Staff report
CHARLESTON, S.C. ń Jason Vitaris kicked a 30-yard field goal in overtime to give Appalachian State a 30-27 road win against The Citadel on Saturday.
Appalachian (2-2, 2-0 Southern) sent the game to overtime when Brian Quick blocked a 53-yard field goal by The Citadel’s Sam Keeler on the final play of regulation. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Quick had hauled in a 74-yard touchdown pass from Armanti Edwards to help knot the score at 27-all.
ASU won the coin toss in overtime and elected to play defense first. It held The Citadel (2-2, 0-1 SoCon) to 5 yards on three plays. Keeler, who had made 45- and 50-yard field goals earlier in the game, was wide right on a 37-yard attempt.
Cedric Baker began the Mountaineers’ overtime possession with a 10-yard run to the 15. From there, ASU played it safe with three carries by Devon Moore to set up Vitaris for the game-winner.
Appalachian trailed 13-7 at halftime and appeared to seize momentum when it scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter ó the drive-ending plays were a 1-yard touchdown run by Edwards and a 44-yard field goal by Vitaris.
The Citadel’s Van Dyke Jones burst down the right sideline for a 69-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give the Bulldogs a 20-17 lead.
ASU drew even on its next possession with a 30-yard field goal by Vitaris, but The Citadel’s Kevin Hardy returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards to the ASU 39. The Bulldogs regained the lead on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Bart Blanchard to Luke Caldwell.
Two plays later, Edwards found a wide-open Quick for a TD with 4:28 to play. Blanchard completed an 11-yard pass to Terrell Dallas to set up Keeler’s 53-yard attempt, but Quick came through again.
Edwards accounted for 407 of ASU’s 478 yards ó he had 327 yards on 22-of-29 passing and 80 yards on 10 rushes. He had a hand in all three of the Mountaineers’ touchdowns.
Edwards surpassed Richie Williams as the school’s all-time passing leader with 7,857 career yards. Additionally, Edwards moved into 10th place in FCS history with 11,708 yards of total offense.
Quick finished with 117 yards on four receptions, and Moore chipped in with 66 yards on the ground.