Appalachian State clinches spot in Sun Belt football title game
Published 11:55 pm Saturday, November 20, 2021
- Appalachian State quarterback Chase Brice, a graduate transfer from Duke, led the Sun Belt with 2,901 yards passing last season to go with 22 touchdowns. (File photo courtesy of Sunbelt Conference)
TROY, Ala. (AP) — Chase Brice threw three touchdown passes and Appalachian State rode a dominating defense to a 45-7 rout of Troy on Saturday.
Appalachian State plays Georgia Southern Saturday in its regular season finale, but the Mountaineers already secured a berth in the Sun Belt Conference championship game Dec. 4 against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Appalachian State (9-2, 6-1) held Troy (5-6, 3-4) to just 33 yards on the ground and 142 yards overall.
Brice hit Corey Sutton with a 21-yard touchdown pass with 21 seconds left in the first half to put Appalachian State up 10-7, then found Thomas Hennigan and Eli Watson with touchdown passes just seconds apart to start the third quarter, pushing the Mountaineers’ lead to 24-7.
Brice was 17 of 24 passing for 212 yards for the Mountaineers, but also threw two interceptions. Nate Noel carried 15 times for 102 yards and a touchdown. Hennigan had seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown and Sutton caught four for 76 yards and a score.
Troy’s Gunnar Watson fired a 37-yard touchdown pass to Deshon Staudemire, who made an acrobatic grab at the goal line.
