BOONE -- Appalachian State finished its third undefeated Southern Conference season in four years by downing Western Carolina 19-14 on Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (9-2, 8-0 Southern), who had clinched at least a share of their fifth consecutive conference title with their Nov. 14 win at Elon, claimed the title outright with their 20th straight conference victory. The triumph also was also was Appalachian's 23rd in the last 25 Battles for the Old Mountain Jug with rival Western Carolina (2-9, 1-7).
"We're glad to get out of here with a win and our record intact," coach Jerry Moore said. "I didn't think we played anywhere near as crisp as I thought we would, but like I said, we got a win and that's the main thing."
With All-America quarterback Armanti Edwards sidelined because of a knee injury sustained at Elon, the Mountaineers relied on their defense and running game and backup Travaris Cadet.
Now the Mountaineers await the announcement of their seeding for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision at 3 p.m. today on ESPNews.
"I told Cadet that on the way in here, that the only thing that matters is we win the game," Moore said. "You can't get into all that stuff with counting on someone else to win or lose in order to get a certain seed. We did what we needed to do and now we'll get ready for the playoffs."
Western Carolina 7 0 0 7 -- 14
Appalachian State 3 0 7 9 -- 19
App--FG Vitaris 32
WCU--Wilson 1 pass from Jaynes (Bostic kick)
App--D.Moore 25 run (Vitaris kick)
App--Safety
App--D.Moore 1 run (Vitaris kick)
WCU--M.Johnson 2 run (Bostic kick)
A--30,098
Western Carolina Appalachian State
First downs 14 17
Rushes-Yards 31-70 51-255
Passing 166 101
Comp-Att-Int 20-33-0 8-16-0
Return yards 0 10
Punts-Avg. 8-39.9 7-39.3
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 5-57
Time of possession 29:32 30:28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Western Carolina, M.Johnson 24-105, Richardson 1-15, Jaynes 6-(minus 50). Appalachian State, D.Moore 25-191, Cadet 17-58, C.Baker 1-7, Radford 6-5, B.Frazier 1-1, Team 1-(minus 7).
PASSING--Western Carolina, Jaynes 20-33-0-166. Appalachian State, Cadet 8-16-0-101.
RECEIVING--Western Carolina, McLendon 5-43, Wilson 5-30, Richardson 3-28, Everett 2-41, Mitchell 2-12, Pittman 2-12, M.Johnson 1-0. Appalachian State, Cline 4-35, Quick 2-18, Presley 1-43, D.Moore 1-5.
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