it right before the last couple of plays. If we ever get a chance, just try to strip the ball and make something happen defensively. We made something happen," said Moore.

Defense was key according to Moore and Stamey to Black's come-from-behind victory.

"I feel like the strength of this team is the defense. They always say defense wins games, and that's a good thing," said Stamey.

"Our offense was struggling, and that's what we teach ourselves. If our offense is struggling, the defense will pick us up, and if our defense is struggling, our offense will pick us up," said Moore.

And despite the rivalry of the spring game between the Black and Gold, Stamey says that's all over once the final quarter expires.

"You know it's funny. These two teams split up, but once we get back in the locker room, we're just one team."

Jason Kroeger O.A.S.I.S.

Sunny weather, birds returning, and a reason to work out that body of yours after the cold winter. Go to the campus gym? Run down King Street? How about a triathlon?

The 2001 Appalachian State University Triathlon will be held April 21, from 8 a.m. to noon. It will include a 300-yard swim, 6.3-mile bike race, and a 5-kilometer run at the end. The race starts at The Watauga County Swim Complex, located on State Farm Road.

Yet if you do not feel like actually swimming, biking, and running, there is another way to get involved.

O.A.S.I.S. (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information, and Shelter), the local domestic abuse and rape counseling service, is hosting the event this year and needs volunteers.

Volunteers are needed in the timing of the race, workings in transition areas, giving encouragement and direction on the bike and running courses, and to pass out refreshments before and after the race.

Volunteers will be given free refreshments and race T-shirt. If interested in volunteering, leave your name and phone number with Catherine Crumpler at 266-7571.

James Nix Intramural Sports

The Appalachian State University men's tennis team went one for two this past weekend in the team's first chance to play outside in Boone.

Appalachian defeated College of Charleston (C of C) 4-3 on Saturday and then lost 4-3 against Elon College on Sunday.

ASU now has a 6-11 over all record and a 2-5 Southern Conference record.

The Mountaineers started Sunday's match off strong, winning all three doubles matches. Craig Rice and Dan Holman fought hard at the number one spot to win in a tie-breaker against Elon's Chai Navawongse and Remy Nagel.

ASU's Doug Ormsby and Ben Shuster also won in a tie-breaker at the number two spot against Richard Dutton and Justin Roberson. Both matches were very close and could have gone either way.

Mountaineers Rick Hauchman and Robbie Ormsby defeated Peter Van Graafeiland and Mike Prelec at number-three doubles, 8-4.

In singles, Hauchman and R. Ormsby both dominated the bottom of the line up, winning 6-2, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-1, which gave ASU an early 3-0 lead. Shuster and D. Ormsby both won their first sets.

Things looked good for Appalachian. Then Elon struck back.

Rice lost at number two-singles (2-6, 4-6) to Navawongse. Holman, who lost his first set at number-one singles against Nagel (3-6) fought a hard battle in the second set that resulted in a 6-8 tie-breaker loss.

D. Ormsby won his first set 6-4, but then fell to Dutton, 4-6, 3-6 at number-three singles. Shuster also won his first set against Roberson, 6-4, but then lost a close second set in a 1-7 tie-breaker and the third set 1-6.

"It was a tough loss," said ASU coach Bob Lake. "But it wasn't a conference match. We're really shooting to try and get a good seed in the conference, so we'll be working towards next week's conference matches."

In the C of C match, ASU took the doubles point after Holman/Rice defeated Henrico DuPlessis and Emal Omid, and Hauchman/R. Ormsby defeated Mike Sutcliff/Matt Beckham.

In singles, Duplessis defeated Homan 6-2, 6-3 and Sagi Zakin defeated Rice 6-1, 6-4. Bill Brehmer won against R. Ormsby 6-4, 6-1.

Hauchman got the first ASU win in singles, defeating Milos Lazic 6-3, 6-3. D. Ormsby lost his first set to Omid 3-6, but then controlled the court the next two sets, winning 6-4, 6-4.

Shuster won his first set against Sandon Barth 6-3, lost the second set 5-7, then won the third 6-2, giving ASU the 4-3 win.

"This was the first match I played that I honestly felt I played well," said Hauchman. "Maybe it's the weather."

Hauchman sat out in last weeks match against the University of North Carolina at Asheville due to some poor performances on the court. Since his return, he has won all four matches he has played in.

The win against Charleston put ASU at 2-5 in the SoCon and with three more conference matches to go, Lake is hoping his team will finish 5-5 with the sixth seed going into the SoCon Tournament.

"The three conference matches next week are big," said Lake. "If we win, we'll be the sixth seed in the conference and that'll give us a good shot in the tournament."

The Mountaineers' next three matches will all be in Boone.

The first will be against Davidson College on Thursday, followed by The Citadel on Friday and Wofford College on Saturday.

ASUTrackandfield.com

After competing in the Raleigh Relays two weekends ago, the Mountaineer track and field squad is just three weeks short of the Southern Conference Championships.

As the season is winding down for most of the Mountaineer squad the Raleigh Relays became the first major competition of the regular season. Leading the Mountaineers in our state's capital was Shonte' Pinkston's performance in the 100 and 200 meter events.

Pinkston ran to the second fastest time of the meet in the 100 meter preliminaries round running 11.57 seconds. That clocking is just 0.02 seconds off NCAA Championship provisional qualifying.

In the finals Pinkston placed third with a 11.74 second performance. In the 200 meter dash invitational Pinkston placed sixth overall racing to a 24.64 second time.

That performance is second best in the SoCon only to the indoor conference champion. Heather Needham and Sarah Primeau added their names to the SoCon list in third and fourth with performances of 18:09 and 18:21 over the same distance, giving the Mountaineers four of the top seven ranks in the SoCon.

Junior Jenny Honeycutt ran to a personal best and a SoCon leading time in the women's 10,000 meters. Her time of 38:51.06 was her first time under 39 minutes in the event.

Women's triple jumpers Kirsten Bowden and Tondra White hopped, skipped and jumped to the second and third best marks of the year for the SoCon with performances of 39', 9.25" and 38', 9.5".

Men's competition was lead by Senior Omari Francis.Ê Francis qualified for the finals of the 110 meter high hurdles with a prelim clocking of 14.21 seconds.Ê In the finals he placed fifth running 14.41 second into a slight headwind.

In the same event junior Ryan Linebarger ran to a preliminary time of 14.52.Ê Although his time did not advance to the finals, his performance is the second fastest in the Southern Conference this spring only behind his own teammate Omari Francis.

Leading the distance men was Ben Bissette who ran to a year 2001 best with a 14 minute and 58 second time in the 5,000 meter event.

Steeplechasers Ben Schowe, Shawn Evans, and Brad Ferguson ran to the top of the SoCon leader list.Ê The Mountaineers now own five of the top seven best performances of the year for the SoCon in the 3,000 meter steeplechase event.

Schowe's performance of 9:37.94 and Evans' 9:39.95 rank second and third in the SoCon behind teammate Ben Bissette's conference leading mark form last week.

Junior Wes Pickens lead the field specialist with his 5th place finish in the pole vault. His vault of 15 feet, 7 inches leads the conference by half a foot.