BOONE, N.C. - Dominique McDuffie's 50-yard fumble return for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in No. 5 Appalachian State University's 20-13 triumph over No. 7 South Carolina State in Saturday's opening round of the 2009 NCAA Division I Football Championship at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

With its 14th victory in its last 15 postseason games, Appalachian (10-2) advances to next Saturday's national quarterfinals where it will face fourth-seeded Richmond (11-1) for the third-straight year. The defending national-champion Spiders edged visiting Elon, 16-13, on Saturday to move on to the quarterfinals. Next Saturday's game will be played at UR Stadium in Richmond, Va. at a time to be determined on Sunday.

S.C. State was lined up for a potential go-ahead field goal with less than eight minutes left to play on Saturday when long snapper David Davis launched the ball past holder Matt Washington and kicker Blake Erickson. A scrum ensued near midfield and McDuffie came away with the ball. With a line of blockers to his left, he scampered untouched down the right sideline to turn a likely 16-13 deficit into a 20-13 advantage with 7:42 remaining in the contest.

The decisive score was indicative of the somewhat sloppy ballgame, as the teams combined to commit 10 turnovers (each with a season-high five) that led directly to 17 of the game's 33 points.

ASU was especially schizophrenic in the first half, as it scored on three of its six possessions and turned the ball over on the other three. The third miscue did the most damage, as SCSU's Rafael Bush returned Armanti Edwards' second interception of the afternoon 46 yards to knot the contest at 10-10 with 1:34 to go before halftime.

The Mountaineers got a break after the score, however, as the Bulldogs picked up an excessive celebration penalty after the long return and a personal foul on the extra point, forcing them to kick off from their own eight yard line.

Devin Radford fielded the kick at the ASU 36 and returned it 31 yards to the SCSU 33. Eight plays later, Jason Vitaris booted a 24-yard field goal to send Appalachian into the locker room with a 13-10 lead.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 13-13 with a field goal on their first possession of the second half but that would have to go down as a small victory for the Mountaineer defense, which limited the 'Dogs to the 19-yard field goal after they had first-and-goal on the three yard line.

The tide seemed to turn entirely in SCSU's favor on ASU's next series when defensive tackle Ronnell Ferguson scooped up a fumble by Edwards and rumbled 35 yards down the right sideline. However, ASU wide receiver Matt Cline made a game-changing play of his own when he chased down Ferguson and stripped the ball from his grasp. Matt Ruff fell on the loose ball to regain possession for the Mountaineers.

The teams traded the ball back and forth over the next five series before Davis' errant snap changed the complexion of the game for good. After McDuffie's go-ahead score, ASU's defense limited S.C. State to minus-21 yards and, behind running back Cedric Baker, the Mountaineers were able to milk 4:29 off the clock to essentially seal the victory.

As has been the case for much of the last month, the story of the day was the Mountaineer defense. In addition to collecting four of the Bulldogs' five turnovers, ASU limited SCSU to just 229 total yards, including only 22 by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's all-time leading rusher, William Ford. S.C. State is the fourth-straight opponent that Appalachian has held to 20 points or fewer, a feat it hadn't achieved since Oct. 21-Nov. 11, 2006.

Ed Gainey led the way with nine tackles and one of the Mountaineers' three interceptions. McDuffie was right behind with eight stops while Lanston Tanyi, Malcolm Bennett, Jacque Roman and D.J. Smith added six apiece.

Offensively, Edwards returned from a knee injury sustained two weeks ago at Elon to complete 19-of-30 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. He was the victim of a handful of drops but his three interceptions were a season high. Additionally, his minus-one rushing yards were his fewest in 47 career starts.

Brian Quick was Edwards' favorite target on the afternoon with six catches for 92 yards and an ultra-athletic eight-yard touchdown catch on which we went high in the air to snag a bullet from Edwards and tight-rope the end line as he came down in the back of the end zone. Blake Elder overcame a vicious second-quarter hit to set career highs with five receptions and 57 yards.

Oliver (Tre') Young led S.C. State offensively with seven catches for 92 yards and linebacker Julius Wilkerson led all tacklers with 15.

NOTES: Appalachian reached the 10-win plateau for the fifth-straight season ... the victory was ASU's 100th of the decade (2000-present) ... Montana (117) is the only NCAA Division I FCS team with more victories since the beginning of the 2000 campaign ... the Mountaineers moved to 15-0 all-time when playing on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU (Saturday's game was televised nationally on ESPNU) ... a boisterous crowd of 12,216 was on hand for the Thanksgiving weekend postseason opener ... next week's game at Richmond will be ASU's first postseason road affair since it dropped a 38-24 decision at Georgia Southern in the 2001 quarterfinals ... the Mountaineers and Spiders have met in each of the past two postseasons ... ASU defeated Richmond, 55-35, in the 2007 national semifinals and UR knocked off the Apps, 33-13, in last season's quarterfinals.