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Top 10 Sporting Events of 2007-08 |
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
1. Sept. 1, Appalachian upsets Michigan
After dominating the first half of their opening game, Appalachian struggled for most of the second before tipping a field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, and following it with a 69-yard drive capped with a Julian Rauch field goal to put the Mountaineers up by two.
On the following drive, University of Michigan quarterback Chad Henne hit wide receiver Mario Manningham with a 46-yard bomb to Appalachian’s 20-yard line with six seconds remaining.
The Wolverines trusted kicker Jason Gingell to finish the game for them, and the rest is history.
This game has been immortalized in countless ways over the past six
months, from the cover of Sports Illustrated to the infamous “Michigan
Who?” shirts, and highlight reels of the goalpost making its way
through campus to a cameo of the Appalachian logo in the most recent
“Become Legendary” commercial.
Perhaps the most epic piece of the 34-32 story is the coming legacy that ESPN’s Pat Forde touched on after the game.
2. National Championship: ASU v. University of Delaware
“…in the locker rooms of every huge underdog…they’ll say, ‘if
Appalachian State can beat Michigan, why can’t we shock the world too?’”
Appalachian State continued the university’s growing football legacy
winning their third consecutive NCAA Division I championship 49-21 over
the University of Delaware Blue Hens.
The game began with the Mountaineers quickly earning the advantage with two touchdowns from Kevin Richardson and Devon Moore.
Sophomore Armanti Edwards passed for three touchdowns during the game,
leaving him with 1,948-yards passing, just falling short of being the
first player in NCAA-history to pass for 2,000-yards and rush for 1,000
yards in two separate seasons.
3. Men’s cross-country, track teams take SoCon titles
The Appalachian State University men’s cross-country team took home the Southern Conference championship this season.
Senior Brian Deal’s 25:07 first place finish at the Oct. 27
championship meet earned the Mountaineers their third consecutive
title.
Deal was the SoCon Runner of the Year.
During the team’s outdoor track season, they also took the first place
title with Wes Kiser setting a new SoCon record with a hammer throw of
198-feet 11-inches.
With wins in the shot put and discus as well, Kiser was awarded the
Most Outstanding Field Performer and the Most Outstanding Performer
overall for finishing with the most points.
The final scoring had Appalachian leading Western Carolina University, the second-place team, by 315-288.
4. Men’s Basketball wins North Division Title
Heading into the 2007 basketball season, there were questions as
to how successful the Appalachian State University men’s basketball
team would be.
On Senior Day, the Mountaineers answered the questions by claiming their second consecutive North Division Title.
ASU earned the title by defeating archrival Western Carolina University 74-63 in front of 3,732 Mountaineer faithful.
Appalachian finished with a 13-7 conference record tying them with the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a share of the title.
Due to tiebreakers, the Mocs gained the second seed in the conference
tournament, setting the Mountaineers up for the fourth seed.
5. Record-breaking volleyball season
New head volleyball coach, Matt Ginipro, lead the women’s
volleyball team to an impressive second place SoCon finish with a 14-4
conference record, aided by an 11-game winning-streak.
Senior Brittany Zahn set the school record for kills in a game, twice two games apart, with 34 and 36, respectively.
Zahn wasn’t finished, however; she also set the single-season kills record with 575.
Teammate and senior Diana Thomas found her way into the record books as
well with her 1,397 career kills to put her in Appalachian history’s
first place.
6. Division I FCS Quarterfinals: ASU v. James Madison University
Late in the fourth quarter, the James Madison University Dukes, up by
five, decided to attempt a 1-yard fourth down conversion from their own
32-yard line.
But the Mountaineers would not yield and took over on downs in scoring position with 2:35 remaining.
Quarterback Armanti Edwards scored the go-ahead touchdown only 1:25
later, but the Mountaineers failed the two-point conversion, leaving
them up 28-27.
The Dukes sprinted 62-yards in four plays on the ensuing possession to
what would appear to be a heart-breaking field goal from the 9-yard
line.
With one timeout remaining, the Dukes elected to run an off-tackle play
to reposition the ball, showing to be a bad decision as ASU’s Gary
Tharrington forced a fumble at the ASU 9-yard line, recovered by Pierre
Banks.
All that remained was for Edwards to take a knee and for the Mountaineers to savor victory.
7. Senior stand-out wrestler Scott Ervin
With a 33-5 overall record for the 2007-08 wrestling season,
senior Scott Ervin was untouchable in conference standings where he
reigned 5-0.
Ervin, who weighs in for the 149-pounds class, garnered eight pins this
past season as well as his second-straight SoCon wrestling title.
Nationally ranked throughout the season, Ervin made it all the way to the fourth round in the national championships.
8. Whitney Tossie sets school record for career steals
During Whitney’s Tossie’s four-year women’s basketball career, she
terrorized opponents with her ability to always find the ball.
Heading into this season, it was expected Tossie would take over the
school career mark in steals before it was all said and done.
On Feb. 19, she tied the mark of 341 with seven steals in a 58-53 win over the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
A week later in a win against Wofford College, Tossie added three more steals to take sole possession of the mark.
She finished her career with 349 steals.
9. Division I FCS Semifinals: ASU v. Univ. of Richmond
Only one team was keeping the Appalachian State University football
team from returning to Chattanooga for a third consecutive year, the
University of Richmond.
In a rare night game held in Kidd-Brewer Stadium, sophomore quarterback Armanti Edwards stole the show.
Edwards rushed for a Division I Football Championship Subdivision record 313 yards on 31 carries with four touchdowns.
He added three more touchdowns through the air en route to lead Appalachian to a 55-35 win.
The offensive onslaught was witnessed by 24,140; the largest FCS postseason crowd for a non-championship game.
10. Minter, Clayton, Sims leadership on basketball court
Senior Donte Minter helped lead the men’s basketball team to their
second-straight North Division title averaging 15.4 points in SoCon
play this past season, while leading the league with a .602 field goal
percentage, and averaging .732 at the free-throw line.
Forward Jeremy Clayton, also a senior, combined with Minter to prove
one of the most dynamic pairs, when he averaged 8.6 points a game and
set a new ASU record with 71 blocked shots during the regular season.
Freshman Donald Sims was named to the all-freshman teams after showing
one of the most impressive college starts from any ASU men’s basketball
freshman in history, posting 347 points this season.
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