CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jason Vitaris booted a 29-yard field goal in overtime to give No. 10 Appalachian State University a thrilling 30-27 win over The Citadel on Saturday at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Appalachian (2-2, 2-0 SoCon) sent the game to overtime when Brian Quick blocked a 53-yard field-goal attempt by The Citadel's Sam Keeler on the final play of regulation. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Quick hauled in a 74-yard touchdown pass from Armanti Edwards to knot the score at 27-27.

ASU won the coin toss in overtime and elected to play defense first. The Mountaineer defense then capped an up-and-down day on a positive note when it held The Citadel (2-2, 0-1 SoCon) to five yards on three plays. Keeler, who made 45- and 50-yard field goals earlier in the game, was wide right on his 37-yard attempt and Appalachian took possession needing only a field goal to win the game.

Cedric Baker began the Mountaineers' overtime possession with a 10-yard run to the 15. From there, the Apps played it safe with three-consecutive carries by Devon Moore that set up Vitaris for the 29-yard game-winner.

Vitaris' kick culminated a wild game that included two lead changes and two ties, all in the second half.

Thanks to some untimely special-teams miscues and The Citadel's effective ball-control offense in the first half, Appalachian trailed 13-7 at halftime. The Citadel limited ASU to just three possessions in the first two quarters by controlling the ball for 18:15 of the half's 30 minutes. Despite the fact that the Mountaineers drove inside the Bulldogs' 10 yard line on each of their three first-half possessions, they only had seven points to show for it thanks to a mishandled snap on a 25-yard field-goal attempt and a 26-yarder that went wide right.

Appalachian appeared to seize the momentum of the game when it scored on its first two possessions of the second half – a one-yard touchdown run by Edwards and a 44-yard field goal by Vitaris – to take a 17-13 lead.

The Mountaineers carried the four-point advantage into the fourth quarter but on the third play of the final period, The Citadel's Van Dyke Jones burst down the right sideline for a 69-yard touchdown that gave the Bulldogs the lead back at 20-17.

ASU drew even again 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 and, aided pass-interference call on a second-and-22 wide-receiver pass, the Bulldogs regained the lead on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Bart Blanchard to Luke Caldwell.

Two plays later, the Mountaineers tied it at 27-27 when Edwards found a wide-open Quick for the 74-yard strike down the right sideline with 4:28 to play.

After the teams traded punts, The Citadel had a final chance to avoid overtime when it got the ball on the ASU 43 with 21 seconds remaining in regulation. On third-and-14, Blanchard completed an 11-yard pass to Terrell Dallas to set up Keeler's 53-yard field-goal attempt, which Quick blocked to send the game to overtime.

Despite the wild finish, the story of the game was Edwards. The senior accounted for 407 of ASU's 478 total yards with 327 yards on 22-of-29 passing and 80 yards on 10 rushes. He also had a hand in all three Mountaineer touchdowns (two rushing, one passing).

In the process, Edwards surpassed his predecessor as Appalachian quarterback, Richie Williams, as the school's all-time passing leader with 7,857 career passing yards (Williams amassed 7,759 yards through the air from 2002-05). Additionally, Edwards moved into 10th place in NCAA Division I FCS history with 11,708 yards of total offense in his career.

Quick finished with 117 yards on four receptions and Moore chipped in with 66 yards on the ground.

Defensively, ASU surrendered 373 yards but limited The Citadel's prolific passing attack to only 159 yards, 40 below its season average. Senior All-America receiver Andre Roberts managed just 47 yards on six catches, which was 43 yards below his personal season average.

D.J. Smith led the defensive effort with 10 tackles, Jabari Fletcher added seven stops, including one-and-a-half for loss and a sack, and Demery Brewer was in on two of the Mountaineers' three sacks.

Appalachian steps out of Southern Conference play for the final time during the regular season when it hosts North Carolina Central for homecoming next Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

NOTES: Edwards broke the ASU passing record on a 16-yard completion to Blake Elder early in the fourth quarter … the 300-yard passing effort was the sixth of Edwards' career while he topped 400 yards of total offense for the fifth time … in four career games against The Citadel, Edwards amassed 1,360 yards of total offense (874 passing, 486 rushing) and 15 total touchdowns (eight passing, seven rushing) … Appalachian defeated The Citadel for the 15th time in the last 16 meetings, including the seventh time in the last eight games played at Johnson Hagood Stadium … ASU upped its lead in the all-time series to 27-11 … Smith has led ASU in tackles in all four games this season and has recorded double-digit tackles in 3-of-4 games.