Sophomore quarterback Travaris Cadet dives into the nd zone to score a touchdown for the Mountaineers during Saturday's game against East Carolina. Photo by Holt Menzies

by ROB JENKINS
Sports Editor

If someone who did not watch Appalachian State play East Carolina Saturday took a quick glance at Travaris Cadet’s stats, they probably would not be impressed. After all, Cadet ran for only 35 yards on 15 carries and threw for 55 yards on 7-9 passing—fairly pedestrian numbers for a quarterback.

But what they might not see at first glance is Cadet was the more effective of the two ASU quarterbacks, leading the Mountaineers to 17 fourth quarter points as the team came up just short in a 29-24 loss to the Pirates.

“You know, the main job of a quarterback, bottom line, whether it’s pretty, ugly or whatever is to get your team into the end zone,” quarterbacks coach Brad Glenn said. “That’s what Cadet did. Everything may have not been pretty with it, but he got his team in the end zone, and that’s what counts.”

Cadet entered the game at quarterback with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter and promptly lead the Apps down the field on a 55-yard, 6:41 drive that ended in a touchdown.

Head coach Jerry Moore said he originally wanted to get Cadet in the game earlier.

“We were looking to put Cadet into the ballgame in the middle of the second quarter,” Moore said. “But [ECU] downed the ball at the two [after a punt].

And I didn’t want his first snap for us to be at the two-yard line. We had him loose and ready to go, but we changed our mind.”

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Cadet drove the Apps to the one-yard line before plunging into the end zone to make the score 29-21 East Carolina.

On the ensuing ECU drive, one play after he was called for pass interference, Cortez Gilbert picked off Patrick Pinkney.

The interception led to a field goal, which cut the lead to 29-24 with 3:24 left in the game.

After getting the ball back, Cadet made his biggest mistake of the day when he took a sack for a loss of seven yards on a first down from the 50-yard line.

“I hesitated too much man,” Cadet said. “I should’ve got the ball out when I could, but I thought maybe I could make a play. I [saw] Blake [Elder] coming over on the left side of the field. It was just a bad play, you have to move on.”

After a spike and a catch by Elder, Cadet scrambled before overthrowing CoCo Hillary on fourth down to end the game.

DeAndre Presley, who started at quarterback for the Mountaineers, praised Cadet’s performance.

“He’s got great speed, he used his speed,” Presley said. “I mean, he had a great game. Honestly, I feel like what our coaches did was the correct thing: they came out [in the second half] and put in someone who can run. I can run, but they put in [Cadet] who’s really fast.”

Despite being disappointed by the loss, Cadet was optimistic about the remainder of the season.

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