BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University football closed the first week of spring practice with a spirited two-hour workout on Thursday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Thursday's practice was the fourth of 15 allowed by the NCAA in the spring and was conducted in helmets and shoulder pads.

The Mountaineers' tempo, which had already been at a very high level through the first three sessions of the spring, was even greater for the final practice before a 10-day hiatus for ASU's spring break. Although tacklers did not take ball-carriers to the ground, pads were popping with great intensity throughout the practice, especially during a brief 24-play scrimmage at the end of the afternoon.

Appalachian's veteran defense shined for much of the mini-scrimmage, holding ASU's offense to three yards or less on 15-of-24 plays and allowing just four first downs in seven series. Junior linebacker Karl Anderson led the way with two tackles for loss and one of the biggest hits of the afternoon following a short gain by junior running back Michael Frazier. Sophomore defensive back Doug Middleton also had a stop behind the line of scrimmage while senior Troy Sanders and sophomore Joel Ross both broke up passes.

A handful of big plays accounted for the vast majority of the offensive production. Freshman transfer running back Quartterrio Morgan made perhaps the play of the day when he took a short pass from reserve quarterback Kalik Barnes, made a few deft moves, broke several tackles and raced past the secondary for a 70-yard touchdown. On the final series of the scrimmage, Barnes also completed a 20-yard pass to redshirt freshman Trey Kavanaugh and found redshirt frosh John Sullivan wide open down the right sideline for a 50-yard score.

In all, Barnes' three completions and a pair of nine-yard throws in limited action for starting signal-caller Jamal Jackson accounted for 158 of the offense's 174 yards in the short scrimmage.

Following the 10-day respite for spring break, the Mountaineers return to the practice field on Monday, March 19.