by ASHLEY DAVIS
Sports Editor

Appalachian State University football head coach Jerry Moore said he remembered the times when he could hear cars driving by on the highway adjacent to James Madison University’s Bridgeforth Stadium.

“I’m going to date myself, but I’ve been here when there wasn’t any noise,” Moore said. “It was a totally different atmosphere, but this is something for everyone involved in good football to be proud of."

Running back Robert Welton rushes to break JMU's defense near the 20-yard line to score his second touchdown of the game during the fourth quarter. Photo by Alisha Park

While Moore’s statement dated him, it also showed the stark contrast to what the fan base has grown to for both JMU and Appalachian.

Saturday night, 17,163 people arrived at the James Madison and Appalachian football game to watch what fans called a “meeting for revenge,” and coaches called a “meeting of talented football teams.”

“If you had the same kids back it would be one thing, but there’s a ton of different kids out there that didn’t have one thing to do with that ball game last year,” Moore said.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, the fans seeking revenge were able rush the field gratified, as Appalachian lost 35-32.

For the first time since 2003, Appalachian will enter their fourth game of the season with a 1-2 record.

The loss is not the only sour note for ASU, however; as starting junior running back Devon Moore was forced to limp off the field in the first quarter after a tackle injured his ankle.

Coach Moore said Monday after practice that Devon will be sidelined for four to five weeks.

Sophomore Robert Welton filled in at running back against JMU, rushing 92 yards on 17 attempts for two touchdowns, and averaging 5.4 yards an attempt.

Welton leads the team with 256 rushing yards on the season and five touchdowns.

While Welton was the Mountaineer to rush a 1-yard touchdown in the waning two minutes of the game, he was also the Mountaineer to relinquish an Appalachian possession to JMU at the 13-yard line.

Welton’s fumble commenced an 11-play drive to the Appalachian end zone, leaving the score 35-24 with 2:31 on the clock.       

“They’ll weather the storm; they’re a great bunch of guys,” Moore said. “The end of the game was a lot like LSU.

They scored…and it would have been easy for us to just roll up the tent and go home, but we battled back and gave our self a chance to get back in the game, to possibly tie it, or win it. For us you’re looking for something good to leave here with, and that’s it for me, the fight that’s in them, the scrap that’s in them.”

Currently Elon University and Georgia Southern University are the only teams to have played a Southern Conference match-up, Elon winning 22-20.

“There’s no pressure at all,” quarterback Armanti Edwards said in regard to the competition in the SoCon.
“We haven’t even played a conference game yet.” Edwards said. “[This loss] hurts, but I think we’ll be all right.”
Moore said he agreed conference play was what mattered now.

“Yes it’s a test but…the way we finished the game is more than the score,” Moore said. “Last year everybody was patting us on the back for beating [the University of Michigan] and then we turned around and lost two conference ball games so …we have to go win our conference.

Our back’s a little bit more against the wall than [JMU’s] is but weird things can happen, ask [Wofford College].”

Wofford was seemingly poised to win the SoCon in 2007, only to fall to Appalachian in the last weeks of the season by uneventful losses.

Following the game coach Moore said that James Madison had his FCS Coaches Poll vote to become no. 1.

Monday JMU officially gained the no. 1 rank, followed closely by the University of Richmond.

Appalachian is now ranked no. 4 in the FCS Coaches poll.

“Last year I think if we had played 10 times we would have won five and [Appalachian] would have won five,” JMU head coach Mickey Matthews said. “And I’d say the same for this year.”

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